Green business

2007-12-13T11:06:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!

We, team Green Business, would like to thank you all for your time and for reading our articles. We hope that you all enjoyed it and with this message we would like to tell you one more time how important "GREEN BUSINESS" is.

Everyone of us has to participate and have to help to work on a better world, people have to become aware of our impact to mother nature and all help to save her.

Kind regards,

The Green Business team

2007-12-13T11:00:00.000-08:00

Harvey Software, a leading provider of multiple carrier shipping software solutions for businesses of all sizes, took a look at the way it used energy and decided to make some changes.

The first thing they changed is the lightning, they replaced all their lights. The staff was rearranged for more efficiency. The company upgraded to more energy efficient equipment.

The moves helped Harvey Software reduce the amount of electricity it uses by nearly 50 percent, it announced Wednesday. Now the company wants to find ways its shipping software can help environmental companies practice green logistics.

Harvey makes Computerized Parcel System (CPS) software, which helps customers calculate the most cost-effective means of shipping. Harvey said customers can use the software to control the environmental impact of shipping, such as correcting wrong addresses to ensure a package goes to the right address. Users can also choose mode of transportation, such as ground shipping.

The company began making its products, marketing materials and documentation available only through the Internet, which slashed the amount of paper needed and saved money in distribution costs.

Dimitri Delbeke
Source: Greenbiz.com
Harveysoft.com

Environmental Interview with Mike Green, Founder of the KOPEG Project

2007-12-13T07:06:00.000-08:00

“I feel that we in the green movement have a tremendous responsibility to educate and convert people’s habits from being consumers to being Earth stewards,” says Mike Green, one of the founders of Project KOPEG.

1) What makes your company green?

Mike: The very nature of what we do – recycling – makes us a green company.
Our name, Project KOPEG, really says it all. It means Keep Our Planet Earth Green. We are dedicated to making a difference by leaving the planet a better place for our children, and grandchildren.

Also, our Zero Landfill Pledge states: “All electronics materials collected (cell phones, chargers, cartridges, etc), all shipping and packaging materials (cardboard, bubble wrap, paper, newspaper, etc), all materials involved in processing recyclables, and any other material sent to Project KOPEG is recycled or disposed of properly. Our entire operation is therefore virtually zero landfill”.

2) What is the most hopeful sign you have seen recently from the green economy?

Mike: Virtually everyday I hear stories in our business about new organizations we are helping to raise money for, through recycling e-waste. It is very inspiring to see the green economy rise up and collectively take action in a way that has never happened before. It is further testament tp my belief that there is no better gift and no greater responsibility than to preserve our environment for generations to come.

3) What green product could you not live without?

Mike: Organic food products rate very high on our list. We are looking for a hybrid car and we are looking forward to using many of the sustainable products supplied by many of the other Co-op America Green Business Network members. Thank you for the opportunity to share what we do with others on this green pathway.

Thanks to Green Business Team

The 10 Best Environmental Diggers

2007-12-13T06:41:00.000-08:00

The country's two busiest shipping ports are taking steps to also become more environmentally friendly.

The ports in Long Beach and Los Angeles, California have begun implementing a new program to reduce the emissions and air pollution from the ships and trucks that make these two facilities among the world's most-trafficked shipping hubs.

Beginning in Sept. 2008, the two ports will prohibit the entrance of any trucks built before 1989, when pollution controls began coming installed in big rigs. The next phase of the project, which will go into effect in 2012, moves that manufacture date up to bar any trucks made prior to 2007 from operating in the ports.

In addition to working on the trucks that offload products for delivery nationwide, the ports will also implement solutions that affect the ships bringing goods from overseas. The ports will soon require ships to turn off all on-board power systems while at the docks, another major contributor of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

These project are aimed to overcome the last hurdles to the ports' expansion; the city of Long Beach had set aside $2 billion for growth, and, according to a recent New York Times article, the L.A. port had even more planned to invest in expanding operations.

"There's been a clear message from the communities and the City Council saying, 'you guys can't grow until you’ve addressed the air pollution,’" Art Wong, a spokesman for the port of Long Beach, told the Times. "So we can grow, but we grow green."

In related news, home improvement retailer Lowe's announced yesterday that it had joined the Coalition for Responsible Transportation, a coalition of shipping companies and retailers, and that Lowe's would use only low-emissions vehicles at the ports in L.A. and Long Beach.

The CRT was formed in August 2007 by Target Corp. and logistics companies NYK Line and TTSI Trucking to lead the way into clean truck technology at the two ports. In the months since, Target has been joined by fellow retailers Nike, Home Depot and now Lowe's. Two other shipping companies have joined the group as well: Southern Counties Express and California Multimodal LLC, which will be working with Lowe's to implement its green trucking project.

Dimitri Delbeke
Source : Climatebiz.com

green business-Centre of alternative technology

2007-12-10T13:17:00.000-08:00

Information about green business from the centre for alternative technology.

http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=DQA3S5zctu4

Diego Van Assche

green business brands.

2007-12-10T13:11:00.000-08:00

Here is a movie about green business brands and information about how to make a brand strong.

http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=F0_21l1sd7A

Diego Van Assche.

Ski Resorts Make Progress on Greening, Report Finds

2007-12-09T08:33:00.000-08:00

It is a fact that not a lot of people know, but ski areas also have a huge impact on the environment. So the Ski Area Citizens Coalition is an organisation that makes an annual survey of environmental performance, where the resorts that take more efforts and steps to reduce their impact and supporting broader environmental improvement measures getting rewarded.

The group uses a complex scoring system to rank the resorts, to look at the factors like protecting sensitive terrain and habitat areas, use of renewable energy sources, water quality and protection, promotion of green political policies, and environmental reporting methods.

But very important is that resorts can lose easily a lot of points when they expand with even 100 acres. This is a factor that is strongly contested.

The group say that expansions aren’t needed and they harm the environment, because out statistics it shows that the number of skiers has remained more ore less the same since twenty years ago. Expansions driven by real estate development profits are against the public interest, these practices impact the public lands and also forests holdings.
If you want to see if your ski resort is “green”, you can always vist the website www.skiareacitizens.com

Source: Greenbiz.com
Skiareacitizens.com
Dimitri Delbeke

Air Force Base Harvests Solar Energy

2007-12-09T08:09:00.000-08:00

In North America, near to Las Vegas on the Nellis Air Force Base, they expect to bring the final portion of the largest solar panel installation of the continent online by the end of this month. This will save the Nellis Air Force Base 1 million dollars a year.

