Thursday Aug 16, 2007
This is certainly not the first offset framework out there, but it is one that a major bank is putting out there. Take a read.
<SNIP>
Aug 14 2007
Morgan Stanley has partnered with consultants DNV to form a “carbon bank” and advise companies that want to go carbon neutral, Reuters reports.
Under the new service, clients will compile their emissions
inventory and calculate their carbon footprint by applying the
monitoring standards of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Initiative. DNV
will then verify these emissions inventories and calculated carbon
footprints. Carbon quantification, monitoring and verification will be
conducted consistent with ISO 14064 standards.
Morgan Stanley’s Commodities Group will procure and cancel carbon
credits equivalent to a client’s verified carbon footprint. Clients
will be able to select their preferred sources of carbon credits,
although all carbon credits will be generated according to the
standards of the Kyoto Protocol.
Carbon credits will be procured from various sources including from
Morgan Stanley’s own direct investments in emission reductions as well
as those of MGM International. Morgan Stanley acquired a 38 percent
stake in MGM last year.
Morgan Stanley said last year it would invest $3 billion in
environmental markets, including the trade in permits to emit
greenhouse gases, called carbon credits.
“It’s important the voluntary market expands on a responsible basis
to provide confidence these markets work,” said Morgan Stanley’s Olivia
Hartridge.
Thursday Aug 09, 2007
Interesting article.
Snip:
If CD sales had remained perfectly steady since 2000, we would have
seen 1,136,500,000 more CDs on the market. That is 39 million pounds of
polycarbonate CDs saved and 150 million pounds of polystyrene jewel
cases saved. That’s a vertical stack of CDs over 7,000 miles high and a
horizontal row stretching from New York to Tokyo, with 300 miles to
spare.
Aaron
Wednesday Aug 08, 2007
My friend is looking for an apartment in SF. Here's the one I highly encourage her to look into further. Unfortunately it's not clear where in SF it is. Gotta love Craigslist.
I am sure link will expire soon, so enjoy it while it lasts.
Aaron
Wednesday Aug 08, 2007
Tuesday Aug 07, 2007
<SNIP>
The European Commission is examining the idea of an emissions trading
system for car manufacturers that would force makers of high-polluting
cars to pay money towards those producing greener cars.
According to a report in German daily Handelsblatt, the amount of
carbon dioxide (CO2) a car may emit in the future could be determined
by its weight.
Wednesday Aug 01, 2007
Very educational (for me anyway) viewpoint piece in BusinessWeek on energy conversions for converting solar energy into usable electricity; also ways to trim the conversion train for greater efficiency. At Sun we strive to do a similar thing with our computer processors, constantly innovating to get more compute power by using less power, all through various efficiency innovations.
<SNIP FROM BIZWEEK>
Sometimes the best solutions to the energy crisis are the simplest, and
often they're right in front of our eyes. Consider the use of solar
power to light a home. Even the most advanced photovoltaic solar panels
convert just 20% of the available sunlight to electricity. The
resulting direct current (DC) then must undergo conversion to
alternating current (AC), losing another 20%. If that AC goes on to
light an incandescent bulb, which is only 5% efficient, you end up
using a fraction of 1% of the original sunlight as room light. (Even
switching to compact florescent bulbs, which are 15% efficient, makes
little difference in overall energy efficiency.) But if you were to
simply leave sunlight as light—via proper skylights, window
orientation, and louvers—nearly 80% of the light ends up as
illumination.
Tuesday Jul 24, 2007
7/17/2007
By MIKE HAMMETT
Hays Daily News
The city of Greensburg's computer systems are up and running, thanks to a group from Sun Microsystems.
Dorthy Chikly, who works for Sun from her home in Overbrook, watched
the numerous news reports on the devastation in Greensburg following
the May 4 tornado that ripped through the town.
"Once I heard about the tornado in Greensburg, I wanted to reach out to the community," Chikly said.
Chikly said she could have donated money or worked with her
community PRIDE program to clean up Greensburg. Instead, she chose to
start rebuilding the government with Sun.
"I could help to rebuild the local government that reaches hundreds
and thousands more than I could have as an individual," Chikly said.
