Sweden retains crown as world's 'most sustainable country' - 26 Jun 2015. Sweden is still the most sustainable country in the world, according to a recent ranking by sustainable investment company RobecoSAM. The Country Sustainability Ranking study, which is based on an analysis of a wide range of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors, gave the Scandinavian nation a score of eight out of 10.
Sweden narrowly beat Switzerland and Norway to the pole position, retaining the number one ranking it secured last year. The report praised the country for its high performance against a range of green metrics, arguing its ability to respond to environmental threats mitigates risks for investors. The country also performed highly in against so-called governance metrics, including its commitment to liberty and equality, and social factors such as investment in education. However, Sweden received only an average score for its energy usage and the proportion of power coming from renewable energy, demonstrating room for improvement.
Apple Forges Historic Partnership on Forests. Marking a precedent-setting conservation partnership, Apple and the Conservation Fund will purchase two large areas of working forest, the organizations announced on Thursday. The move is expected to conserve “more than 36,000 acres of working forestland in Maine and North Carolina, ensuring these forests stay forests and any timber on the land is harvested sustainably,” the partners said in a joint announcement. This initial purchase of U.S. working forestland marks “the beginning of a worldwide effort, one that represents a new approach as it reassesses its impact on the world’s paper supply chain,” Lisa P. Jackson, Apple’s vice president of environmental initiatives, and Larry Selzer, president and CEO of the Conservation Fund, wrote in a Medium op-ed. Prior to joining Apple, Jackson led the U.S.
EPA as President Barack Obama’s EPA Administrator from 2009 to 2013. On a mission to conserve America’s working forests Image credits: 1) Apple; 2) TCF; 3) North Carolina State University. China's Clean Revolution A Top Governmental Priority. Editor’s Note: EarthTechling is proud to repost this article courtesy of The Climate Group. The change in China’s leadership is no doubt at the very centre of global attention – at an almost equal level with the American Presidential election. What is even more interesting is that even though climate did not feature prominently as a key issue in the US during the campaign period, dealing with climate change and sustainable development is very much at the centre of China’s political agenda for the coming decade.
In his speech to the 18th Party Congress, outgoing President Hu Jintao reiterated the importance of sustainable development in China in the next 10 years. President Hu stressed that “ecological civilization” (a Chinese term for the Clean Revolution) will be integrated into the existing guiding principles of economic, political, cultural and social development. Image via Xinhua News Agency The President’s speech highlighted four “fronts”, including:
Where the Stimulus Money Went: New Buildings, Clean Energy and Infrastructure Projects. Photo © Chad Ress When it comes to President Obama’s domestic policy, healthcare reform gets all the attention while Obama’s other main achievement, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act — better known as “the stimulus” — is often dismissed by the president’s opponents and supporters alike. Although as much as $150 billion of the $831 billion stimulus was expected to be spent on infrastructure improvements, most people have no idea where the stimulus money went. In a recent photo essay, photographer Chad Ress followed the money to shed some light on those public works. Many of the stimulus projects helped to provide construction jobs while adhering to high environmental and energy-efficiency standards. The federal government has been very transparent in how it spends stimulus money, outlining expenditures on Recovery.gov.
The stimulus wasn’t perfect; some economists — most notable Paul Krugman — have argued that it wasn’t ambitious enough to get the job done. . + Chad Ress. The best eco-friendly homes. City Council paper usage down 40 percent after switch to iPads | iPad Atlas. Stories of Apple's success in integrating the iPad into business have been easy to come by in the last year as many companies and organizations are finding that not only does the tablet save them time, but also money.
According to a report from AppleInsider, The City Council of Vancouver, Wash., found just that when it switched to iPads at the beginning of 2012. After these last two months, the council has seen a reduction in paper usage to the tune of 40 percent, which amounts to about 50,000 pages of paper over the course of the year. Instead of printing several pages for every meeting, the council now uses iPads to disseminate important information at retreats and orientation sessions, as well as the applicant review process for advisory board/commission vacancies.
