By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Tue, 2009-11-10 06:30
Do them by yourself, on the back of an envelope
Numbers have something that mere words seem to lack. Let’s call it an aura of absolute truth, of incontestability.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Mon, 2009-09-07 05:30
David Dornfeld argues for a holistic strategy in manufacturing businesses
According to the most widely accepted definition of sustainability, a sustainable business has objectives on three different fronts: the environment, the economy, and social capital. These are often seen as conflicting goals, an idea that results in a search for compromises and tradeoffs. David Dornfeld, Department Head of the Laboratory for Manufacturing and Sustainability at the University of California (Berkeley), opposes this point of view. He states that 'a business must be analyzed holistically, that is, let’s not fiddle with just little parts'. In such a holistic approach, the economy, the environment, and social capital become integrated. Much of the foundation for Dornfeld’s ideas can be found in the Total Quality concepts of W. Edwards Deming.
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By HDK / Published on Wed, 2009-08-05 15:26
Customers want a reliable, affordable and sustainable electricity supply. Over the years the emphasis between these three items have been shifted.
What do you expect that customers will value most in the future electricity supply? We welcome your comments and votes on this question.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Tue, 2009-07-21 05:30
A reference Web site on environmental psychology
The transition to a sustainable society is not likely to be possible without a change in the behaviour of all of us. But we are all creatures of habit and this raises the question of how we will get people set in their ways to alter their lifestyle. How can a mass behavioural change to the more sustainable use of energy, water and nature be achieved?
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Tue, 2009-07-14 05:30
Some renewable energy systems rely on scarce resources
In the quest for alternatives to fossil fuels, renewable energy systems are being rapidly developed across a wide spectrum. However, the fact that these new systems replace depletable fossil fuels with renewable sources is in itself not a guarantee of high sustainability. The article 'Why sustainable power is unsustainable' in New Scientist draws attention to this often under-appreciated fact. In our growing focus on energy and climate change, we have a tendency to applaud every renewable energy technology that is being developed and without considering its other sustainability aspects.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Wed, 2009-05-13 05:30
Trade-off between environment and health
When discussing sustainable building services (HVAC, electricity, and water), the main factors that are usually considered are environmental impact, financial cost, comfort, and sometimes safety. Although carbon emission reduction is rightfully dominating the debate nowadays, we must not forget that health can be an important fifth factor when designing sustainable building services. This is made abundantly clear in the PhD thesis 'Healthy Building Services for the 21st Century' of Francesco Franchimon at the Technical University of Eindhoven.
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Wed, 2008-10-01 15:39
IEEP
and its partner, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) have
published a report on “Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Policies
in Europe and the United States”. This report includes the main
conclusions of our joint project - Transatlantic Platform for Action on
the Global Environment (T-PAGE). T-PAGE has provided a platform for
debate to stimulate dialogue and exchange of experiences between
environmental NGOs, academia and other interested civil society
organisations in the U.S. and EU. The project has been co-funded by the
European Commission within the framework of its programme to promote
transatlantic dialogues at the non-governmental level.
This report includes the series of research papers produced during
the course of the project. The papers include summaries of European and
U.S policies on climate change and energy; an analysis of the EU
Emission Trading Scheme (ETS); a summary of the current state of U.S.
policy on cap and trade; a summary of policy approaches to promoting
biofuels on both sides of the Atlantic; and an analysis of EU and U.S.
public perceptions of the environment and climate change.
The project culminated in a final conference held in Washington DC
in April 2008. At this conference, participants agreed that greenhouse
gas emissions from the transport sector should be addressed as a
priority in overall climate policy through a broad mix of policy tools;
while on the issue of biofuels, participants recommended a common
strategy based on a combination of perspectives and called for a
critical evaluation of the impact of biofuel production methods and
outputs on the environment.
The report is available from: http://www.ieep.eu/publications/pdfs/tpageccfinalreport.pdf
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Thu, 2008-06-05 05:30
A recent study by Clean Edge
The clean energy market is booming. According to the report 'Clean Energy Trends in 2008' by Clean Edge, a California clean technologies research and publishing firm, the market for solar energy, wind energy, biofuels, and fuel cells experienced a 40% increase in revenue growth in 2007. Cumulative global wind capacity now exceeds 94,000 MW. Solar capacity is more than 10,000 MW and biofuel production is approximately 15 billion gallons per year. This rapid growth leads to economies of scale and cost reductions, promising even faster growth in the future.
