By Tom Kessler

The battlefield cry “charge” is taking on new meanings. Portable fuel cell systems from SFC Smart Fuel Cell AG won first and third prizes in the U.S. Defense Department’s inaugural Wearable Power Competition, the DOD announced.

Nearly 170 designs competed in the event, which was established by Department of Defense Research and Engineering to “encourage innovation in energy systems carried by personnel during field missions.” The systems, attached to a military vest, were required to provide 20 watts of average electric power, have peak-power capability up to 200 watts and weigh no more than 8.8 pounds.

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By John DeFore

Honda is shifting gears in its strategy for hybrid cars. Judging from announcements at last week’s Paris Motor Show, the automaker has decided that the hybrids most likely to succeed in the marketplace are models with a standalone hybrid identity — like Toyota’s Prius, which is not available with a conventional gas engine — rather than those, like Honda’s Civic, that are already familiar in all-gasoline incarnations.

So while Chrysler’s new plan will speed up electric vehicle roll-out by building on existing cars, Honda will now focus on “dedicated” hybrid models like the new Insight Hybrid, which it expects to have in showrooms early next year. (Perhaps confusingly, this new car recycles the name of a previous Honda vehicle, a gas/electric hybrid that was discontinued a couple of years ago due to poor sales.)

The five-passenger car will be followed by two other dedicated hybrids — within the next four years, Honda intends to introduce both a compact similar to its Fit and a sports car resembling the CR-Z. The Insight’s fuel efficiency figures are not yet public, pending full EPA review, but company spokespeople have said its performance should be comparable to the existing Civic Hybrid, which gets a combined 42 mpg.

Though no price has yet been mentioned, in a press release the company boasts it will offer the Insight at “a price significantly below hybrids available today” and therefore expects to sell 200,000 cars a year, with half that in North America.

Copyright © 2008 | Distributed by Noofangle Media

By Harriet Blake

Catalog mailings are nearing full swing now, with mailboxes deluged by hefty full-color enticements to get that Christmas shopping done by phone.

Obviously, online shopping is more prudent, ecologically speaking. However, at the recent Business of Green Media Conference in Boston, the printing industry showed signs of taking green issues seriously.

Consumers can “take solace” in the fact that many catalogs are recycled and others are certified as coming from sustainable forests, said Beth Reardon, a corporate accounts manager with Appleton Coated, one of more than 30 companies represented at the conference’s Expo.

Appleton Coated, a paper company that sells under the Utopia brand, uses virgin fiber but does not use any fiber bleaching, said Reardon. None of their pulp comes from old-growth timber or rainforests. It’s all 100 percent certified by one or all of the following: the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) or the Canadian Standards Association (CSA).

These certification groups were created as a result of concern for the planet’s forests. They review companies’ practices to assure that they do not use old growth or rainforest timber, or engage in disreputable forestry practices that can lead to habitat loss or the displacement of human residents. [Read more →]

By John DeFore

The first-ever RGGI auction, which we reported on last week, has concluded, and now begins the long process of seeing how it works.

Critics are skeptical, saying the emissions caps were set too high and therefore led to allowance prices that were too low. GOOD Blog contributor Ben Jervey calls it a “doomed-to-failure program (or, at least, doomed-to-very modest success)” while allowing that it “will prove invaluable, mostly for the lessons learned from what goes wrong.”

But RGGI members, who never claimed they’d fix the world immediately, are taking a brighter view: The six states involved in the first round raised $38.5 million from the auction, money RGGI says they’ll invest in “energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies, and programs to benefit energy consumers.” That’s something by itself, even if it takes time for the cap-and-trade plan to have much impact on emissions.

The going rate for a single allowance, once the gavel fell, came to $3.07 per ton of emissions. All twelve million-plus of the allowances put up for sale were sold, not just to power-plant operators but also to financial and environmental organizations.

Fifty-nine buyers took part in the auction, presenting a demand (close to 52 million allowances) that was four times as much as the available supply. Maryland, putting the most allowances up for sale, took home a hefty $16.4 million. According to Deputy Director of Communications Dawn Stolzfus, the state passed a law this year to determine exactly how that money will be spent (even if the categories are broad) — allocating, for instance, 10.5% to “clean energy & climate change programs, outreach & education.”

The next RGGI auction is December 17, and they’ll be held on a quarterly basis for the next three years.

Copyright © 2008 | Distributed by Noofangle Media

By John DeFore

Some unenthusiastic recyclers grouse about having to keep separate collection barrels for glass, plastics and paper. Imagine the whining taking place in Southern California right now, as certain Los Angeles residents are being asked to start separating food scraps from the rest of their trash as well.

Following the lead of existing programs in places like Seattle and the San Francisco Bay Area, L.A. is testing a food-waste recycling program in pursuit of its zero-waste goal. As the L.A. Times reported when the plan was announced, around 5,000 residents of three neighborhoods are being recruited for the experiment: Each gets a two-gallon bin (the size of a small cooler), which they’re to keep in the kitchen and fill with a variety of food-related waste — not just apple cores and spoiled leftovers, but egg shells, bones, and even non-food items like pizza boxes and paper plates that have been soiled by food contact and therefore are forbidden in the normal recycling bin.

On collection day, residents are to empty these kitchen bins into curbside receptacles they already have — the green ones used for leaves and tree branches. That material should, in the colorful language of a city report, “absorb fugitive liquids” and keep odor to a minimum. Together, food and lawn waste eventually will be turned into compost.

Los Angeles already has a program helping restaurants recycle their wasted food, but estimates that over a quarter of what goes into residential trash bins is food waste as well. According to this NPR report, planners believe that if it were to expand throughout the city, this household scrap collection could divert “600 tons of wasted food that go to the landfills every day.”

Copyright © 2008 | Distributed by Noofangle Media

By Catherine Colbert

Organic products are much easier to come by these days. Items with the Fair Trade Certified label also are  expanding and taking up more precious real estate on store shelves.

So far this year, more than twice as many Fair Trade Certified products have been introduced in the U.S. compared to last year. Some 284 products with the Fair Trade Certified designation have been launched compared to 130 in 2007, and as few as 17 in 2003, according to a September report by Mintel, Chicago - a market researcher focused on consumer behavior and product innovation.

The Fair Trade food items include a virtual gift basket of treats: a variety of teas, cocoa, fruits, flowers and chocolates.

TransFair USA, headquartered in Oakland, California, is the governing entity in the U.S. behind products deemed Fair Trade Certified. The nonprofit is one of 20 member organizations worldwide that comprises the Fairtrade Labelling Organizations (FLO) International. TransFair audits agreements between U.S. companies and international suppliers to guarantee that farmers in developing countries around the world use environmentally friendly practices and are paid a fair price for their goods. Farmers in Costa Rica and Ghana have reinvested profits in their communities to build schools, develop improved sustainability practices, and establish health clinics.

Since its founding in 1998, TransFair USA has certified more than 74 million pounds of Fair Trade coffee, which in turn has given coffee farmers in Latin America and Africa more than $60 million more than if they had sold their coffee locally, according to the organization.

Most U.S. consumers were introduced to the concept of Fair Trade Certified products with the help of coffee marketers.  Fair Trade, which asks consumers to buy products at a “fair price” to be socially responsible, initially seemed like a niche market. But it has gone mainstream. From 2001 to 2006, retail sales of coffee grew tenfold to $730 million, cites TransFair USA, in a recent Brandweek article. When worldwide retailer Wal-Mart joined the fold, Fair Trade Certified coffee sales really began to percolate. [Read more →]