·:[ Environmental News Bits ]:·
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Location: Illinois Institute of Technology McCormick Tribune Campus Center, Chicago IL
Dates: Thursday and Friday, August 7 and 8, 2008
For more information: http://www.mmae.iit.edu/symposium/index.php

Today’s manufacturers face many challenges; product development has become a global competition, consumers and legislators are calling for more sustainable manufacturing processes, and the digital solutions that can help address both these issues are evolving at an ever-faster pace. Small and medium-sized companies can be overwhelmed by the impact these factors can have on even day-to-day operations.

The Symposium on Sustainability & Product Development will offer ideas and networking opportunities to help small and mid-sized manufacturers in the State of Illinois and the Midwest, at large, find new solutions to these issues. The event – organized by the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Department, in partnership with Argonne National Laboratory, Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce and the Chicago Manufacturing Center – will bring together business leaders, government officials and academics from the nation’s top engineering programs. These experts will share creative successes, new ideas and best practices for maintaining an edge over a world of new competitors.

Additionally, selected participants will have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with technology experts from Argonne National Laboratory and the Illinois Institute of Technology for one or two days of personal consultation. These sessions could help companies answer questions on a range of topics, including product and process design, advanced manufacturing and manufacturing sustainability.

The small town of Stella, Missouri (population 187), is a unique living laboratory that is testing the sustainable development potential of similar communities, based on a planning model developed by EPA researchers in cooperation with local residents. The Stella master plan provides a baseline of environmental, economic, and social variables by which to evaluate the sustainability of Stella’s development over the next decade.

Read the full story in Technology Review.

The ocean’s waves have enough energy to provide two trillion watts of electricity, according to the Department of Energy’s office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Extracting that enormous resource of power, however, has proved to be a herculean challenge.

Read the full story in Technology Review.

Last week, the Japanese newspaper Nikkei generated a buzz by reporting that a redesigned Toyota Prius, to be released next year, will come equipped with solar panels. Toyota spokespeople will neither confirm nor deny the report, but several companies already offer solar roof kits for the Prius, and researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), in Golden, CO, have been testing one on a Prius modified to plug into the electrical grid. Their conclusion: for the time being, plug-in hybrids charged from stationary solar arrays are a more efficient and cheaper option.

For a full-color, graphic version of this newsletter, go to
http://www.greenbiz.com/enewsletters/2008/greenbiz/index.html.

Selling Small, Thinking Big: P&G’s Sustainable Innovations
By Matthew Wheeland
http://www.greenbiz.com/podcast/2008/07/10/selling-small-thinking-big
Peter White, the head of sustainability at Procter & Gamble, speaks to GreenBiz Radio about how the company is using product design and marketing to reduce energy and water use across its products’ life cycles, and how the company couples its environmental goals with social responsibility goals.

GE Pumps $4 Billion Into Renewables
http://greenbiz.com/news/2008/07/11/ge-pumps-4-billion-into-renewables
Putting $100 million into three New York wind farms pushed renewable energy investments past the $4 billion mark this week for GE Energy Financial Services.

Rolls-Royce, British Airways to Test Alternative Airline Fuels
http://greenbiz.com/news/2008/07/14/rolls-royce-british-airways-alternative-fuels
The Rolls-Royce Group and British Airways will test up to four alternatives to kerosene. In a related announcement, the Federal Aviation Administration will work with the X Prize Foundation to develop a reward for alternative jet fuels.

EU Votes to Include Airlines in Cap-and-Trade System
http://greenbiz.com/news/2008/07/09/eu-votes-include-airlines-cap-and-trade-system
The European Parliament voted Tuesday to bring into the fold of its cap-and-trade system all airlines that fly to or from Europe beginning in 2012, causing an uproar from non-EU carriers struggling against high jet fuel prices. Aviation trade associations questioned the legality and promised a battle in the courts.

Deloitte Looks to Telepresence to Cut Costs and Carbon
By Andrew Charlesworth, BusinessGreen
http://greenbiz.com/news/2008/07/11/deloitte-looks-telepresence-cut-costs-and-carbon
The consultancy signed a managed services deal with Nortel for videoconferencing aimed at slashing the company’s travel bill and carbon footprint.

