Wednesday, May 8, 2013

City of Cambridge, MIT and Harvard Sign Compact for a Sustainable Future

Community Compact for a Sustainable FutureThe City of Cambridge, Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology have signed a historic “Community Compact for a Sustainable Future” aimed at leveraging the intellectual and entrepreneurial capacity of the business, non-profit, education and municipal sectors in Cambridge, MA to contribute to a healthy, livable and sustainable future.

The three signatories also announced they have already recruited the participation of an initial group of major business partners including Akamai Technologies, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research and Whole Foods.

The Compact lays out a framework for how the group can address climate change at the local level and improve the quality of life and well-being of the Cambridge community by considering nine key areas of collaboration such as energy efficiency, renewable energy, climate mitigation and adaptation, storm water management and green tech incubation. It aims to harness the signatories’ collective capacities in research, teaching, social best practices and governance to generate new and innovative solutions to the challenges of climate change and sustainability. Read more.

Photo: Harvard President Drew G. Faust, MIT President L. Rafael Reif, Cambridge Mayor Henrietta Davis and Cambridge City Manager Robert W. Healy. cambridgema.gov

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Five Swedish Students Selected for the 2013 REACT U.S. Program

For the second year in a row, five Swedish university students are given the opportunity to study urban sustainability practices in five different cities in the United States. The program, Research on Environmental Action and Clean Tech in U.S. Cities (REACT U.S.), was launched last year under the auspices of bilateral partnership the Swedish American Green Alliance. REACT U.S. is a joint partnership between the U.S. Embassy in Sweden and Sustainable Sweden.

Five Swedish university students have now been selected for this year's program. Sustainable Sweden has selected the following five students:

- Sonja Pettersson, Umeå University
- Matilda Olsson, Uppsala University
- Veronique Larsson, Stockholm University
- Pernilla Bergström, Linneaus University
- Julia Arvidsson, University of Lund

The students will conduct three weeks of research on urban sustainability in the United States in August. This year the cities of Cleveland, OH; Madison, WI; Portland, OR; Portsmouth, NH; and Tallahassee, FL are hosting the Swedish students.

Guest-blogger for May: Lars Ling, CleanTech Region

Every month a new guest blogger shares her/his thoughts on energy and environment issues on the SAGA website. The guest blogger for May is Lars Ling, CEO of CleanTech Region.

In this capacity, he assists Swedish clean technology companies in entering global markets. He has championed numerous projects aimed at strengthening trade relationships between Sweden and the U.S.

Battery Low? Give Your iPhone Some Water

A power source for your cell phone can now be as close as the nearest faucet, stream, or even a puddle, with the world’s first water-activated charging device. Based on micro fuel cell technology developed at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, the MyFC PowerTrekk uses ordinary water to extend battery life for devices of up to 3 watts.

Anders Lundblad, KTH researcher and founder of MyFC, says that the device can be powered by fresh or seawater. The water need not be completely clean.

“Our invention has great potential to accelerate social development in emerging markets,” Lundblad says. “There are large areas that lack electricity, while mobile phones fulfil more and more vital functions, such as access to weather information or electronic payment.”

A USB connector attaches the compact PowerTrekk charger to the device. When plain water is poured onto a small recyclable metal disc inside the unit, hydrogen gas is released and combines with oxygen to convert chemical energy into electrical energy. The resulting charge is enough to power an iPhone to between 25 and 100 percent of its battery capacity. Read more.

Photo: fairfaxcounty.gov

Monday, May 6, 2013

Nevada to Provide Clean Energy to Los Angeles

Photo of geothermal heat pumpOrmat Technologies has entered into an agreement with Southern California Public Power Authority to deliver clean electricity from a geothermal power plant in Nevada to Los Angeles.

When the plant comes online at the end of 2013 it will provide energy to more than 22,000 California homes and bring economic development to Mineral County, Nevada through employment benefits, taxes and community contributions.

"This geothermal energy project is a result of a joint effort between Nevada and California to find mutually beneficial energy trades," said Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval . "The project provides quality jobs for Nevadans and affordable renewable energy to Californians, which is a win for everyone." Read more.

Photo: eere.energy.gov

Friday, May 3, 2013

Six in Ten Americans Say Global Warming is Affecting Weather in the United States.

According to a new poll from Yale University and George Mason University, about six in ten Americans (58 percent) say “global warming is affecting weather in the United States.” By contrast, only 7 percent say global warming is not affecting the weather and 10 percent say that global warming isn’t happening. One in four (25 percent) don’t know or did not answer the question.

