Big green for the Rugby World Cup

And we’re not talking about the pitches, either. France, hosts of the 2007 Rugby World Cup, says it’s doing everything it can to make the games as green as possible–from solar panels in stadiums to recycled water for the pitches.

These events certainly have an impact, so we hope these efforts help, especially since Greenbang will be on hand to watch South Africa take on England in Paris (ooh, what a game it’s gonna be).

This from Reuters, via the Environmental News Network.

The matches are expected to generate around 778 tons of stadium trash and soak up some 4.7 million kWh of electricity, the equivalent of leaving 73,000 60-watt light bulbs burning throughout the whole six-week tournament.

Part of that will be balanced by installations such as the 2,600 square meters of solar panels on the roof of the stadium in Saint Etienne or a smaller solar power facility near the Australian team’s training ground in Montpellier.

Q&A: Paul Hawken, author and green guru

Greenbang first came across Paul Hawken when someone recommended his 1990s book ‘The ecology of commerce‘ some time back (a fascinating read, by the way, even more than 10 years on).

Well, he’s certainly keeping in the thick of things. He’s featuring in Leonardo DiCaprio’s new film, the 11th hour, on the one hand. And he’s also just penned his latest novel, ‘Blessed unrest: How the largest movement in the world came into being and why no one saw it coming‘.

Catch up with Paul via Wired’s Q&A with him, where he discusses how a bag of business cards inspired his latest book, the challenges faced with current global economics and the environment and WiserEarth, an online community for people trying to transform the world.

WN: Can you say more about Carson? The reaction to 1962’s Silent Spring set the stage for how multinationals react to environmental and social justice issues today.

Hawken: Rachel Carson was the first person who used science and nature as a basis to question the rights of business. You almost have to say it again to get the meaning. She did not do it overtly, but in elucidating the persistent long-term damage of a new family of pesticides made from chlorinated hydrocarbons, she questioned the assumption that business has greater rights than the environment.

When business realized how responsive the public was to her logic, they went after her with extraordinary vengeance, perfecting techniques that are used to this day, like greenwashing — the creation of industry front groups funded by corporations, the use of paid scientists to attack academic scientists, the manipulation of the media to sow doubt in people’s minds about complex issues. The person behind the defaming of Rachel Carson, E. Bruce Harrison, was the same person who helped create the Global Climate Coalition, a so-called nonprofit funded by Chevron, Exxon, General Motors, the American Petroleum Institute and other companies. Its purpose was to undermine the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol and any other legislation or policy that would limit greenhouse gas emissions.

Can algae be the next big biofuel?

Biofuels are being discovered thick and fast at the moment, from cowpats to cow’s milk. The next contender may be algae, if one Arizona-based company has its way.

Diversified Energy Corporation has come up with a system called simgae (simple algae), which it thinks is a low-cost alternative for the biofuels industry. If its numbers are right, it certainly sounds promising, especially in light of recent warnings about water shortages related to the growth of more typical biofuels. Check all this goodness out:

Algae has been shown to produce 30X more oil and require 1/100th the water per acre when compared to traditional crops. In addition, the carbohydrate and protein components of algae can be used for a multitude of other purposes including ethanol production, feed, fertilizer, etc. Algae requires very little care to grow, only needing sunlight, water, carbon dioxide (CO2), and basic nutrients. Its ability to ingest carbon dioxide and produce oxygen is particularly attractive to curtail carbon emissions.

We fully expect it to solve world peace too. But at any rate, we’ll be keeping an eye on this.  Of course, it’s not all that new: a group called GreenFuels has been making biofuel from algae grown inside a smokestack for some time — cutting emissions and creating fuels. Very cool.

Solar power for your wireless hotspot

Picking up on the self-generation trend, Solis Energy has released a range of products aimed at powering low-wattage devices, such as wireless routers, security cameras, lights and so on.

“Our products provide continuous, reliable outdoor power generation, connectivity and emergency/secondary power back-up, anywhere it’s needed — including remote locations that don’t have power,” reckons their CEO, Robert Reynolds. Get all the details here.

China works with Germany to tackle pollution

CHINA WATCH  Chinese Premier Wen and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have signed an agreement to establish two working groups on environmental technology and energy, after a meeting between the two countries’ leaders, according to Chinadaily.

Wen admitted that it will be difficult to reach environmental targets as China lacks the capabilities of rich nations to reduce emissions.

