·:[ Environmental News Bits ]:·
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Read the full story in USA Today.

As energy costs rise, more states and cities are adopting policies that encourage or require new construction to be energy-efficient.

For a full-color, graphic version of this newsletter, go to
http://www.climatebiz.com/enewsletter.

Carbon Calculators Yield Spectrum of Results: Study
http://climatebiz.com/news/2008/07/30/carbon-calculators-yield-spectrum-results-study
The University of Washington (UW) analyzed 10 carbon calculators on the market used to determine an individual’s carbon footprint, but the results varied by as much as several metric tons.

Method Incentivizes Supply Chain Energy Efficiency
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2008/08/06/method-incentivizes-supply-chain-energy-efficiency
Method Products plans to shake up its carbon offset program with a new initiative targeting its supply chain. The company will divert some of the money it spends on carbon offsets to help its suppliers become more energy efficient.

Coalition Releases 2012 Cap and Trade Design
By Tilde Herrera
http://climatebiz.com/news/2008/07/25/coalition-releases-2012-cap-and-trade-design
The Western Climate Initiative unveiled a draft plan for what will become North America’s largest carbon cap and trade system set to go into effect in 2012.

Voluntary EPA Programs’ Ability to Reduce Emissions ‘Limited’
http://climatebiz.com/news/2008/07/29/voluntary-epa-programs-ability-reduce-emissions-limited
Voluntary U.S Environmental Protection Agency programs aimed at cutting greenhouse gases have “limited potential,” according to the EPA Office of Inspector General.

Senators Push for Higher Energy Efficiency for Small Businesses
http://climatebiz.com/news/2008/08/01/senators-energy-efficiency-small-businesses
Facing ever-increasing energy prices and growing concern about environmental impact, Senators John Kerry and Olympia Snowe are urging the U.S. Small Business Administration to promote energy efficiency programs and make it easier for SMEs to save costs and lower their carbon footprint.

California Effort to Regulate Emissions Hits Roadblock
http://climatebiz.com/news/2008/07/29/california-effort-regulate-emissions-hits-roadblock
A federal judge dealt a blow to California’s quest to regulate tail pipe emissions by dismissing one of two lawsuits against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

New Report Assesses Climate Change Vulnerability
http://climatebiz.com/news/2008/07/28/new-report-assesses-climate-change-vulnerability
The Maplecroft Climate Change Risk Report examines 168 countries and their ability to adapt to climate change to help companies and governments manage and mitigate future impacts.

U.K. Discloses Progress in Fighting Climate Change
http://climatebiz.com/news/2008/07/24/uk-discloses-progress-fighting-climate-change
A United Kingdom government report shows the United Kingdom will fall short of its 2010 goal of cutting carbon dioxide emissions. But it said it is still on track to nearly double its Kyoto target of reducing total greenhouse gases 12.5 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.

California Plans Another Emissions Lawsuit Against EPA
http://climatebiz.com/news/2008/07/29/california-effort-regulate-emissions-hits-roadblock
California will announce plans to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for its failure to rein in greenhouse gas emissions from ships, aircraft and industrial equipment.

China on the Cusp of ‘Clean Revolution’
http://climatebiz.com/news/2008/08/04/china-cusp-clean-revolution
China gets a bad rap for its environmental record, growing greenhouse gas emissions and coal-dependent energy portfolio. But there are glimmers of hope beneath China’s smog-choked skies, according to a new report.

Institute for the Future Outlines Influences on Business Sustainability
http://climatebiz.com/news/2008/07/30/institute-future-outlines-influences-business-sustainability
Looking out to 2017, the Institute for the Future has compiled what it envisions will be the main outside forces affecting business sustainability, including changing cities, how people interact, where our energy comes from and more.

Land Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Intersect in the Courtroom
By Tilde Herrera
http://climatebiz.com/feature/2008/08/07/land-use-and-greenhouse-gas-emissions-intersect-courtroom
Climate change laws are producing a small but growing wave of lawsuits and legal threats to force counties, developers and companies to count and mitigate emissions as part of their plans for large projects.

Carbon: The Supply Chain’s Fourth Dimension
By Jeff Hittner and Karen Butner
http://climatebiz.com/column/2008/08/07/carbon-the-supply-chains-fourth-dimension
Given the sheer number of items we purchase, use and throw away every year, it’s no surprise that consumer products are the ultimate drivers of carbon emissions. As a result product design is a critical component for companies seeking to address climate change.

Carbon-Free Energy, Cutting Poverty in Half: Mr. Gore, Meet Mr. Edwards
http://www.climatebiz.com/column/2008/08/02/carbon-free-energy-cutting-poverty-half-mr-gore-meet-mr-edwards
In recent weeks, former vice president Al Gore challenged Americans to commit to producing 100 percent of electricity from “renewable energy and clean carbon-free sources” within 10 years. And former senator John Edwards launched a Half in Ten campaign “to reduce poverty in the United States by 50 percent
within 10 years.”

A Comparison of Carbon Calculators
http://www.climatebiz.com/resources/resource/a-comparison-carbon-calculators
This study examines the differences and similarities of 10 U.S. carbon calculators used to determine a consumer’s carbon footprint.