Half of Americans say global warming is affecting the weather “a lot” (23 percent) or “some” (27 percent). Relatively few say it is affecting the weather only “a little” (6 percent). The poll results are available here.

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Alaska Native Communities Receive Technical Assistance for Local Clean Energy Development

Five Alaska Native communities will receive technical expertise through the Strategic Technical Assistance Response Team (START) program. The U.S. Energy Department’s START program, in partnership with Denali Commission and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, provides technical expertise on a variety of clean energy and efficiency technologies, infrastructure development and community capacity building to tribal communities across the United States.

Through the START awards made today, each Alaska Native tribe will receive technical assistance focused on community-based energy planning, energy awareness and training programs, and clean energy deployment and financing opportunities. Additionally, each village selected this year is eligible for up to $250,000 in financial assistance to deploy a renewable energy or energy efficiency project, supported by the Department’s Tribal Energy grant program. Read more.

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Nike, NASA, State Department and USAID Aim to Revolutionize Sustainable Materials

NIKE, NASA, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. Department of State recently convened 150 materials specialists, designers, academics, manufacturers, entrepreneurs and NGOs to catalyze action around the sustainability of materials and how they are made.

Through a unique, multi-year incubation process, LAUNCH will uncover innovations in sustainable materials that can have a major impact on people and the planet. The summit also unveiled the LAUNCH 2013 Challenge Statement, an open call for innovation to transform the system of producing fabrics. LAUNCH 2013 is open to individuals and teams. In August the 10 strongest innovations will be selected and participants will take part in an immersive program that provides access to capital, creativity and capacity.

Materials have a significant impact on the planet. It is estimated that around 150 billion garments were produced around the world in 2010, and by 2015, the global apparel industry is expected to produce more than 400 billion square meters of fabric every year – enough to cover the state of California. Read more.

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

World's Largest Solar Power Plant is Under Construction; To Power 400,000 Homes in California

A couple of days ago, MidAmerican Solar and SunPower began construction of a major solar project in Kern and Los Angeles counties in California. The 579-megawatt development is expected to employ approximately 650 workers during a three-year construction period; generate more than $500 million in regional economic impact, and serve California's growing electricity demand with clean power.

When complete, the projects will provide enough energy to power approximately 400,000 average California homes. The Antelope Valley Solar Projects make up the world's largest solar power development under construction.  Read more.

Photo: MidAmerican Solar and Silicon Valley based SunPower are building the 579-megawatt Antelope Valley Solar Projects, the world's largest solar power development under construction, co-located in Los Angeles and Kern Counties. PRNewsFoto/SunPower Corp.

Monday, April 29, 2013

U.S. Ranks First In Green Tax Index

Photo of a field of solar panelsThe United States ranked first among 21 countries most actively using the tax code to influence sustainable corporate activity, according to the inaugural edition of the KPMG Green Tax Index. The United States tops the KPMG Green Tax Index ranking primarily due to its federal tax incentives for energy efficiency, renewable energy and green buildings.

According to the KPMG Green Tax Index, the U.S. tax code provides a range of tax credits, including a production tax credit on renewable energy and tax incentives construction of efficient buildings. The United States uses green penalties less than other Western developed nations apart from Canada. When green tax penalties alone are considered, the United States drops to 14th.

Japan, the United Kingdom, France, South Korea and China were also among the leading countries using tax as a tool to drive sustainable corporate behavior, according to the index. Key policy areas explored in the index include energy efficiency, water efficiency, carbon emissions, green innovations and green buildings.

The KPMG index identified over 200 individual tax incentives and penalties of relevance to corporate sustainability. At least 30 of these have been introduced since January 2011. Read more.

Photo: eere.energy.gov

Friday, April 26, 2013

Guest-Blogger Christofer Sköld on the Need to Get the Financial Sector Working for a Low-Carbon Society

by: Christofer Sköld, Acting Program Director on Environmental Policy at think tank Forum for Reforms, Entrepreneurship and Sustainability (FORES) 

In my latest post I pointed out short-sightedness as one of the main obstacles to get the financial sector to address the challenges that climate change poses. The main issue is not merely to solve this problem but also to make the financial sector itself see the monetary value in dealing with climate mitigation and adaption. This does not necessarily imply huge regulatory packages, such as the Basel III/Solvent II or the Dodd-Frank act. Instead transparency may be the key ingredient in making the financial sector sustainable and making the financial sector itself gain from sustainable behaviour.