The paperless effort should be completed this spring, though print-outs will still be available should citizens want to retain the information presented. Have you seen or used an iPad in a government setting? Using big data to make an MPG for everything — Cleantech News and Analysis. CO2 : l'Ademe et le Cigref propose une méthodologie dédiée à l’informatique. Par Frédéric Bordage - 07/02/2012 Comment évaluer les émissions de gaz à effet de serre (GES) d’un système d’information ? Jusqu’à présent, il était quasiment impossible de réaliser cette évaluation faute de facteurs d’émission adaptés et d’une méthodologie de référence. Pour y remédier, l’ADEME et le CIGREF publient le guide sectoriel « Bilan GES des Technologies Numériques ». Ce guide de 146 pages a été mis au point par Zen’to et GreenIT.fr qui ont réuni 50 professionnels* autour de 4 groupes de travail : Data center, Réseaux et télécoms, environnement de travail de l’utilisateur, et Organisation et Pilotage.
L’objectif d’une évaluation des émissions de gaz à effet de serre est d’identifier les principaux postes d’émission et de mettre en œuvre des actions pour les diminuer. Afin de répondre aux contraintes des grands groupes, la démarche de l’ADEME et du CIGREF prend en compte les différents travaux internationaux en cours, notamment ISO 14064 et le futur 14069 et le GHG Protocol. Tidal Power Coming To New York City, For Real. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) website has long listed hundreds of hydrokinetic projects at various stages in the regulatory approval process [PDF]. Preliminary permits, pending preliminary permits, pre-filing for license, post-filing for licensing—well into January this year there were projects in several different categories, but not a single one had been granted a license to create and send power to the grid.
Until now. Verdant Power’s 1.05-megawatt tidal power project in the East River in New York City is modest in scale. What’s big about it is what it represents—the first federally approved tidal pilot project. That approval by FERC comes a full year after Verdant filed its application to put 30 turbines on the riverbed. image via Verdant Power Verdant’s work in the East River, called the Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy (RITE) Project, began way back in 2002—giving some insight into how long it takes to take a clean energy project from idea to reality. Slideshare. Hébergeur › Le premier datacenter zéro émission est islandais.
How to Save a Planet - On a Budget. Please complete all fields below. How to Save a Planet - On a Budget November 30, 2011, 9:00am -- 12:30pm EST A Virtual Conference from The Energy Collective and The Sustainable Cities Collective, sponsored by Full Agenda Here How can we drive progress to a clean energy economy when governments are broke and investment is scarce? For those concerned about the planet’s well-being, it’s one of the crucial questions of our time, one that may have implications for our environment for generations. To that end, we’re opening the conversation with a free virtual conference on November 30. The first 50 people to register will receive a free copy of But Will The Planet Notice? Who should attend? In six distinct discussions, we'll cover: Paying the True Cost of Energy: A Conversation About Carbon Pricing Can Carbon Markets Drive Green Innovation and Infrastructure?
Full agenda information here. Featuring: Pecan Street Inc. Top 10 small-scale renewable energy innovators | John Vidal | Environment. Abu Dhabi hosting the World Future Energy conference is like Dracula running a meeting of blood coagulant specialists. Never mind that the emirate has vast oil and gas reserves and is throwing up scandalously inefficient buildings by the score, it really wants to make the world believe that the future will be renewable power.
Money is no object here; not only did Abu Dhabi spend big undisclosed amounts in its campaign to house the proposed International Renewable Energy Agency, the emirate is pumping billions of dollars into Masdar City, billed as the world's first carbon-neutral city. Masdar is also paying for the giant London array offshore windfarm in the Thames estuary and many other clean-tech developments in Europe, Egypt and the US. Now it has now hooked up with the Massachusetts Institute for Technology (MIT) to attract the world's top scientists and dozens of blue-chip multinationals to roll out the next generation of renewables. 1. Jet-stream power 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. GreenBizDaily.
EV. Transportation. Solar. Products. Solar tiles that offer style. Correction at 7:20 a.m. PDT June 23: The energy production of the tiles has been fixed. The tiles can generate 860 kilowatt hours per square (or per 100 square feet) annually in an area with "5.8 peak sun hours" per day. Will a better aesthetic tempt more people into going solar? SRS Energy is betting on it. The company has partnered with US Tile, a leading manufacturer of Spanish, slate, and shake roof tiles, to design solar panels with the exact same shapes as their clay counterparts. The result is solar tiles that can be seamlessly integrated with the terra-cotta tiles on your roof. BIPV (building-integrated photovoltaics) have been around for a while, but many of them fail to visually blend in with the existing architecture. The Solé Power Tile system was unveiled at American Institute of Architects 2009 National Convention and Design Exposition this past May at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. The company plans to move into other U.S. and European markets in 2010.
Cabling Installation & Maintenance - Web-based seminar addre. Green Technology.