This new and last part of the installation is a 15-megawatt installation consists out 70000 solar-panel array that will cover 140 acres of the base. These solar panels are installed and set up so they are able to follow the sun’s movements throughout the day.

When this last part is active, then the whole the installation is expected to provide up to 30 percent of the base's power and so will save more than 83 thousand dollars a month in energy costs. Which is a huge cost that will decrease.

They started this project in June 2007 and the Nellis Air Force base works together with SunPower Corp. that is the manufacturer of the solar panels, financers and the government.

But these panels are very expensive, the expected costs are more than 100 million dollars, and so the panels remain in the hands of the constructor SunPower and the financer MMA Renewables. And the base will be able to purchase the electricity generated from the panels at a fixed rate.

Source: Greenbiz.com
Nellis.af.mil
Dimitri Delbeke

Nokia announces environmental vision, plans, at conference

2007-12-09T07:09:00.000-08:00

At the annual NokiaWorld Conference, the host company outlined its vision for how IT will fit into a sustainable future, and announced several environmental initiatives of its own.

Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo told an audience of more than 2,700 that, as a market leader in the huge telecommunications industry, Nokia felt a responsibility to making environmentally friendly decisions. "We are committed to taking a leading role in increasing environmental awareness and performance right across the industry, creating further products and services that help people make more sustainable choices," Kallasvuo told the crowd. "It is both the responsible thing to do and it makes good business sense."

The Nokia 3110 Evolve.

Among the announcements made during the opening day of the conference, Kallasvuo said the company would focus on reducing its packaging and materials use, and unveiled a new product, the Nokia 3110 Evolve, a mobile phone made from 50 percent renewable material, delivered in a packaged made with 60 percent recycled materials, and bundled with the company's most energy efficient charger, one that uses 94 percent less energy than the U.S. government's Energy Star standards.

Although the new product is Nokia's greenest yet, its packaging shift may have a larger overall impact by far. The new, smaller box is more than 50 percent smaller than the company's conventional boxes, and the estimated 250 million products shipped in those boxes this year will take more than 5,000 trucks off the road and save the company about €100 million in manufacturing and shipping costs.

Diego Van Assche

Greenbiz.com

Group Wants Next President to Attack Climate Change

2007-12-08T09:51:00.000-08:00

Raising vehicle fuel economy rates to 50 miles per gallon by 2020. Slashing greenhouse has emissions by 90 percent by 2050. Eliminating virtually all oil imports by mid-century.

These recommendations are part of a sweeping and ambitious plan a group of climate experts will deliver to the next U.S. president in the hope that he or she will begin implementing the measures during the first 100 days of office.

The plan's unveiling comes as 180 countries meet in Bali, Indonesia, in an attempt to hammer out a post-Kyoto climate change treaty.

The Presidential Climate Action Project, led by the University of Colorado, filled the Presidential Climate Action Plan (PCAP) with more than 300 recommendations ranging from weatherizing the homes of low-income families to rewarding states and localities that take strides in reducing carbon and energy with billions.

Gary Hart, co-chair of the PCAP National Advisory Committee said that this is a nonpartisan project and a nonpartisan plan. Climate change is an economic issue, a national security issue, a public health issue and an environmental issue. It should not be a political issue.

The University of Colorado also will prepare a legal analysis of moves the next president can take without further Congressional approval.

Olivier Neyt
Source: ClimateBiz.com

Beer Companies Across the Spectrum Make Environmental Moves

2007-12-08T09:41:00.000-08:00

Two very different brewing companies, Colorado mega-brewer Coors and Maine-based microbrewery Peak Organic Brewing, have unveiled plans and targets for reducing overall greenhouse gas emissions.

Colorado Coors announced that it would reduce its emissions by 12 percent, tied to its production levels, by 2010 as part of its partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency's Climate Leaders Program. Coors is the country's third largest beermaker, has also recently undertaken a series of environmental initiatives, including a plan to steadily reduce its energy use year after year, and converting some of the waste of its brewery in Golden, Colo..., into ethanol for sale in the marketplace.

On a more local-oriented scale, Peak Brewing announced that it had struck a deal with Manhattan Beer Distributors in New York City to deliver beer using just the company's 30 CNG-converted vehicles, a move that will save more than 227 tons of emissions in the coming years.

We can conclude that beer companies as well as beer drinkers are facing a scare this year, as a combination of bad weather and supply problems have combined to cause a supply shortage and price increases. One cause of the shortage has been the demand for biofuels, which has raised corn prices to the point where farmers will switch from growing barley for beer to growing corn for fuel.

Olivier Neyt
Source: GreenBiz.com

Frito-Lay, AMD and others' climate and water efforts recognized by EPA

2007-12-05T06:09:00.000-08:00

At 33 Frito-Lay facilities, the company slashed water consumption per pound of product by 39 percent during the last nine years.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc.(AMD) reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 53 percent per production unit from 2002 to 2006. Now the company has set a new goal of reducing emissions by another 33 percent by 2010.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency honored Frito-Lay, AMD and other companies this week for taking strides in reducing water use and greenhouse gas emissions through the EPA's voluntary programs.

Through its Climate Leaders program, for instance, the agency recognized Roche Group U.S. Affiliates for reducing its emissions by 11 percent between 2001 and 2006. The company committed to lowering emissions to reach a 15 percent reduction.

Xerox, which reached its GHG reduction goals six years early and set a higher target also was honored.

The EPA welcomed 40 new partners into the Climate Leaders program, as well as recognized the GHG reduction goals of another 14 companies, such as Abbott, Dell Inc., Casella Waste Systems Inc. and Coors Brewing Co.

The EPA handed out Water Efficiency Leader awards to organizations, such as Intel Corp. and Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, for its water conservation measures and recycled wastewater purchases.

Diego Van Assche
greenbiz.com

U.S., E.U. Propose Tariff-Free Green Goods

2007-12-03T10:36:00.001-08:00

The European Union and United States could make green goods tariff-free to spur carbon-friendly technology use.

Forty-three goods, such as solar panels and other goods with environmental benefits have been identified, according to the Associated Press. The announcement was made a week before the U.N. climate change summit in Bali.

The Associated Press reported that tariff cuts wouldn't include bio-fuels, such as ethanol, which is supported by leading exporter Brazil. U.S. and EU delegates to the World Trade Organization believe that lifting of the tariffs should only pertain to industrial goods.

