Global wind power installations grew by 29 percent in 2008, exceeding past performance and bringing the world’s commercial wind power capacity to 120,798 megawatts.

Wind now produces 1.5 percent of the world’s electricity with 80 countries using commercial wind power, according to an analysis by the Worldwatch Institute released this week.

The U.S. claimed much of that growth, with more than 42 percent of the power capacity added in 2008. The U.S. was the leader in new installations (passing Germany), and also became the world leader in cumulative wind power capacity with 25,170 megawatts of capacity at the end of 2008, according to Worldwatch.

Natural gas still added capacity faster than wind; despite wind’s surging growth trajectory.

Elsewhere in the world, wind strengthened its position in several key population centers, according to Worldwatch:

• Wind became Europe’s leading source of new electric capacity with 8,877 megawatts added, outpacing new natural gas and coal facilities. Wind power now accounts for 8 percent of the European Union’s power capacity. Europe ended the year with 65,946 megawatts of capacity.

• Germany leads the region in new installations, and despite a slowdown in production in 2008, still expects to generate 31 percent of the nation’s power from wind by 2030. It ranks second in the world in total wind capacity with 23,903 megawatts, just behind the U.S.

• Spain was fourth worldwide in new installations in 2008, and ranks third after the United States and Germany for cumulative wind power capacity with 16,740 megawatts.

• Asia accounted for nearly one-third of the global wind capacity added in 2008, with China passing its 2010 wind power target of 10,000 megawatts and ending 2008 with 12,200 megawatts in place. China ranks 4th in the world for total capacity.

• India ranked third in wind capacity additions for 2008 with 1,800 megawatts of new wind added and now ranks 5th for total capacity worldwide.

• Nearly 400,000 people are employed in the wind industry across the world, a number that could temporarily decline because of the economic downturn, according to Worldwatch, which also predicts that lower construction costs could lead to a long-term boom in wind.

“We’ve seen rapid and consistent global growth in the wind sector over the past decade, with an increasing number of countries turning to wind as a source of power,” said the report’s author, senior researcher Janet Sawin. “If these trends continue as expected, wind energy will play an integral role in the transition to a low-carbon economy.”

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

A report on American baby products showing that several contain trace amounts of chemicals listed as “probable carcinogens” by the EPA has triggered alarm bells in the U.S. and overseas.

Some 20,000 people reportedly responded to the study by contacting their representatives to ask for stronger regulation, and turns out China is quite concerned about these toxic additives coming their way from the U.S.

It’s not just about turn-about being fair play, MedIndia reports that Chinese parents are on “high alert” after the melamine-tainted milk scare that resulted in several infant deaths.

China and Vietnam are now conducting their own safety tests on some of the baby products that were identified as being contaminated with 1,4-dioxane and formaldehyde in an analysis by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. The CSC targeted mainstream products marketed as “safe” and “gentle” and found that even the iconic Johnson’s Baby Shampoo tested positive for trace amounts of these toxins.

Some major Chinese, Taiwanese and Vietnamese retailers have pulled affected products from their shelves, including a supermarket chain in Ho Chi Minh City (see this report ) that was clearing out the Johnson & Johnson shampoo and bubble bath flagged by the CSC.

Manufacturers, including Johnson & Johnson, say the chemicals are safe in trace amounts, and end up in the lotion or shampoo either as a preservative or as part of the process used to make the products gentler. But advocates say they pose an unnecessary danger because many comparable beauty products do without them, in Europe in particular, where 1,4 dioxane is banned in personal care products.

Of 28 products tested for both formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane, 17 contained trace amounts of both.

For more see the No More Toxic Tub report, and our story.

SUNNYVALE, CA — Creating green-tech jobs is one of the key goals of the federal stimulus bill. It’s a big part of the economic future of the country.

But it’s also a focus in other parts of the world — like china.

>Watch Now

Increasing global requirements for green packaging is pushing the Chinese ink industry to become more environmentally friendly, according to a report by Frost & Sullivan. Printing ink, one of the most pollutive materials used in packaging, will likely become cleaner as technology advances, the firm predicts.

The current major three types of green Ink are water-based ink, UV ink, and alcohol-soluble ink.

“Water-based ink is currently widely used in flexographic printing for food, pharmaceuticals, and tobacco packaging in China,” Frost & Sullivan’s China Industry Research Manager for Environmental Practice Vivian Chen said in a statement. She said it will increasingly be used as a substitute for solvent-based ink as application techniques are further improved.

Soy ink or vegetable ink, which is already popular in the U.S. and Japan, should be introduced into China in the next few years, Chen said. Petroleum-based inks contain 30-35% volatile organic compounds (VOCs), while soy inks typically range from only 0-5% VOCs. Soy and vegetable products are used in ink for their oils, which act as the vehicle for the ink pigments, she said.

The first regulation on environmentally friendly ink was issued in late 2007 and came into effect in February, 2008. Though not compulsive, these standards have brought China in line with international practice and the Chinese regulatory system on green ink is expected to improve.

“However, faced with the current economic climate, most medium to small sized local competitors are facing great challenges as they do not possess strong R&D capabilities and compete through price wars,” Chen said. “The global economic recession as well as regulation releases and revisions such as EU’s REACH is likely to add costs to exporters.”

Frost & Sullivan predicts these new regulations will accelerate research and development of green inks and will likely eliminate ink manufacturers that are not environmental friendly.

