·:[ Environmental News Bits ]:·
• • • • •

Read the full post at Green, Inc.

Aside from its environmental benefits, solar energy is frequently touted for its job creation potential. But for solar manufacturers themselves, machines — not employees — may be the key to their long-term survival.

Take, for example, photovoltaic solar panels — the most common form of solar technology. As Roger Efird, the managing director of the United States branch of Suntech Power, a solar energy company based in China, the process of making these cells is already largely automated.

But, he added, the process of taking the individual solar cells and connecting them to create a solar panel is sometimes done by machines, and sometimes by hand, depending on the company and the factory.

Read the full post at Green, Inc.

American retailers looking to save energy are aiming high — just below the roof rafters. That’s where a small revolution is underway to replace 70-year-old magnetic-ballast lighting technology with efficient electronic circuitry. By using electronic ballasts — the transformers that regulate the current and voltage needed to operate the lamps — and a software-based energy management system, Wal-Mart, Publix and other retailers say they can typically cut a store’s lighting costs in half.

Read the full story at Green, Inc.

Each day, more companies claim to have slashed their carbon footprints or achieved other sustainability goals. But how meaningful are these claims, and are they independently verified?

The short answer: It’s murky.

Read the full post at Dot Earth.

Here’s Part 2 of an interview I taped with Andrew Hargadon, who studies the conditions that trigger technological breakthroughs ( part one here). I asked him what he’d recommend that President Obama do to spark a productive energy quest.

Read the full story in the New York Times.

Light emitting diodes could decrease carbon dioxide emissions by up to 50 percent in just over 20 years.

Read the full story in Scientific American.

Just as Wal-Mart’s plan to start eco-labeling its products is splashing down into the summer corporate news kiddie pool, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is in talks about making companies do some serious environmental reporting of their own.

The SEC may eventually require all publicly traded companies to let consumers (that is, investors) know what kinds of risks—financial and otherwise—climate change may pose to the bottom line.

Read the full story in the New York Times.

Recently, wind turbines have become familiar features of the American landscape.

Read the full story in the New York Times.

The restoration of the Cheonggyecheon stream in Seoul is part of an expanding environmental effort to “daylight” rivers and streams.

Read the full story at GreenBiz.

Walmart’s move to include green labels on all of its products that detail such things as the amount of energy used to make them is an excellent model for what should be done for Green IT. To date, although there are several green standards for computers and IT, none really hit the mark.

Read the full story at GreenBiz.

There is a new Walmart emerging.

From the moment when I stepped into the renovated Home Office reception area, its cork floors, bamboo and recycled countertops and energy efficient lighting signaled the start of the next phase of Walmart’s sustainability journey. With any journey, there are times we turn back to what is known and comfortable. But Walmart is not going back. Now at the end of the beginning of this effort, Walmart is asking suppliers to join the journey and share along the way.

At the company’s Milestone Meeting today in Bentonville, Ark., Walmart unveiled its Sustainability Index: a set of 15 questions broken up into four focus areas of energy and climate, material efficiency, nature and resources, and people and community.

Read the full story in the Winnipeg Free Press.

Health Canada scientists have found bisphenol A leaching into liquid in plastic baby bottles marketed to parents as being free of the toxic chemical.

The study says “traces” of the toxin were found in “BPA-free” bottles while internal correspondence between a department official and the lead scientist went further, characterizing the amounts in two brands as “high readings.”

Manufacturers of non-polycarbonate plastic baby bottles, however, were quick to challenge the “shocking” results, saying there must be a problem with the way the agency conducted the research.

Read the full story at ClimateBiz.

A new United Nations report suggests advisors to institutional investors may end up in court if they ignore environmental and social concerns.

Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission may reportedly consider whether to force public companies to tell their investors about the financial and physical risks they face from climate change.

Read the full story at ClimateBiz.

Tops and tails are becoming much more than garbage at Gills Onions, an onion processor in Oxnard, Calif. Today marks the unveiling of the company’s onion-powered electrical system, a first-of-its-kind initiative to turn onion waste into energy.

Read the full story at Scientific American.

What careers could become available from the federal emphasis on environmentally friendly projects?

Read the full story in Scientific American.

Climate models of the past, present and future seem to be in no short supply these days. But a new and dynamic picture of climate change appears in this week’s Science, one that could affect the way future conditions are predicted.

Read the full post at Scientific American.

Editor’s Note: Scientific American’s George Musser will be chronicling his experiences installing solar panels and taking other steps to save energy in 60-Second Solar. Read his introduction here and see all posts here.

This year, I’ve been spared the annual ritual of lugging the window air conditioners out of the closet. Not only has it been one of the mildest summers on record in the New York area, but our house has a spiffy new cool white roof, so our attic is no longer the hothouse it once was. Reflective window blinds, compact fluorescent and LED bulbs, and an attic fan have also helped to keep the house cool. In past summers, there usually came some days in August where we vowed to upgrade to a whole-house air conditioning system, but so far we’ve just sweated them out.

Ever on the lookout for other ways to save energy, I sought advice from Gordon Wuthrich of Trane, a leading air-conditioner manufacturer. Obviously, a more efficient air conditioner helps. Units are ranked by their seasonal energy efficiency rating (SEER), which is a charming hodgepodge of a number: the cooling output in Imperial units divided by the electricity input in metric units, multiplied by a factor that accounts for the on-off cycling. Doubling the SEER value halves your electric bill.

Read the full story in the New York Times.

The U.S. secretaries of energy and commerce ended a visit to Beijing with an agreement seen as another incremental step to address China’s contribution to climate change.