U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said in a statement :"By eliminating tariff and non-tariff barriers to environmental goods and services, particularly clean energy technologies, we can lower their costs and increase global access to and use of these important products”

However, the future of this initiative is unclear. Lifting the tariffs for these goods would have to be part of a overall agreement in the Doha round of trade liberalization talks that have stalled several times during the last six years.

Nils De Groote
Source: ClimateBiz.com

Hair and Mushrooms: The Next Big Thing for Oil Spill Cleanup?

2007-11-26T10:56:00.000-08:00

An unlikely tool has emerged to help hundreds of volunteers soak up globules of bunker oil spilled from a cargo ship that hit the Bay Bridge earlier this month.

“The San Francisco Chronicle” reported that the volunteers are using mats of human hair, which naturally acts as a sponge to absorb oil from air and water.

Lisa Gautier, who runs a non-profit business (called Matter of Trust) supplied the clean-up effort with 1,000 hair mats which are as big as a doormat. After doing soaking up the oil with the hair, volunteers then add mushrooms, which absorb the oil over a 12-week period to turn the hair mats into non-toxic compost.

Gautier, who collects the hair from area salons before sending it to Georgia to be woven into mats, hopes the process will inspire natural solutions to contain man-made oil disasters (such as the Cosco Busan oil spill)

According to “The Chronicle”, she has been talking to a Chinese company about shipping more hair mats to San Francisco.

Lisa Gautier also said that this can completely revolutionize oil spill cleanup !

Nils De Groote
Source: GreenBiz.com

Our Second Podcast

2007-11-22T06:55:00.000-08:00

http://rapidshare.com/files/71494710/podcast_123.mp3.html

Tyson Backs Chicken Fat-to-Fuel Project

2007-11-20T07:52:00.000-08:00

Tyson Foods is backing a biofuel project that could turn tons of chicken fat into fuel.

The Louisiana Economic Development organization announced this project last week. The fat-to-fuel project will cost $126 million. Dynamic Fuels, a joint venture between Tyson and Syntroleum Corporation, will build and operate the facility in Geismar, near Baton Rouge.

With a capacity for 75 million gallons per year, the estimated operation of the plant is scheduled for 2010.

The move has been innovated because there is an increasing interest in biofuels, as the price of oil skyrockets. The state of Louisiana developed a mandate last year requiring that a 2 percent mix of local biodiesel or ethanol be added to the state's fuel supply beginning six months after state producers pass the 15 million-gallon mark, according to The Daily Advertiser, based in Lafayette.

The plant will be close to the Barksdale Air Force, whose B-52s may one day be powered by biofuel, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. The Department of Defense will buy 500 gallons of renewable fuels made from animal fats for testing, the publication said.

Also the fact that chicken fat is cheaper than soybean oil, which has risen in price as demand for soybeans grows, could help us a lot to bring this project to a good end.

Oliver Neyt

Source: GreenBiz.com

Bayer to Spend $1.46 Billion on Climate Program

2007-11-20T07:41:00.000-08:00

Bayer has launched its Group-wide Climate Program, a multi-focus plan for reducing carbon emissions and protecting the environment.

The plan consists of a large number of various initiatives, such as a concept for zero-emission buildings and the creation of stress-tolerant plants, which have already begun.

Others will be rolled out and run over the course of several years. Overall, Bayer plans to invest $1.46 billion in climate-related projects.

Chairman of the Board of Management of Bayer AG Werner Wenning said :” We are well aware that we are an emitter of greenhouse gases, that was why in the past we focused our attention on lowering CO2 emissions."

Since 1990 Bayer has worked to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, and it has set new emission targets for the period between 2005 and 2020.

The company also developed Bayer Climate Check, which is a new method for increasing energy efficiency and reducing emissions at production plants. Initially, 100 production facilities worldwide will undergo the Climate Check.

Also Bayer's EcoCommercial Building concept is meant to create zero-emission buildings and using low-emission vehicles and gas-fueled company cars. The company wants to cut emissions from company vehicles by 20 percent from 2007 to 2012.

At last Bayer plans to utilize biotechnology to make plants more resistant to situations such as drought and heat as a way to safeguard harvests and raise yields.

Nils De Groote

Source: ClimateBiz.com

Greener World Media Announces First-Ever 'Green By Design' Conference

2007-11-18T03:15:00.000-08:00

Greenbiz.com, the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) and Global Executive have put their heads together to start e new conference "Green by Design" which will take place in June 2008.

The goal of this new conference is fill an open space of informing firms and people how they can act ‘green’. On the conference you can find for instance deep insights and best practices on building sustainability into the product development process. There will also be a lot of persons who know a lot the business like directors of product development and design, executives responsible for business strategy and marketing as well as students and educators from high qualified design schools.

With this conference they want to pick up where others leave off and try to help participants to go forward.’Green by design’ is a great opportunity to bring people concerned with this topic together and let them discuss the existing methods, the new possibilities and challenges.

The first day of the conference, executives from important companies such as GE, Xerox and DuPont will give a speech and try to give their vision on ‘the importance of sustainability for innovation and the future growth of their companies’.
The second day there will be a track session with commentary by chain, strategy and marketing managers about the "nuts and bolts" of innovation and sustainability.

If you are interested to go to this conference or for more information you can visit http://www.greenbydesign08.com/.

Dimitri Delbeke
Source: GreenBiz.com

McDonald’s restaurant taps into Geothermal

2007-11-17T08:33:00.000-08:00

A McDonald's under construction in Pensacola is tapping into the earth for heating and cooling. The restaurant will utilize geothermal energy gathered by a heat pump system throughout 55 holes, each 350 feet deep.

The underground loops use water or other liquids to transfer heat from the earth to buildings when it's cold, and to move heat from buildings to the earth in hot weather. Geothermal systems can cut up to half of energy costs and have a projected life of more than 50 years.

While the Pensacola McDonald's will be the first Florida restaurant in the chain to use geothermal power, the claim of first McDonald’s ever to use geothermal goes to a Westland, Mich., location, which in late 1997 was built with geothermal heat pumps.

The restaurant’s geothermal system was made up of 32 holes drilled 200 feet into the ground. The restaurant also was built with efficient lighting, sensors to dim the lights when daylight’s available, energy-efficient motors in the cooking fans and heavy insulation.

Geothermal energy is also being used by the recently-opened Greensboro, N.C., Proximity Hotel for its restaurant's refrigeration equipment, one of the hotel’s many initiatives to attain Platinum Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System.