The International Energy Agency has stated that in order to reduce global carbon emissions, $13.5 trillion need to be invested in low-carbon energy. That amount of money can realistically only be found on the financial markets. This is far more than, for instance, the $1 billion dollars in “climate finance” that the international climate negotiations have yet to come up with under the UNFCCC umbrella.

As I wrote in my latest post, the global stock markets and financial instruments are to a great extent exposed to fossil fuels. This is counterproductive to reaching the 2-degree target set by the UN. One way to go about this challenge is to enact legislation to compel larger companies to provide information on the sustainability of their investments and actions. In the United Kingdom larger companies have to report their carbon footprint. Although Sweden's four major banks are all bound by the UN’s “principles for responsible investments” (UN PRI), there are no national laws requiring businesses and investors to present information on a set of sustainability indicators. The UN PRI highlight how a particular company addresses environmental, social and governmental issues which is helpful to consumers. This kind of reporting has become increasingly popular, even mainstream, around the globe but has not been effective in breaking the kind of short-sightedness that create systemic risks such as a potential carbon bubble.

The major cause is that there still is no price on unsustainable behaviour. This is where transparency gets into the picture.

The UN principles for responsible investments only request actors to set up goals and then report on how they deliver on these targets. The goals do not take into account the national climate goals. For instance, Sweden, has relatively strict national climate goals, set to decrease carbon emissions by 40 percent by 2020 compared to 1990 levels. Say that a bank has to report their annual carbon emissions, their targets for the future, and how this compares to the Swedish national targets. Then analysts, and in the end, consumers could get the information needed to start comparing different companies' climate impact. Emitting less and/or investing less in for instance carbon-intensive industry would then become advantageous to companies. In short, it would provide an incentive for companies to decrease their “climate threat exposure”. In this way, transparency will be the key ingredient for turning the financial markets' investment streams away from fossil fuels and towards a low-carbon society.

Volvo Uses Racing Car Technology to Reduce Fuel Consumption by 25%

Volvo Car Group has completed extensive testing of new so-called kinetic flywheel technology on public roads - and the results confirm that it has the potential to reduce fuel consumption by 25 percent. Ferrari, Renault, BMW, and McLaren have all used kinetic energy recovery systems (KERS) in F1 racing.

The experimental system, known as Flywheel KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System), is fitted to the rear axle. During retardation, the braking energy causes the flywheel to spin. When the car starts moving off again, the flywheel's rotation is transferred to the rear wheels via a specially designed transmission.

The combustion engine that drives the front wheels is switched off as soon as braking begins. The energy in the flywheel can then be used to accelerate the vehicle when it is time to move off again or to power the vehicle once it reaches cruising speed. Read more.

Photo: media.volvocars.com

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Skanska Signs Power Plant Construction Contract in Indiana

Swedish construction company Skanska, that specializes in green building, has signed a construction contract with an existing electric power client in Indiana. The contract is worth $101 million, about SEK 650 million.

Skanska Industrial contractors will perform structural and mechanical installation on an environmental compliance project. The contract includes structural steel, ductwork, piping and electric cabling. Work will commence in April 2013, with anticipated completion in July 2015. Read more.

Photo: group.skanska.com

Report by FORES on Carbon Markets Released in the United States

On April 10, the Center for American Progress (CAP) in Washington, D.C. hosted an event on emission reductions and carbon markets highlighting a report by Lars Zetterberg at Swedish think tank FORES.

The event focused on the potential evolution of the U.S. economic and political relationship with the European Union, Australia, and Canada through the linking of carbon markets with markets in California and nine U.S. states on the East Coast that are connected through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). RGGI is the first mandatory carbon cap-and-trade system in the United States.

To learn more about the event, to read the report and to view a video, click here.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Video Zeroes In on U.S. Ambassador's Trip to the Arctic

Earlier this month, the U.S. Ambassador to Sweden Mark Brzezinski visited Abisko in the northernmost part of Sweden to view, first-hand, the impact that climate change has on a sub-Arctic environment.

U.S. Embassy Sweden has posted a YouTube video summarizing the trip. 



Bloomberg: Renewables Investment Seen Tripling

The plunge in the cost of wind and solar power that bankrupted more than two dozen manufacturers is forecast to spur a tripling of investment in renewables by 2030 and to reduce the grip fossil fuels have on world energy supply, according to Bloomberg.