Challenges to overcome
However, Clean Edge also notes a few important challenges that must be overcome in the upcoming years:
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Fri, 2008-04-18 13:15
By D Nchelatebe Nkwetta et al
Sub-Saharan African countries are today confronted with the problem of urban and demographic growths thus needing to reach a sustainable rate of positive economic growth. In order to meet this sustainability, many reforms are being carried out among which is the energy sector which will lead to future energy supply in an open globalised energy market as well as providing the basic energy needs.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Fri, 2008-04-11 11:42
Talking about environmental benefits in times of scepticism
Marketing and environmental protection are two seemingly very different worlds. But they can profit from each other. A good marketing campaign can boost the sales of environmentally friendly products and more generally increase the environmental behaviour of consumers. Conversely, environmentally friendly products can engage consumers on an emotional level, which is a dream for every marketer.
Unfortunately, the latter has stimulated marketers into developing 'greenwashing' messages which are misleading consumers by exaggerating the environmental advantages of a certain product or service. This is often easy to do, given the difficulty in understanding all of the complexities involved in identifying the actual environmental burden of a product and the ignorance of many consumers in this field.
On the longer term however, such greenwashing can seriously harm the credibility of products since consumers are often more sensible than marketers think. Geenwashing can also affect the credibility of environmental protection in general as well as of green marketing messaging - more and more consumers see it as nothing more than a way to mislead the buyer. The final result is a general increase in cynicism regarding all things environmental.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Wed, 2008-02-13 14:21
Based on a Discussion Webinar, Friday, 18 January 2008
How best to heat a house is a question that is often hotly debated. On one side, it is a purely personal choice affecting our daily life and personal comfort and productivity. But on the other side, given the enormous amount of heating energy the global built environment is consuming, it is also an important topic in the sphere of social responsibility. Residential heating is an area with great potential for carbon emission reductions.
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By Hans Nilsson / Published on Mon, 2008-01-07 08:00
The road to sustainability is not straight. It may even hold diversions and impasses that we have to travel and travel back. This is annoying in itself and even more so when we have to do it at some speed. In the debate some of the dilemmas have been highlighted, dilemmas where our hearts and emotions may say one thing but where our brains and acts may say another. Do we have to choose between Food or Biofuel, Local Production or Global Trade, Consume or Save?
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Wed, 2007-08-29 07:30
Hard truths or soft concessions?
The U.S. National Petroleum Council recently published a major new report: 'Facing the Hard Truths about Energy: a Comprehensive View to 2030 of Global Oil and Natural Gas'.
It doesn’t come as a surprise that the peak-oil guys of APSO-USA (Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas) are not impressed. In the article: 'National Petroleum Council report comes up a dry hole' in the Energy Bulletin, they state that the NPC report doesn’t meet the promise of its title. A more interesting, close reading of the NPC report was done by Jerome a Paris, also in the Energy Bulletin.
A breakthrough in the NPC vision
Jerome a Paris sees two reasons why the report can be called a breakthrough in the vision of the NPC:
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By Hans Nilsson / Published on Tue, 2007-08-28 07:00
Some of the technology we need will doubtless be provided by (small) innovators, but the volume will come from the huge companies established in the market. Searching their websites to see how they market sustainability and energy efficiency gives us an idea about their ability and preparedness. The readers may judge the quality of their efforts themselves.
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By Hans Nilsson / Published on Wed, 2007-08-22 07:00
There is a mantra from the World Business Council for a Sustainable Development, WBCSD, in their first report on the building industry; an industry that they find complex and fragmented. This characteristic also results in the industry systematically misjudging costs and opportunities. They should, in short, have a more holistic approach to make more of their resources.
And as for the mantra, what does it mean and imply?
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By Hans Nilsson / Published on Thu, 2007-05-10 07:00
The major of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, has announced his intention that New York should be 'the first environmentally sustainable 21st-century city" as a result of a 127-point programme to be realised during the next 25 years. One may assume that part of the concern lies in the actual risk that Manhattan may be flooded as a consequence of the global warming and the rise of sea levels, but good deeds should be praised rather than questioned.
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By Hans Nilsson / Published on Fri, 2007-04-20 07:00
Or would you rather be something else? The British Energy Saving Trust has made a green barometer that basically shows we think better of ourselves than we actually live up to, but also that there is hope for improvements.
The rest of us, not being subjects of the Queen, may nevertheless take some impression of this profiling. It clearly illustrates that sustainable energy is not an issue of technology improvements only but also a change in life-style. And one of the habits hard to give up is air-travelling.
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By Hans Nilsson / Published on Thu, 2007-04-12 07:00
Don't we all look more closely the origins of goods, especially food, in our shops nowadays and think about global warming? This healthy reaction may, however, not be enough to make the right decisions. One stunning example is that flowers grown in Africa and transported by air to our shops may have a smaller carbon footprint than those grown around the corner in heated greenhouses!
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Mon, 2007-04-02 11:22
Sustainable Energy Europe 2005-2008 is a European Commission initiative in the framework of the Intelligent Energy - Europe (2003-2006) programme, which will contribute to achieve the European Union's energy policy targets within the fields of renewable energy sources, energy efficiency, clean transport and alternative fuels.
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