Diego Van Assche

greenbiz.com

Aldo Leopold Legacy Center wins FSC Award

2007-11-14T07:17:00.000-08:00

The Forest Stewardship Council certified 78 percent of the wood used to build the Aldo Leopold Legacy Center in Baraboo, Wis. 92 percent of that wood was locally made and harvested.

The Forest Stewardship Council will honor the project with its third annual Designing and Building with FSC Award at the 2007 GreenBuild conference and expo in Chicago. It is one of a lott of announcements, honors and ceremonies taking place at the behemoth conference hosted by the U.S. Green Building Council.

In addition to exhibits, product showcases and educational workshops, high-profile speakers, such as former President Bill Clinton, will address attendees. The USGBC expects 20.000 visitors and invites.

They used trees to build the Aldo Leopold Legacy Center that were planted in the 1930s and 1940s by Aldo Leopold and his family. Leopold, a prominent figure in wildlife ecology and management around this time, planted thousands of pine trees.

Some of the trees were used for the columns and beams of the building's interior skeleton, as well as for porch decking, siding, window frames, chairs, book shelves and cabinets.

Partners Inc. of Minneapolis, the year's Honorable Mention with its Aitkin House. The single family home in Aitkin, Minn., used 67 percent FSC-certified wood as part of their Eco-Affordable program. The 1,300 square-foot home also features a passive solar design, energy-efficient appliances and in-floor radiant heating.

Diego Van Assche

Greenbiz.com

Retailers Aim to Make Recycling Easy for Customers

2007-11-14T05:03:00.000-08:00

Fewer than 25 percent of Americans recycle old, broken or unused electronics, according to a recent survey. If you're part of the majority who don't recycle electronics, these companies have new programs to make recycling easier.

Staples, which conducted the survey, accepts many items, charging a $10 fee per large item. Smaller items are taken for free. Until Nov. 17, customers who buy any Dell desktop, notebook, printer or monitor at stores in the United States can recycle one piece of old office technology per Dell item purchased for free. Staples also found out that 41 percent of the Americans just throw the items away in stead of disposing them.

Also Office Depot has unveiled its revamped consumer recycling program, offering three sizes of Tech Recycling Boxes (priced at $5, $10 and $15). Customers can buy the boxes, throw in electronics and drop the boxes back off at Office Depot stores. From Nov. 15-17 the company will give the medium-size boxes away for free with purchases of $100. Visit the Tech Recycling Boxes website for a list of accepted items and more.

Costco has launched an online recycling and trade-in service, letting members profit from recycling. Costco members can ship their used electronics for free to Green Sight Technologies in Florida, and receive a Costco cash card for items with trade-in value.

The Staples Recycling Survey was conducted by Kelton Research, which polled 1,000 American adults via an online survey in October 2007. The overall margin of error is +/- 3.1 percentage points.

Oliver Neyt
source: GreenBiz.com

Corporate Leaders Publish Roadmap for Action on Climate Change

2007-11-14T04:55:00.000-08:00

Combat Climate Change (3C), a new coalition of 46 international companies, is pushing global governments to join together for immediate action to address climate change.

The group released its roadmap and call for action at a seminar in Washington, D.C., aimed at the leaders of the G8 and another 5 countries (Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa) along with a statement saying that a low-carbon economy is well within reach, and that the time to act is now.

Lars Josefsson, the initiative's founder and president and CEO of Swedish energy group Vattenfall, said that industry can and should be an ally, not an obstacle, to addressing the very real climate problem. "But the initiative must be taken not by one industry, but by all of us working together: the global challenge of combating climate change requires a global solution."

The group also aims to create a global emissions-trading market and set requirements for energy efficiency and resource-use, especially in the transportation and building sectors, create similar solutions for forestry and agriculture, and motivating the development of alternative energy technologies.

The 3C says that governments must shoulder themselves members also committed to working together across sectors as well as within their own operations to maximize efficiency and reduce emissions from within, while also working toward a comprehensive joint solution.

Combat Climate Change's six-step roadmap, as well as a list of all 46 member companies, is available on the group's website, CombatClimateChange.org.

Nils De Groote
Source: ClimateBiz.com

Largest manure-to-Methane plant begins operation

2007-11-08T05:52:00.000-08:00

Huckabay Ridge, a manure-to-natural gas facility, opened for business Monday in what will be the First of many similar projects for New Hampshire based Environmental Power Corporation.

Known as the country’s largest methane-to-gas plant. Huckabay Ridge generates the renewable energy each day from some 200 tons of manure it takes off the hands of local dairy farmers that have in recent years come under attack for manure runoff.

Huckabay Ridge signed a contract with Pacific Gas and Electric Corp. to begin selling the utility natural gas next fall. The contract is a part to increase renewable energy to 20 percent of its portfolio by 2020 as mandated by the California law.

The place where the plant is located, is home to 52000 dairy cows. Local dairy farmers can dump their manure at the plant for free, but pay for transport. That’s a good deal for an industry that has faced previous litigation over manure runoff. Dairy cows produce more about 140 pounds of manure each day.

The manure is mixed with water and restaurant grease before going into digester tanks where the bacteria generates the methane gas during feeding. The gas is purified before distribution through a pipeline. The Texas Department of Transportation buys this by-product as compost.

Methane remains in the atmosphere for up to 15 years and is more than 20 times more effective than carbon dioxide in trapping heat in the atmosphere.

Diego Van Assche

ec.europa.eu/environment/index_en

Target to Make Less Toxic Toys and Children's Products

2007-11-07T07:20:00.000-08:00

Target, the fifth-largest retailer in The States and a company you can compare with Wal-Mart, has announced that they want to be the latest retailer to reduce the amount of toxic materials in some of the products they’re selling. They want to reduce, and finally eliminate polyvinyl chloride (more known as PVC) from a range of their products and their packaging.

The first products they want to ‘improve’ are the infant and children's products, shower curtains, tableware and packaging. An according to what the company said, there are already several lines of products that are completely PVC-free, including children's eating utensils, lunchboxes and soft-sided coolers. And by January 2008 they want to make baby bibs and baby changing tables PVC-free and by the fall of 2008 also with the toys.

With this Target want to follow his big rival Wal-Mart, because they already achieved its two-year goal of eliminating PVC from packaging for their own products. Target is also doing this because the government makes regulations and puts pressure on the retailers to ban toxins.