Climate Changes Your Business
http://climatebiz.com/resources/resource/climate-changes-your-business
This report from KPMG reviews the business risks and economic impacts at the sector level, including aviation, transport, mining and metals, retail and utilities, among others.

Read the press release.

From global warming to solar power, the changes in the Earth’s climate is under scrutiny.  Gale, part of Cengage Learning, announces the release of Climate Change in Context, a new reference book designed to explain the complexities of the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to younger students.

Here are 10 things you may not know about climate change:

1. Global warming is causing more snow to fall in the central parts of ice-covered Greenland and Antarctica, even as it speeds melting around the coastlines.
2. Forty percent of all carbon dioxide emitted thus far by human beings has been absorbed by the oceans, making oceans more acidic and challenging to marine life.
3. The greenhouse effect is a natural and needed phenomenon that is vital to life. In the absence of the greenhouse effect, Earth’s surface temperature would average about 0°F (-18°C), which is well below the freezing point of water. The challenge comes from the enhanced greenhouse effect caused by human activity.
4. About a tenth of global warming is caused by agricultural production.
5. The last 200 years of human activity have increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to its highest level in at least 800,000 years.
6. About 5 percent of human-released carbon dioxide is from the manufacture of cement.
7. Brown clouds of carbon from traditional fuels like wood and dung hanging over the Indian Ocean are absorbing enough solar energy to cause up to half of Asia’s recent warming.
8. Almost two thirds of the greenhouse effect is due to water vapor. However, water does not linger in the atmosphere, so other greenhouse gases set the pace of global climate change.
9. Venus’ surface is heated to above the melting point of lead by a runaway greenhouse effect. The climate histories of Mars and Venus may offer insights into Earth’s climate system.
10. All but a handful of climate scientists agree that global warming is real and that human actions fundamentally cause the extreme changes observed. The IPCC argues that climate change could be significantly lessened at little cost or even at a profit, and without slowing world economic growth.

Read the full story in Metropolis Magazine.

Digital media displays are all about spectacle, and the new GreenPix wall, in Beijing, is no excep­tion. Indeed, it is the largest color LED display in the world, with 2,292 of the energy-efficient lights spanning a 24,000-square-foot glass surface. In the evening, as traffic throngs the busy road it faces, the wall plays massive low-resolution video installa­tions by Chinese, Japanese, European, and Amer­ican artists.

But GreenPix is also a fairly radical example of sustainable technology. Simone Giostra and Part­ners, working with Arup and German manufacturers Schüco and Sunways, laminated photovoltaic (PV) cells inside the glass curtain wall. In itself this is not new, but the level of integration and the scale of GreenPix are unique. The 6,000 square feet of PV cells are arranged with varying density: where nat­ural light is needed inside the building, there are few or no cells; in other places, dense as­sort­ments of cells block the sunlight, reducing interior heat gain while generating enough electricity each day to power the display at night.

Read the full story in Biodiesel Magazine.

On two Gulf of California plantations in the state of Sonora, Mexico, Phoenix-based Global Seawater Inc. is using coastal land and seawater to grow salicornia, a salt-loving halophyte plant that thrives in heat and poor soil conditions. The company said salicornia could be used as an economical feedstock to produce biodiesel.

Read the full story in Biodiesel Magazine.

Twenty-four-hour news network CNN launched its two-week biofuel series, “Cody’s Big Biofuel Adventure,” on July 28. Although there have been a few inaccuracies in the broadcasts, some in the biodiesel industry conclude any press is good press.

Read the full story in NIST Tech Beat.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute (UMBI) will co-sponsor an international conference on “Accelerating Innovation in 21st Century Biosciences: Identifying the Measurement Standards and Technological Challenges,” Oct. 19-22, 2008, at NIST headquarters in Gaithersburg, Md. The conference goal is to identify and prioritize measurement, standards and technology needs currently creating barriers to innovation — and impeding full realization of the societal and economic benefits of new discoveries in the biosciences.

The conference will focus on:

• Agriculture — increasing yield, quality and safety in the world’s food supply;
• Energy — obtaining sustainable energy from biological sources;
• Environment — understanding our planet through linking molecules to ecosystems;
• Manufacturing — obtaining higher quality products through better bioprocess measurements; and
• Medicine — improving health through measurement of complex biological signatures.

The conference is designed to yield a detailed “road map” list of measurement, standards and technology needs that will inform and guide researchers at NIST, as well as others in the measurement and standards communities worldwide.

Read the full story in NIST Tech Beat.

High food prices, concern over dwindling supplies of fossil fuels and the desire for clean, renewable energy have led many to seek ways to make ethanol out of cellulosic sources such as wood, hay and switchgrass. But today’s processes are notoriously inefficient. In a new paper,* researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have detailed some of the most fundamental processes involved in extracting sugars from biomass, the first step in producing ethanol by fermentation. Their findings should help engineers to improve their process designs in order to extract the maximum amount of fuel from a given measure of biomass.

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