Chikly traveled to Greensburg on May 16 to get a look at the damage
and to see what it would take for Sun to get the government up and
running again. After her initial assessment, Chikly met with other
interested co-workers two to three times a week to begin getting
various parts and programs together for Greensburg.
FULL STORY
Wednesday Jul 11, 2007
OK, I couldn't resist posting this CNN soundbyte "Americans use twice as much toilet paper as Europeans" (says the director of the washroom business at the company referenced in the article) as my headline to this posting. Hilarious. CNN should have made it their headline too, IMHO. That's the news, after all.
Admittedly their headline isn't so bad though: "Machine spits out 5 sheets of toilet paper"
Tuesday Jul 03, 2007
Not related to eco, but still a pretty funny top ten list of what to say to a company if you're a blogger and trying to get a company to give you an official statement. I regularly read this unofficial Google news site...for fun. Time to start thinking about my BBQ plans for tomorrow:)
Tuesday Jul 03, 2007
Wondering what to do this summer to stay eco and stay in shape? How about take a tour on a new touring bike? That's what I'm putting together this summer. My local free Portland weekly has a recommendation of what parts to use to put together the ultimate touring bike - what they call the 'Franken-Bike'. I'm considering these components. If anyone has any suggestions or alternatives let me know. I know I want a Surly frame.
http://www.wweek.com/editorial/3333/9170/
Wednesday Mar 14, 2007
Feeling eco friendly? Global Earth Day is almost here (March 21st) so now it's as good a time as ever to read some eco blogs (more on this once I put up my own favorites) on the net to learn and share, and start your own!
And...If you're a Sun employee we even have a special eco blog theme just for you (and if you're not a Sun employee, don't you want to join the Sun team too now?). If you want to share your favorite eco blog with the world, leave it in my comment section! If you're a Sun employee and wondering what the eco theme looks like, check out these other cool sites - last time we checked they were all using the theme.
http://blogs.sun.com/cohen
http://blogs.sun.com/jimgris
http://blogs.sun.com/mary
http://blogs.sun.com/participate/
http://blogs.sun.com/dhollister
http://blogs.sun.com/pmonday
http://blogs.sun.com/blogfinger
http://blogs.sun.com/testbed
http://blogs.sun.com/bharath
http://blogs.sun.com/jeffhuber
http://blogs.sun.com/mac
http://blogs.sun.com/evoljennifer
http://blogs.sun.com/123
http://blogs.sun.com/greenbeing
http://blogs.sun.com/bobs
http://blogs.sun.com/dadelhardt
http://blogs.sun.com/matthewartz
http://blogs.sun.com/bobp
http://blogs.sun.com/valvik
http://blogs.sun.com/siva
Wednesday Mar 14, 2007
Yes, it's just tax time and I've still put off my taxes. I have this vision of the day it just somehow happens automatically.
The good news is it's almost over, but not too late to get some tax credits for doing good for the environment. According to this article, there are four areas which need to be considered before considering
whether or not someone qualifies for an energy tax credit (U.S.) if the system was placed into service from January 1, 2006 through December 31, 2008.
Those areas are:
- Solar energy systems
- Fuel cells
- Home improvements
- Efficient cars
I hear it's tricky so go to the source to find out the fine print or consult your CPA!
Thanks for tip Hugg.
Monday Mar 12, 2007
Continuing on my blogline from previous entries regarding inefficient light bulbs:
Following on from Australia's pledge
to phase out the usage of incandescent bulbs, the 27 leaders of the
European Union have decided that all member states will have to use energy efficient lighting
before 2010 (yes, that's just 3 years away). The switchover, which will affect all of the EU's 470
million+ citizens, was developed with the aim of meeting targets to
reduce energy usage by 20 percent by 2020:
to that end, a commission will be accepting proposals
for enabling the switchover "for office and street lighting to be
adopted by 2008 and on incandescent lamps and other forms of lighting
in private households by 2009."
Story stumbled on here:
ORIGINAL SOURCE HERE
Thursday Mar 08, 2007
In what could be the largest environmentally friendly corporate
project in history, Bank of America Corp. will unveil a $20-billion
initiative to help fertilize green business practices.
The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-fi-greenbank6mar06,1,7781916.story