In addition with their plan, Target announced the creation of a "Sustainable Products Guide". With this guide they want to educate the consumers about the risks of PVC. PVC is a plastic product that is softened by an array of chemicals, and these chemicals in the PVC products release several toxins likes throughout their life cycles.

Dimitri Delbeke

Source: GreenBiz.com

GE Develops 'Eco-Dashboard' for Homeowners

2007-11-07T01:52:00.000-08:00

General Electric Co. will introduce control panels to the market in December to help homeowners control water and power usage.

The control panel is called “eco-dashboard”. It could demonstrate for homeowners the ways in which they can save money on their electricity and water bills. The first appearance will be in the southern and western U.S. in December.

The control panel has many advantages. It can give homeowners real-time information on electricity rates, which would allow them the option of presetting certain functions, such as air conditioning or heating, for time of the day when electricity is cheaper. Isn’t that a wonderful innovation?

The second advantage is that the technology also could be used for owners of home solar panels to help them run their systems more economically.

Another advantage is that homeowners are allowed to make decisions on whether they would like to change their behaviour to be more green.

A big mystery is the cost price of the eco-dashboards. The smart-metering infrastructure also must become more widespread. We have to reach homeowners of other parts of the country.

The technology is part of GE’s massive ecomagination initiative. The company spend $1.5 billion each year to develop environmentally friendly products and services.

Olivier Neyt

By: GreenerBuildings.com

Fast Company Lists 50 Ways to Go Green and Boost Profits

2007-11-05T11:28:00.000-08:00

Enterprise Rent-A-Car added hybrids to its fleet. Nike launched a policy to source raw materials as local as possible. Supermarket chain Wegman's started an organic farm. Italian power company Eni raised its thermostats by one degree Celsius. And they all saved money!

These examples are just a handful of the businesses profiled in the latest issue of Fast Company magazine. Its massive list of 50 ways to green your business uses real-world examples to show how companies large and small have made improvements large and small and saved serious cash while helping the environment.

Projects include those mentioned above, as well as ambitious additions like IBM's billion-dollar Project Big Green, Tesco's plan to add carbon labels to all 70,000 of its products, BofA's LEED Platinum new headquarters in New York City, and Sun Microsystem's Open Work program.

Smaller projects and companies also made the list, including a new line of PVC-free wetsuits from Patagonia, Steelcase's cradle-to-cradle certified modular office wall system, and GreenBiz partners the Presidio School of Management's Sustainable MBA program.

Also Unilever, a recent player in the un-supersize movement, reconfigured the plastic bottles for its billion-dollar Suave shampoo brand, saving plastic equivalent to some 15 million bottles a year. Another player, General Electric, raises the game with its Evolution locomotives, diesel engines launched in 2005 that cut fuel consumption by 5% and emissions by 40% compared to locomotives built just a year earlier. Not to be outdone in the freight game is Wal-Mart. They are providing funding to the biggest truck manufacturers to develop the first heavy-duty diesel-hybrid 18-wheeler.

The full article, "50 ways you can green your business ... and boost your bottom line" is available online at FastCompany.com.

Nils De Groote

Source: Fastcompany.com

Mayors, Wal-Mart Team to Lower Green Building Products' Cost

2007-11-05T10:59:00.000-08:00

The Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) partnered with Wal-Mart and the U.S. Conference of Mayors Thursday to make energy efficient building products more affordable.

CCI will enable its purchasing consortium to offer cheaper environmentally friendly products to the 1,100 cities involved in the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which is holding its Climate Protection Summit this week. The consortium has discounted pricing agreements with 25 manufacturers of energy-efficient products, including GE, 3M, Siemens and Volvo. Previously, these discounts only were available for the C40 Large Cities Climate Leadership Group comprised of 40 of the world's biggest cities working together to address climate issues.

"By offering these products at a discounted rate, we can ensure that more cities and citizens have access to them and that the market for clean-energy technology will grow," said former President Bill Clinton. The discounted items cost between 5 percent to 15 percent under current levels for commodity items, and up to 70 percent below current prices for non-commodity items.

Also Wal-Mart previously committed to sell only concentrated liquid laundry detergent to trim water usage. Thanks to Thursday's announcement Wal-Mart company will also join the Clinton Climate Initiative to advance the design of new green products. One technology the pair are working on is energy efficient, high performance LED lights for parking lots and street lamps. Cities could save 50 percent on street lamp energy consumption, Wal-Mart said.

And that’s not the only thing CCI works on. In May, they announced its worldwide Energy Efficiency Building Retrofit Program that brings together the globe's largest banks and energy companies to reduce energy consumption in existing buildings across 17 cities.

Nils De Groote

Source: GreenBiz.com

(In spite of a huge problem with our networks, this ad couldn’t be published in time. Our editorial staff tried to solve this problem immediately, but the problem couldn’t be found. The error wasn’t a common default, so we made contact with our blogmaster. He apologised because his network crashed completely. In this way we want to apologize to our readers and our faithful customers. Hopefully you all stick to our great website to be up to date of green business matters.)

Mitsubishi wants to reduce emissions.

2007-10-25T06:46:00.001-07:00

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation wants to reduce the carbon emissions from both production and product use by 2001, as well as advance photovoltaic efficiencies and boost its recycling rates.

Mitsubishi laid out their goals in ‘ Environmental Vision 2021’. That’s a long-term management framework that targets 2021 because that is the 100th anniversary of Mitsubishi.

The company conduct large-scale nature preservation and education activities, as well as train 1000 of its workes to become ‘part of the next generation of leaders’, as well as promoting its forest nuturing and preservation activities.

Mitsubishi is using fiscal 2000 as a baseline to measure future carbon emissions reductions. It wants to cut 30 percent of the emissions associated with the use of its products because usage emits as much as 50 percent more carbon emissions than production.

Therefore, Mitsubishi believes that making their products more energy efficient will drastically reduce CO2 emissions.

Mitsubishi will introduce energy-saving air conditioners and other products at its business sites, as well as introduce more photovoltaic (PV) solar systems to cut production-related emissions while expanding business. It will spend about .1 percent of its production value on the energy-saving measures, as well as work to advance module efficiency. Mitsubishi wants to reduce the amount of materials used in its operations by 30 percent, as well as avoid sending waste to landfills.

