Greg Galitzine : Green Blog
Greg Galitzine
| Helping environmentally-conscientious business leaders choose environmentally-friendly solutions.

green technology

Carbon Trust

June 13, 2007

Who knew Belfast, Ireland pumps out 4,800 tons of carbon dioxide a year? This news comes way of the Carbon Trust. This organization further goes on to say in the UK, 40% of carbon emissions come from business and this number is 35% in Belfast.   This really shows business plays a major a role in reducing carbon emissions. As this article explains, business can reduce their energy costs by up to 20% and in the process enhance their reputations.   This is obviously a win/win for business and I am looking forward to seeing a continued embrace of environmentally friendly technology by business.

Rackspace

June 13, 2007

We are in the era of corporate initiatives aimed at reducing carbon emissions which at the same time should further a company’s image. Generally there is energy conservation savings coupled with green publicity which makes the move to green a win/win.   It is wonderful to see how many companies are jumping on the green technology bandwagon.   Rackspace has just announced such a green initiative. Dubbed internally as "GreenSpace," the company-wide program will promote energy conservation, carbon offsets and employee education to reduce Rackspace's contribution to climate change.   More details can be found here.

Computers Need to go Green

June 14, 2007

Articles like this one really show how the typical PC has a way to go before it becomes green. Or at least much greener. Computers generate as much as 35 mullions tons of gas each year and this equates to about 100 million flights! It is unclear from this article if this is PCs in the UK or the world.   It takes around 1.8 tons of chemicals, fossil fuels and water to produce a PC, and its operation generates 0.1 tons of CO2 in a typical year.

Green WiFi

June 15, 2007

Something magical happens when you combine solar power and municipal WiFi. You get internet access for a population of 44,000 residents. St. Louis Park, Minnesota is where this green technology implementation is taking place. The WiFi APs will be connected by fiber and reside on 16 foot poles painted an aesthetically pleasing brown.   Clint Pires, CIO for St. Louis Park, said his city is the first in the U.S. to combine Wi-Fi and solar panels so widely.   "Our decision to use solar power reflects the city's philosophy of environmental stewardship, but we also expect to save $40,000 to $50,000 each year by using solar power instead of electric utility connections," Pires said in a statement.

Carbon Neutral Campaign

June 15, 2007

Presidential candidate Chris Dodd who hails from TMC’s home state of Connecticut has announced a carbon-neutral campaign. The question is how many trees will Dodd’s campaign team have to plant at every stop along the campaign trail.   "All Americans have a role to play in securing our energy independence, and I'm excited that our campaign will do its part," said Dodd. "We must all do our share to begin turning the clock back on global warming and reducing our carbon footprint will go along way in stopping global climate change."   Dodd has teamed with the Carbon Fund actually to deal with the carbon offsets needed to make this a reality.

Carbon Footprint Secrecy

June 15, 2007

The issue of carbon footprint and the potential to be carbon neutral paired with using this information as a positive PR vehicle can be seriously hampered by a company’s need for secrecy. Google is not a huge fan of letting the world know how many servers it has and as such detailed “we are carbon neutral talk,” is seriously hampered. Here are some details on carbon footprints and secrecy from the Environmental Leader.

New Zealand PM on Carbon

June 16, 2007

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark says arguments against traveling overseas or buying foreign food because of the carbon footprint are "idiotic" and not the way to tackle climate change. This according to Radio New Zealand. The Prime Minister goes on to say there are better ways to tackle global warming.   In separate news, new Zealand and Australia will be join forces to develop a compatible carbon trading system.   In my mind a carbon trading system would indeed reduce the number of flights and put pressure on people to reduce purchasing imported food. Somehow these two news items seem opposed to one another but perhaps the PM sees other ways to reduce carbon besides the ones she calls idiotic.

Cold Ironing

June 16, 2007

Either my brain is taking a break or this article is confusing. Well perhaps it can be both at the same time. Regardless… It seems the shipping industry is considering going green and the Port of Oakland is experimenting with technology which allows ship to switch to electric power while docked.   Connecting to shore-based electricity to power the onboard systems while the ship is docked could eliminate as much as 1,000 pounds of exhaust pollutants during a single containership port call. Now this is one green technology we can all get behind.   This technique of connecting to power lines from shore is called cold ironing and a company called APL has developed a technology allowing cold ironing to take place for $225,000 per vessel as opposed to original industry estimates of 1.5 million.

GM Deploys Green Technology

June 17, 2007

GM built the world’s first electric car and although this experiment did not go as well as the company would have liked, the Detroit-based auto maker has not given up on green technology investments and research.   In fact, General Motors Corp. is moving more than 500 fuel cell experts from advanced development laboratories to core engineering functions to prepare fuel cell technology for future production.   More than 400 fuel cell engineers will report to GM’s Powertrain Group to begin production engineering of fuel cell systems. Another 100 will transfer to GM’s Global Product Development organization to start integrating fuel cells into future company vehicles. Finally, more than 150 fuel cell scientists and program support will remain as part of GM’s Research and Development center to continue advanced research in hydrogen storage, fuel cells and program commercialization. The transition is aimed at expediting the company’s efforts to produce vehicles that displace petroleum through energy diversity. “Eight years ago we said that hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle technology could make a major contribution to solving the energy and environmental challenges facing the automobile industry,” said Larry Burns, GM Vice President, Research and Development. “Today’s announcement signals another important milestone as we move fuel cell vehicles closer to future production.”   This realignment is yet another initiative in GM’s commitment to displace petroleum usage in the auto industry through a range of propulsion alternatives, including:
  • E85-capable biofuel vehicles - GM is a leading producer with more than 2 million on the road today
  • GM’s 2-mode hybrid system for large city buses
  • GM’s Hybrid System in the Saturn Vue Green Line and Saturn Aura Green Line
  • Coming this fall, GM’s 2-mode hybrid system in the Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon full-size SUVs, which provides a more than 25-percent improvement in fuel economy to what is already the industry’s most fuel-efficient large SUVs, with no compromises in performance or towing capability
  • Due next year, a front-wheel-drive 2-mode Saturn Vue Green Line that is expected to deliver up to a 45-percent improvement in combined city and highway fuel economy compared with the current non-hybrid Vue, based on current federal test procedures
  • Plans to produce a plug-in version of the 2-mode hybrid Vue Green Line that has the potential to achieve double the fuel efficiency of any current SUV
For more information on how General Motors is putting green technology into the hands of consumers read this well researched and detailed article from Envautomental.

Green Airplane Engines

June 17, 2007

It is comforting to know that while it seems all corporations and governments are under pressure from their customers and constituents to be green, the airplane market is absolutely no exception. See comments from Boeing about the amount of pressure the company is exerting on engine manufacturers to become more green.   According to this Reuters article Boeing is pressuring the following companies: GE, Rolls-Royce Plc and Pratt & Whitney.
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