Annual spending on clean-energy projects that don’t add to greenhouse-gas pollution may rise to $630 billion at the end of the next decade from $190 billion last year, Bloomberg New Energy Finance said in a report yesterday. That’s 37 percent more than estimated in November 2011 and means renewables would account for half of all generation capacity by 2030. Read more.

Monday, April 22, 2013

IKEA Completes Maryland’s Largest Rooftop Solar Array Atop Distribution Center

IKEA, the world’s leading home furnishings retailer, today officially plugged-in the solar energy system installed at its distribution center in Perryville, Maryland. (Photo: Business Wire)IKEA has plugged in a solar energy system at its distribution center in Perryville, Maryland. The installation consists of 18,576 panels and is, according to IKEA, the state’s largest rooftop array. The IKEA distribution center will produce approximately 3,397,178 kWh of clean electricity annually, the equivalent of reducing 2,397 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), eliminating the emissions of 499 cars or powering 359 homes yearly.

This installation represents the 36th completed solar project for IKEA in the U.S., with three more locations underway, making the eventual U.S. solar presence of IKEA nearly 90 percent of its U.S. locations with a total generation of 38 MW. Read more.

Photo: IKEA Completes Maryland’s Largest Rooftop Solar Array Atop Distribution Center in Perryville, MD; Company Surpasses 80% Solar Presence on U.S. Locations. IKEA/businesswire.com

ABB Buys U.S. Solar Energy Company Power-One

Swedish-Swiss ABB is acquiring California-based solar company Power-One, Nasdaq reports. According to Nasdaq, ABB said Monday it will pay around $1.03 billion to acquire the Power-One to expand its solar business.

"Solar photovoltaic is becoming a major force reshaping the future energy mix because it is rapidly closing in on grid parity," said ABB Chief Executive Joe Hogan.

Power-One makes solar inverters, ranging from residential to utility applications, has a broad global manufacturing footprint, and also has a power solutions portfolio that is adjacent to ABB's power conversion business, ABB said in a statement. The deal is expected to close in the second half of this year.

Power-One employs almost 3,300 people, mainly in China, Italy, the U.S and Slovakia, and in 2012 generated $120 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization on sales of approximately $1 billion. Read more.

Photo: abb.com

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Guest-Blogger Christofer Sköld on Carbon Bubbles and Stranded Assets

by: Christofer Sköld, Acting Program Director on Environmental Policy at think tank Forum for Reforms, Entrepreneurship and Sustainability (FORES)

The financial crisis in 2008 made it clear that the systematic risks within the financial sector pose a threat not only to the sector itself but to the whole economy. Many blame the sector’s imminent short-sightedness as an explanation to why institutional investors deliberately traded with worthless mortage-backed securities. Few are however made aware of how the financial sector’s short-sightedness also interacts with climate threat.

For instance, a report by the organization Carbon Tracker Initiative points at what should be a contradiction. Today the world’s stock markets, and especially index instruments, are to a large extent based on the value of fossil fuel-companies. But given the premise that the world is to achieve the UN climate target of not exceeding a global increase of two degrees celsius, an estimated 80 percent of the current fossil reserves have to remain unexploited. If so, those reserves will in practice become worthless. Assets that in this manner have become obsolete, by being less worth on the market than on the balance sheet, are said to be stranded assets. As markets today value these fossil fuel reserves as if they will be fully exploited, it could be argued as yet another proof of economically irrational short sightedness. Instead, I would say this rather shows that the markets do not believe that the climate targets will be reached, or rather, that the policies to provide such a development are still missing.

However, this still makes the financial markets irrationally short sighted. If the climate target is not achieved and the temperature rises above 2 degrees celsius, other kinds of assets will be stranded, such as assets related to vital eco-system services and biodiversity. Those probably constitute a much higher monetary value than the 80 percent fossil fuel reserves that need to stay in the ground.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Renewables Made Up 82% Of New U.S. Electrical Generating Capacity in Q1

Wind, solar, biomass, geothermal and hydro power accounted for 82 percent of all new electrical generating capacity installed in the United States in the first quarter of this year for a total of 1,546 MW. The numbers were recently presented by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The balance of new generating capacity, comprising 340 MW, came from natural gas. Coal, nuclear power and oil have provided no new generating capacity this year.

Photo: eere.energy.gov