“Thus as a whole, these factors are driving the sustainable development of the Chinese ink industry in the long run. This not only benefits the printing ink industry itself, but also has profound influence on relevant business such as pressroom chemicals and recycled paper. We can see that China is now stepping into the ‘Green Printing Era’,” says Chen.

In the U.K., solvent-based ink has been illegal in printing food packaging films since June 2000. In the U.S., the EPA opposes solvent-based ink, and flexo water-based ink is the only qualified ink for food and pharma packaging.

The 1994 Vegetable Ink Printing Act mandated that printers with government contracts give preference to vegetable oil-based inks over volatile petroleum-based inks whenever possible. This was an effort to reduce emissions from VOCs and hazardous air pollutants (HAPs).

Chen said that supervision power is expected to be increase in China.

“After a series of incidents in 2007 and 2008, such as the Chinese milk contamination, Chinese residents are showing rising concerns for food safety,” she said. “The Chinese government who oversees agricultural production and manufacturing of food packaging, chemical additives, drug production, and business regulation has attempted to consolidate food regulation with the creation of the State Food and Drug Administration of China in 2003. Officials have also been under increasing public and international pressure to solve food safety problems.”

As if we needed another scare this week, the tainted milk scandal in China continues to slip its moorings, with melamine, an industrial chemical never intended for human consumption, turning up in Lipton brand “milk tea powder” products destined for Asian markets as well as in good ol’ Nabisco Ritz cracker cheese sandwiches tested in South Korea.

International food giant Unilever announced today it was recalling certain Lipton milk teas from Hong Kong and Macau shelves because internal tests found melamine contamination. The company reported, however, that none of the affected products were destined for U.S. stores and that Unilever’s U.S. division does not import any milk ingredients from China.

Chocolate and coating suppliers in the U.S. have “confirmed that all of their products used in Unilever U.S. production” of ice cream and health drinks are unaffected by the melamine contamination in China, said company spokesman Dean Mastrojohn.

Meanwhile, South Korea officials reported finding melamine in Nabisco’s Ritz cracker cheese sandwiches and said they were banning imports of all Chinese-made food products containing powdered milk. (No calls back yet from Nabisco.)

Earlier, Cadbury also recalled 11 chocolate bars after tests found a small amount of melamine in six chocolate samples. Hong Kong authorities declared the contamination to be at a “safe level” – but Cadbury said it was still withdrawing the candy, made in Beijing.

Before that it was Mr. Brown Blend Instant Coffee and Mr. Brown French Vanilla Instant Coffee, and some other Mr. Brown’s brand coffees, on the hook for contamination, and…well, the list goes on.

Here’s a place to keep updated for products possibly entering American markets: The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) food advisory website. Unfortunately, it’s not up to the minute, but seems to suffer a two or three day lag time.

But back to melamine. You’ve probably heard that this poisoner of dogs and cats that crept into pet food made in China last year has been found over the past several weeks in a variety of brands of powdered milk products made in China. (For a rundown of how this chemical is intended to be used in floor tiles, whiteboards and other non-edible products, see wiseGEEK.

The melamine is believed to have been introduced to the milk products to circumvent quality-control tests — it registers as protein. It has sickened thousands of infants across China, killed four babies and threatened more tots in other Asian countries that imported (and have now banned) the products. The U.S. has so far not been affected by the baby formula, though other melamine-tainted products, such as White Rabbit candy have been distributed here.

Chinese women are being urged to turn to breastfeeding to limit the risk to their children. Authorities have rounded up more than two dozen suspects related to this spreading scandal.

China’s President Hu Jintao said today that the country needs to “ensure that all products on the market are up to standard, so consumers don’t have to worry.” This, nearly two full months after the first evidence of the melamine-milk problem surfaced.

The moral to the story? Those who seek comfort best stay out of the snack aisle.

Copyright © 2008 | Distributed by Noofangle Media

In the race for top carbon emissions polluter, the United States is still Number One, but China is sprinting forward and could soon edge into the lead. The current Olympics host nation accounted for a “staggering 57 percent of the growth of emissions” worldwide this century, and will likely surpass the U.S. as the single biggest belcher of fossil fuel emissions sometime this year, according to the Worldwatch Institute.

The standings right now: The U.S. currently contributes 19.5 percent of global fossil fuel emissions compared with China’s 18.3 percent.

China’s pole vault onto the world stage of top polluters has been fueled by rapid industrialization and huge growth in coal plants, which provide about 70 percent of the nation’s commercial electricity, according to the Vital Signs Update released Thursday by Worldwatch, a Washington research and watchdog group.

Still, the United States can claim one title that leaves China far behind, the United States’ per capita carbon emissions eclipse that of all other nations. They exceed China’s by 4 to 1 and India’s by 13 to 1, according to the report.

The burning of fossil fuels – coal, oil and gas – accounts for the majority of CO2 emissions, which means most industrialized nations contribute to the rising cloud of greenhouse gases (which include CO2 and other gases) encircling the globe. Coal is the worst polluter, giving off more carbon gases per unit of energy generated, and it is also the cheapest.

Globally, carbon emissions grew by 20 percent from 2000 to 2007, according to the Worldwatch analysis. Industrializing India contributed 8 percent of that growth. The United States’ and Europe’s emissions accounted for 4 percent and 3 percent, respectively.

As the report points out, accords between industrialized and developing nations, will be key to regulating spiraling carbon emissions. This is one race best run in reverse.

Copyright © 2008 | Distributed by Noofangle Media