“We have a much tougher task than Germany does,” he said, adding developed countries should continue to take the lead in making emission reduction commitments.

However, he said, China has shown its determination by shutting up hundreds of small-scale mines and power plants.

“We will do our best to tackle global warming and cut pollution,” he vowed.

Q&A: Better Energy Systems

TreeHugger has an interesting interview with Dan Porras, the VP of sustainability at Better Energy Systems, which makes the Solio solar charger pictured here.

He talks about personal energy generation, which devices like the Solio enable, and reckons the renewable energy tipping point is nearing:

TH: Are we on the cusp of a tipping point regarding renewable energy, clean technology, and solar in particular?

DP: The solar market is definitely moving in the right direction, but the limiting factor is polysilicon. Polysilicon is very expensive and there is not currently enough of it being processed to meet the demands of both the solar and semiconductor industries. Thin film solar, however, uses a fraction of the polysilicon as traditional PV and could be just what we need to make solar cost-competitive and boost it into the mainstream for good. In California, where the cost of electricity is high and we have decent incentives for solar, we are closer to seeing the day when solar will compete with fossil fuel-based electricity.

Wired: 10 fastest green cars

Wired has a guide to the ten fastest ‘green’ cars (ie, electric, hybrids, etc).

So, in reality, most aren’t so fast (the one pictured hits a somewhat less than terrifying 54mph).

But others, such as a hydrogen fuel-cell-based Ford, can hit over 200mph. Hoo-hah.  Check them all out here.

Electric car project gets $100m boost

For tech execs, it seems like electric cars are an ideal way to fill one’s time once you’ve made a small fortune elsewhere. Elon Musk took his PayPal payout to kick-start Tesla Motors, and now a former SAP exec is involved with an electric car venture.

Shai Agassi left SAP earlier this year to pursue interests in environmental policy and alternative energy–seemingly in the form of an electric car. By all accounts, it’s off to a strong start, from a funding point of view anyway. Israel Corp just gave it a $100m funding shot-in-the-arm to take a 33% stake in the business.

And he’s pretty sure that it’s a sound bet. Check out this speech he gave a couple months back:

You have to know one thing. The total cost of ownership of an electric vehicle crossed under the total cost of ownership for a fuel-based car a year ago. It’s really hard to notice because most people do not see total cost of ownership. But once that has happened, it’s just a question of amortizations and monetization ways. To create a financial model that actually works.

German boffins turn body heat into power source

Some very bright chaps at the Fraunhofen Institute in Germany reckon they’ve found a way to convert body heat into a source of power–albeit with very low voltage.

In future, they hope to use this method to find a practical way to power electronic devices, rather than relying on batteries that cut out after a few hours. More at DailyTech:

That means that with such a small temperature difference, the amount of electricity generated is very low voltage. The TEG can deliver 200 millivolts when most electronics require one or two volts to operate.

“We combined a number of components in a completely new way to create circuits that can operate on 200 millivolts,” says Peter Spies, manager of this sub-project at the IIS. “This has enabled us to build entire electronic systems that do not require an internal battery, but draw their energy from body heat alone.”

It all sounds splendid to Greenbang. In fact, we’re planning to pop off to the beach to charge up our gadgets.

Lib Dems: UK carbon neutral by 2050, maybe

The Liberal Democrat party – the UK parliament’s perennial underdogs – has published proposals to make the country carbon neutral by 2050. Plans include improving public transport networks, a government commitment to 100% carbon-free non-nuclear electricity, and a whole range of green taxes and green incentives.

All well and good. Except a) the Lib Dems are unlikely to get into government much before 2050; b) beyond some woolly statements about promoting this and incentivising that, there is little to explain how that 100% of carbon-free electricity is to be generated; and c) it would all be more convincing if it wasn’t wrapped up in endless guff about the UK leading the world. Read for yourself here.

Meanwhile, back on Planet Earth (or not), Greenbang readers will be gratified to learn that 76% of UK rivers were of good biological quality last year, the same proportion as in 2005. And the 76% were also of good chemical quality, compared with 74% the year before. The Environment Agency seems to think the news all very positive. But three-quarters does not sound particularly high (unless you live in China, that is)…

Greenbang tracks the explosion of the environmental industry, reporting on news of green innovation and thought leadership.

We blog on this rather than the environmental problems of the world because we are interested in the answers to climate change.