Olivier Neyt

source: futureofbusiness.info

Heroes of the environment

2007-10-25T04:35:00.000-07:00

In a special issue dedicated to innovators taking risks for improving the planet, Time Magazine(published in New York) has named 14 entrepeneurs “ Heroes of the Environment”

Time Magazine recognizes CEO Jeffery Immelt( of the company EG). His company fought for environmental regulation and also for innovation and clean technology along several fronts. EG also is leader of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership.

Amory Lovins; the co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute, is chosen by Rob Walton (charman of Wal-mart) for being in the magazine because Lovins helped introducing ideas of sustainability and the benefits of ‘harvesting the low-hanging fruit’ for a company on the scale of Wal-Mart.

Virgin founder Richard Branson receives the recognition for his high-flying ambition – in addition to launching tests on a line of 747 planes that will run in part of biofuels. Branson’s company is sponsoring a 25 million competition for inventors who discover new and effective ways to remove greenhouse gases from the athmosphere.

Also Rory Stear and Kristine Pearson of ‘Freeplay Energy’ have been nominated. Free Play is a London-based company that creates simple, handcrank products—including radio’s, lights and generators—that give cheap, sustainable energy to areas that wouldn’t otherwise have it.

Diego Van Assche

source: futureofbusiness.info

Motel 6 Retrofitting Thousands of Rooms for Energy Savings

2007-10-21T05:40:00.000-07:00

Motel 6 will team with Honeywell, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. to perform energy efficiency retrofits of more than 7,000 hotel rooms in California.

The move involves the installation of sensors that shut off air conditioning and heating equipment when the rooms are unoccupied. In June, the retrofit began and it should wrap up this year. It will also save an estimated $140 per room in annual energy savings, or an average of 1,100 kilowatt-hours.

Dan Gilligan, vice president of utilities for Accor North America, Motel 6's parent company, is willing to make this green strategy popular. Also the company will expand thanks to their new way of saving energy. "By working with PG&E and Honeywell, Motel 6 now has a solution to a common energy issue in the lodging industry," said Dan Gilligan, "Motel 6 will no longer waste electricity in empty rooms and will also cut back on properties, carbon dioxide emissions.” The company has also calculated that this program will yield a reduction of 10.1 million pounds of carbon dioxide per year. Programs like Cool Control Plus help Motel 6 to better serve its customers and the environment.

In March, Honeywell was awarded by PG&E with a $4.7 million contract. Honeywell will install the Telkonet Smart Energy sensors in 7,530 rooms in 66 Motel 6 properties.

Previously, Motel 6 had installed the same sensors and thermostats in 49 California properties, bringing the number of retrofitted rooms to 13,440. Honeywell also will replace the interior and the exterior lighting and vending machines.

Nils De Groote
source : Greenbiz.com

Transportation is Moving -- Slowly -- Toward Sustainability

2007-10-20T07:00:00.000-07:00

The transportation sector consumes a lot of fuel and energy. With small changes we can curb fuel and energy consumption in the aviation sector. Nowadays consumers are already reducing their transport consumption by buying more fuel-efficient cars and of course by driving less.

Not every automaker encourage this fuel efficiency. For example in the U.S.: Automakers ignore the fuel efficiency because pick-ups and SUVs were very important to their financials. After a few years the U.S. automakers were finally focused on more fuel-efficient cars.

China is by far the single most important driver of road-transportation fuel demand in the world. So we can conclude that policy makers can play a major role in making the automotive industry cleaner.

The higher fuel prices have forced airlines to look for ways to conserve fuel. For example: new airplanes consumes 40.5 litres of fuel per 1.000 seat miles travelled, this will fall to 33.3 litres by 2020. We must take action to increase energy efficiency in the air transportation sector.

It’s easier for the automotive industry to increase the fuel efficiency because they know very well how important energy and fuel is to its future. For the aviation sector it’s very difficult to stay competitive AND keep the air sector clean.

greenbiz.com

Olivier Neyt

Transcontinental implements Paper Purchasing Policy

2007-10-20T06:40:00.000-07:00

A Paper Purchasing Policy is implemented by Canada’s largest printer located in Montreal.
This policy allows consumers to select environmentally friendly papers with maximum post consumer and de-inked recycled fiber.

To make paper virgin wood fibre is needed. Transcontinental will give preference to fiber from sustainable forests when virgin wood fiber is necessary.

Jean Denault; Transcontinental’s corporate vice president of procurement and technology said that the Paper Purchasing Policy was developed with both sustainable development and the clients from the company in mind. In many cases, Transcontinental clients are pleased to learn they are already using paper which promotes sustainable development and their particular environmental objectives; in other cases, they realize it would be simple to make that change.

From now on Transcontinental(who has 2,3 billion euro in revenues in 2006) will avoid fiber from ‘high conservation value forests’. Transcontinental is also North America’s largest printer.

The company also has in environmental policies to maximize operations efficiencies, reduce waste and encourage its supply chain to align practices to complement these policies.

greenbiz.com

Diego Van Assche

2007-10-15T12:25:00.000-07:00

GM Turns Waste Into Millions

General Motors has found a way to have success in transforming unwanted materials into millions of dollars padding its bottom line. The unwanted materials, also called waste, exist out about everything, from discarded wood pallets to used oil.

The American company has announced that its Baltimore manufacturing plant is the company's eighth facility to achieve landfill-free status.

General Motors looked at all the sources of waste at the plant and noticed a waste hierarchy. So GM started first looking where they could eliminate waste production, and second preventing the waste, then recycling and reusing waste. The last resort is disposal, and a goal of GM is to have no disposal.

The biggest obstacle was the mindset that it's fairly inexpensive to landfill waste. So GM had to look at it from a standpoint that they don't want to impact the environment at all, in terms of this waste. General Motors has made principals, and one of those is that they are committed to reducing waste and pollutants, conserving resources and recycling materials at every stage of the product life cycle. These principals have kind of set the benchmark for the way that GM does business.

Due to this way of thinking, recycling and reusing, GM has managed to bring the cost for the waste management back from 32 million to 8 million dollars.
And for the future the goals are to have 20 percent of all their manufacturing facilities landfill free, for the moment they only 8 plants are landfill free.

Dimitri Delbeke
Source: GreenBiz.com

2007-10-15T12:00:00.000-07:00

Waste Management, the organisation that is in control of collecting and recycling the waste in America, wants to increase their energy production, coming from recycled waste, and also the number of waste they collect and recycle by 2020, and this together with improving its fleet’s fuel efficiency and decreasing their associated emissions. The largest landfill operator in America has announced that they will spend billions of dollars to achieve these goals.

