climate
The fossil-fuel industry might continue to have a tight grip on US politics, but its hold isn’t complete, as this week’s defeat of California Proposition 23 proves. And that should give clean-energy advocates reason for hope, even in the face of what’s likely to be two years
innovation
Despite now being the world’s top greenhouse gas emitter, China is going all-out to improve its sustainability with a diverse range of projects from wind farms to eco-cities to high-speed rail. And some of the leading global technology companies are working with the country to help it meet its
carbon emissions
Some of the world’s largest cities are being asked to publicly disclose what their carbon footprints are in a global effort led by a diverse group of organisations. The Carbon Disclosure Project, which has been tracking greenhouse gas emissions of large businesses since 2000, recently sent questionnaires to the
recycling
The recent controversy over Frito-Lay’s biodegradable — but noisy — SunChips bag illustrates just how hard it can be for a well-intentioned consumer-oriented company to go green. Rolled out with great fanfare after four years in development, the compostable crisps bag was yanked by Frito-Lay North America last month after customer
climate
When making the case for an upgraded infrastructure, the cheerleaders of smart-grid technology usually point to benefits like improved energy efficiency and better integration of renewable power sources. One advantage that doesn’t always get mentioned first, though, could prove to be a big one in a world facing a
cloud computing
More businesses are trying to cut their carbon emissions, whether it’s to meet the requirements of legislation like the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC), reduce energy costs or keep green-minded customers happy. Most of these companies, though, tackle the challenge with a top-down approach, assigning a sustainability officer to head
solar power
By Franceska Brown When the first washing machines made their way into homes in the early 1900s, many people died from plugging them in. The technology was still so new and mysterious that people didn’t know how potentially dangerous — fatal, even, if done with wet hands — it was to
electronics
With no foreseeable slowdown in the expanding array of electronic devices at our disposal, making gadgets as energy-efficient as possible could be the only way to curb our accompanying exploding appetite for electricity. The International Energy Agency (IEA) last year issued an urgent call for just such an effort upon
smart phones
Smart phones … what would we do without them? Smart phones are not simply a mobile phone on steroids. Far from it. Where it may have been seen as such a while ago, the smart phone has in the last few years become as much part of our lives as toothpaste,
greenwashing
Product manufacturers are listening to the message from their customers: “We want greener, more sustainable choices.” But too many companies still are responding to that demand by telling customers what they want to hear, rather than actually delivering the greener products they’re asking for. That was one of the
biodiversity
Capital in the forms of cash and credit might be hard to come by in these economically constrained times, but natural capital could soon prove rarer still if we don’t start accounting for nature’s valuable services to society. That’s the message underpinning GLOBE International’s “Natural Capital
renewables
Can you ever have too much clean energy? Germany has discovered that you can. And, unfortunately, it’s not likely to solve that problem until we find better and more cost-effective ways to store energy. Germany’s current predicament is an unwelcome side-effect of its successful efforts to boost renewable