Renault, Nissan Plan to Electrify Portugal
http://greenbiz.com/news/2008/07/10/renault-nissan-plan-electrify-portugal
The Renault-Nissan Alliance has partnered with Portugal to create a widespread infrastructure supporting electric vehicles.

Sixteen Climate Change Consultants Evaluated in New Report
http://greenbiz.com/news/2008/07/14/climate-change-consultants-evaluated
A Verdantix report looks at how 16 consulting firms with climate change offerings stack up against 74 criteria.

Investment Funds Sink Money in Oil-Waste Sector
http://greenbiz.com/news/2008/07/09/funds-explore-oil-waste-sector
The Virgin Green Fund and Masdar Clean Tech Fund acquired the assets of an oil and metal recycling company in Texas.

Renewable Energy Jobs Growing Worldwide: Study
http://greenbiz.com/news/2008/07/11/renewable-energy-jobs-growing
A study by the Worldwatch Institute shows how renewable energy jobs have expanded and are projected to grow throughout the world.

New Cars in California Must Display Global Warming Score
http://greenbiz.com/news/2008/07/07/cars-california-global-warming-score
Beginning in 2009, any new car for sale in the state must have a label showing its global warming rating.

Green Investing Saw ‘Robust’ Growth in 2007: Report
http://greenbiz.com/news/2008/07/08/green-investing-robust-growth-2007
The latest “World Wealth Report” includes a look at how high-net-worth individuals around the world are investing in clean technology.

G8 Climate Scorecards 2008
http://greenbiz.com/resources/resource/world-wildlife-fund-g8-climate-scorecards-2008
The G8 Climate Scorecards 2008 found that the U.S. has done the least among the world’s eight largest economies to address global warming. The study also said none of the eight countries are making significant enough improvements to prevent temperature increases that would cause catastrophic climate changes.

Corporate Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reporting 2008
http://greenbiz.com/resources/resource/corporate-greenhouse-gas-emissions-reporting-2008
This Ethical Corporation Institute report gives an overview of the many protocols that companies are using to report greenhouse gas emissions, pointing out inconsistencies and providing insight into what stakeholders want to see.

Navigating the Wilderness of Green Business Certifications
By Tilde Herrera
http://greenbiz.com/feature/2008/07/14/navigating-wilderness-green-business-certifications
Getting your business labeled green though a certification program has many benefits, but as companies are discovering, the simple act of choosing which program opens up a world of complications.

Logistics and Transportation: Key Steps to a Greener Supply Chain
By Sum Sum Chan and Jenny Joy
http://www.greenbiz.com/column/2008/07/07/logistics-transportation-greener-supply-chain
Whether shipping is the key focus of your operations or merely means to an end, there are several ways companies of all sizes can make this element of their supply chains smarter, more efficient, and greener.

How the Lodging Industry Can Help the Environmental Movement
By Glenn Hasek
http://www.greenbiz.com/column/2008/07/11/lodging-help-environmental-movement
Meetings and travel companies are taking a close look at their environmental impact; although the world of lodging has also begun the process, here are seven fundamental steps to greening the industry.

Read the full story in the New York Times.

A year after the introduction of the sturdy gray bicycles known as Velib’s, other major cities, including American ones, are exploring similar projects.

Read the full story at News.com.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology detailed a technique that can boost solar cell output and turn colored windows into solar panels.

Published in Science magazine on Friday, the researchers have developed a way to use dyes painted on glass to redirect light.

By pushing light to the edges and filtering it, they can concentrate the light and squeeze more electricity from photovoltaic solar cells.

Read the full story at News.com.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Friday that Congress, not the EPA, should regulate greenhouse gases.

EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson hosted a conference call with reporters on Friday where he said that existing law, the Clean Air Act, is “ill-suited” to addressing greenhouse gas emissions.

Instead, Johnson said that Congress should draft legislation to address climate change.

Read the full story in Biomass Magazine.

As the world watches China prepare for the 2008 summer Olympics, London is preparing for its chance to show the world what it’s capable of when the city hosts the 2012 summer Olympics.

Paris-based Suez Energy Services was recently awarded a $178 million contract for its subsidiary Elyo to build, finance and operate two energy centers that will use biomass to power the Olympic Park and its surrounding areas during the Olympics, as well as for communities developed after 2012.