Some objectives of what Waste Management want to achieve with the new investments, is to double the production, which for the moment already supplies the power of 1 million homes. And they want to increase the number of recyclables they can handle to 20 million ton a year, which now is 8 million ton. And for the goal of improving the fleet’s fuel efficiency alone, they will spend up to 500 million dollars per year for 10 years, and this to improve the efficiency by 15 percent. An other plan of Waste company is to increase the number of facilities they have from 24 to 100 by 2020 and the number of acres put aside for conservation and wildlife habitat to about 25000 , which now is 17000 acres. They also want to build 60 new landfill gas to energy facilities. All of these objectives, they want to achieve by 2020.

Dimitri Delbeke

Source: GreenBiz.com

Abitibi-Consolidated Joins the City of Houston and H-E-B for Recycling Project

2007-10-14T13:47:00.000-07:00

Abitibi-Consolidated will partner with the City of Houston and grocer H-E-B in a partnership to boost recycling of paper, plastics, aluminum and metals.

The public-private venture will yield 84 recycling containers at H-E-B properties in the Houston area initially. Twenty-eight H-E-B stores will participate. Abitibi-Consolidated will collect the recycled materials and, based on its per weight scale and will also pay the proceeds to local affiliates of Keep Texas Beautiful to support initiatives: e.g. recycling educational programs and materials and clean-up efforts.

Abitibi-Consolidated is one of the largest newspaper and magazine recyclers in the U.S. According the company are annually two million tons of paper diverted from landfills.

It is the first time it has signed on for a multi-site arrangement. Although the move should expand the company's reach in the region. The company also is a major producer of wood products, newsprint and commercial printing papers. It operates 45 facilities and does business in more than 70 countries.

Besides the company, also the city will be involved. It will create an online map to help consumers to locate the nearest recycling container.

"By offering collection containers at participating H-E-B store locations, we are providing an easy and convenient option for citizens in the Greater Houston region to drop off their recyclables," said Sylvain Yves-Longval, vice president of Abitibi-Consolidated's recycling division.

Oliver Neyt
Source : Greenbiz.com

Report from Wal-Mart Sustainability Summit: 'In it for the Long Haul'

2007-10-14T09:54:00.000-07:00

At the Wal-Mart Live Better Sustainability Summit, a gathering of more than 2,000 of its suppliers this week in Arkansas, Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott proclaimed the benefits the company has reaped from its focus on sustainability, and reiterated its long-term commitment to reducing its energy use, resource use and greenhouse gas emissions across not only its own operations, but its suppliers' operations as well.

One of the many announcements that came out of the Summit, was a new, reusable shopping bag that will make their first appearances at West Coast Wal-Marts this week. The black bags, which carry the slogan "Paper or Plastic? Neither", are made of 85 percent recycled products and are designed to carry as much as two to three of the company's disposable plastic bags. An advantage of this initiative is that when the bags reach the end of their usable life, the customers can bring them back to Wal-Mart for recycling.

The summit also featured a "Live Better Sustainability Resource Fair," where more than 40 retailers, manufacturers, nonprofits and government groups shared insights on how companies can help green their supply chains.

Although Wal-Mart has unveiled a series of environmental initiatives in recent months, including a goal to sell 100M compact fluorescent lightbulbs, a five-year plan to reduce packaging, … Lee Scott said that this was only the beginning for his company: "We have simply started this process, we lay no claims to being a green company."

Nils De Groote
Source : Greenbiz.com

our podcast

2007-10-13T01:54:00.000-07:00

http://rapidshare.com/files/62214572/podcast.wav

Most Americans and Canadians say 'Green' labeling just a marketing tactic.

2007-10-09T07:18:00.000-07:00

‘Green product labels are just a sales tactic and are reluctant to pay for such products’. This is how the Americans and Canadians vies the green product labels if we can believe a recent study.

Market Research Company Ipsos Reid said that the consumers appear to be wary of companies who label their products as begein ‘green’. Companies surveyed consumers about their perceptions of the products touting ‘green’ attributes. 70 percent of American respondents called the green designation a marketing tactic. 64 percent in Canada also shared this vision.

The results also showed that American and Canadian men are more sceptical of green products compared to women. 44 percent of the Americans said that they don’t want to give more money for green building products despite knowing the products could save money in the long-term and are better for the environment. Also Canadians aren’t eager to pay more for green products. 40 percent of the Canadians aren’t willing to do this.

When we look at all these statements, Canadian people are more likely than Americans to say they understand the benefits of building products with green billings.

Greenbiz.com

Diego Van Assche

State of the Paper Industry Sees 'Green Wave' Changes Coming Quickly

2007-10-07T07:28:00.000-07:00

The new report, released by the Environmental Paper Network, examines how the paper is made today in the face of growing environmental awareness in the U.S., and calls for major changes across the industry to reduce impact and increase sustainability.

The Environmental Paper Network (EPN) is a coalition of environmental organizations seeking socially and environmentally sustainable transformations within the pulp and paper industry. The group says that a "green wave" is sweeping North America, with ever-increasing numbers of consumers and companies seeking to address and minimize their impact on the environment.
In recent months, companies across many niches of the industry have adopted green paper policies, e.g.Victoria's Secret,…

"The good news is that a shift within the paper industry has begun” says Joshua Martin, Environmental Paper Network Coordinator. He also said that the report offers a vision and a challenge to the paper industry.

He hopes to set a baseline of environmental data that companies can use to make significant progress in coming years.

The report consists of a list of negative environmental impacts, e.g. gas emissions, landfill waste, industrial wood harvest, etc. But at the same time, it includes significant opportunities for companies to embrace cleaner production, increasing recovery of waste paper, etc.

Among the improvements the EPN would like to see a move to reduce paper consumption by its customers, and a shift toward clean production that reduces bleach and toxin emissions.

Oliver Neyt

Source : Greenbiz.com

Catalyst Paper and Doubletree Hotels Win Metafore Innovation Awards

2007-10-07T07:11:00.000-07:00

More than ever, the world is shouting for environmental care and groans underneath the devastation. That’s why ‘green’ companies should be awarded for their support. Earlier this week, Catalyst was given the award for its work on developing a carbon-neutral paper product for magazine publishing. Also the company Doubletree's Portland, hotel and meeting center was recognized for its extensive carbon reduction programs.

The awards are given to companies that are leading the way with new ideas for reducing or offsetting climate change through new methods and processes by Metafore, an environmental consulting and certification organization based in Portland, is responsible for this initiative.

Catalyst Paper Corporation, the winner in the products category, is awarded for its Catalyst Cooled paper line, a carbon-neutral paper that the company launched in June of this year in cooperation with Rolling Stone magazine. The paper is referred to as "manufactured carbon-neutral" because there are no gas emissions associated with manufacturing it.

Doubletree Hotel and Executive Meeting Center, the winner in the services category, is awarded for its sustainability program. The company has been composting 14 tons of its kitchen waste per month on average, purchases 65 percent of its food products within a 500-mile radius, and it has reduced its energy use by 32 percent. The hotel also recently received a Green Seal certification for sustainability.

Awarding “green” companies must open the eyes of mass polluting businesses and should give them the opportunities to fight for a greener company policy.

Nils De Groote

Source : Greenbiz.com

Philips vows to double green product revenue and cut energy use.

2007-10-04T06:21:00.000-07:00

Royal Philips has the plan to double the amount of revenue generated from the sale of its green products. Philips wants to realise this within five years. With this plan Philips wants to reduce product and facility energy consumption.

Green product sales would account for nearly a third of the company’s revenue as the Philips seeks to take advantage of the growing demand for green products.

The first step of the five –year plan will be that al company offices receive energy efficient lighting retrofits by the end of next year in its bid to boost energy efficiency in its operations by 25 percent.

Barbara Klux; a member of the Group Management Committee and chair of the sustainability board said that Philips wants to be a company that provides solutions to complex problems such as sustainable development.
She also said that to realise these ideas there are simple solutions but sometimes they will require more comprehensive approaches. The key characteristic of the Philips development will be certainly be environmental stewardship and a commitment to energy efficient innovations.

The green products offer customers an improved environmental advantage in terms of energy consumption, packaging, hazardous substances, weight and so much more!

WWW.greenbiz.com

Diego Van Assche

Plastic waste: more dangerous than global warming.

2007-09-27T08:07:00.001-07:00

Plastic pollution is destroying the world’s ocean ecosystems, but some companies want to stop the devastation.

The real problem with plastic pollution in the ocean’s and lakes is the fact that it never degrades. A lot of people argue that companies can have a great impact on the reducing of plastic pollution because companies don’t to enough to ensure that products can be reintegrated into nature.

Oceans pull in waste and become densely populated by a surplus of plastic. The plankton have plastic debris in their body

A new stage of green business here is alternative plastics and managing refillable reusable’s. Before this, they saved money through the alteration of plastic consumption.

They say that plastic is a bigger danger than global warming because it is snuffing out the lowest common denominator in the food chain.

There’s also a special organisation supported by the ERF(earth resource foundation)who is campaigning for stores to stop using plastic bags at checkout counters and to instead hand out.

Also a lot of other companies take notice of the issue. General Motors Canada is a company that is part of a huge collaborative effort to create ‘green’ cars in Canada.

Companies will keep making changes when they become aware of the plastic pollution crisis. We can only hope that one day all companies will be turned into environment-friendly businesses.
s, which means plastic has entered our food chain because plankton is the core of the marine food chain.

Nils De Groot

www.greenbiz.com

even the biggest boxes can go green.

2007-09-27T07:32:00.000-07:00

The man who builds Wal-Mart’s massive retail outlets is going against the grain by working from an ‘eco-template’ that saves energy and water.

The occupiers don’t pay more for an eco-template than what they would pay for a tin roof and four walls. With a eco-template they get 11 energy-and water-saving features as standard.
The template includes solar thermal heating, storm water collection, energy-efficient lighting and so much more.

Also new renewable technology is included such as ground source heat pumps and wind turbines.

They hope to save eight percent of energy and fifty percent of water usage on each warehouse. These numbers will make a huge difference on the entire collection of warehouses.

The next stage they want to achieve is zero carbon and zero waste. In first the CEO’s thought that they couldn’t combinate the economic and social side with using green business but now they know that you can find a profitable balance between the two sides.

They are convinced that they will keep their good position on the market and even improve it because they think the markets will draw a lot more consumers who are concerned about the environment.

Olivier Neyt

source: www.greenbiz.com

Stonyfield Farms

2007-09-27T06:43:00.000-07:00

Stonyfield Farms, the organic yogurt manufacturer was an early pioneer of the trend to reduce packaging waste in the environment.

Green business strategies and ways to reduce waste in products and packaging has become an important part of doing business.
Retailers and consumers expect that manufacturers try to reduce the waste to an acceptable level. When manufacturers don’t do this the consumers aren’t shy to take their business elsewhere.
Manufacturers try to implement recycling efforts, reduce packaging waste and choose materials that have a lighter impact.

A lot of companies have made their core business strategies of making their selves ‘green’. And they aren’t intended to change this because ‘going green’ helps them to compete with other companies on the market.

Unilever,a global supplier of consumer goods, also takes a lot of actions to cut back energy and materials use. But they don’t just do this for the environmental goal, but they also want to make good business decisions.

An example of this is the All laundry deterent’s compact. Unilever uses 55 percent less plastic whole delivering the same loads,what saved 5 million pounds of plastic. They also saves a lot of storage room with the new package, and due to this, they can ship more products what again saves fuel.

Dimitri Delbeke

WWW.greenbiz.com

how oil companies saved the electric car

2007-09-27T06:01:00.000-07:00

Due to the outrageous gas prices and the worldwide concern about global warming outmakers have created a new kind of vehicle. These vehicles will run on electricity.

Because the fuel prices keep increasing, people who drive a lot of miles with their vehicle are very concerned about the prices they have to pay for fuel. They are worried that the price of fuel will increase above the vehicle price itself within a few years. This looks exaggerated but it’s just to show that the prices will achieve a maximum that is almost not payable for the common folk.

It’s normal that because of the high prices a lot of people are looking for an alternative.
One of the best alternatives at this moment is coming from the rapidly advancing electric-car industry.

A couple of years ago people didn’t think that electric vehicles would be the answer because when a car drives on electricity it loses an amount of his performance. But due to the modern technology they have made it possible to drive a vehicle driven by electricity that has the same performance and character as an fuel driven car.

Hopefully these new brand of electric cars will be the answer for a cleaner and less polluted environment.

Diego Van Assche.

www.greenbiz.com

hello everyone!

2007-09-27T04:26:00.000-07:00