UPDATE: FutureGen Project Killed

It’s official - US DOE killed the $1.8 billion project yesterday.  There is still minimal hope with Congress, but it doesn’t look good for the people of Mattoon, IL.  DOE Secretary, Clay Sell says that he was just trying to help the people who but their heart and soul into the project by killing it now instead of letting it fester for 2 years and killing it later. 

“Now, had I just wanted to wash my hands of this, I would have let it go and the folks of Mattoon, Ill., could have continued to celebrate this for a year or maybe two years, and then when the same [plan] went south, I could have blamed it on the next administration for failing to bring this great idea to fruition,” Sell said.

Senator Dick Durbin was offended by that comment and said that Sell should come down to Mattoon and get their opinion.  It might be slightly different.  I think it’d probably be something like, “hey Sell, get bent!  You are friggin crazy.  If this were in Texas, the plant would be half built by now you S.O.B.”

 Source: Chicago Tribune

FutureGen Project Future Bleak

One day after President Bush’s State of the Union speech stated, “Together we should take the next steps: Let us fund new technologies that can generate coal power while capturing carbon emissions” the Illinois-bound FutureGen project looks to be in serious doubt.  FutureGen was a huge win for the State of Illinois that was to be heavily funded (~$1.8 billion) by the U.S. Department of Energy.  The basis of the project is just like Bush stated on Monday night, it’s a coal-fired power plant that will push the carbon emissions deep into the earth.  The plant could not only burn the “good” coal, but also the sludge and dirty coal that a typical power plant does not burn.  The carbon then returns to the soil and all is good (very debatable premise). 

We first talked about FutureGen in mid-December and were excited about the prospects for Illinois and the country, for that matter.  The day after Illinois was picked as the site, there were immediate doubts to its future.  Now, a little more than a month later and the day after the State of the Union, it looks even more bleak.  The question is whether this is being killed because Bush’s home state of Texas was the runner-up or truly because of funding issues.

From the Trib this morning:

“The [Energy Department] has turned its back on us,” charged U.S. Rep. Timothy Johnson, a Republican whose district includes Mattoon. “We played by their rules. … Secretary Bodman’s response this morning was a slap in the face.” 

Johnson said Bodman told the group that he planned to disband FutureGen and go “in another direction.” At one point, Johnson and Bodman snapped at each other. At another, U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel, a Chicago Democrat, told Bodman that “the first action taken by the president after the State of the Union was a series of broken promises.”

Source: Chicago Tribune

Green Drinks Virgin No More

I can proudly proclaim that I am no longer a Green Drinks virgin.  I’ve officially attended my first outing.  Maybe I should explain what Green Drinks is in the first place?  Well - since you asked…  Green Drinks was founded in the UK in 1989 by a green designer. It was originally founded as an informal gathering where people with interest in the environment and all things green can get together and share ideas and drinks. There are currently events regularly in 312 cities worldwide.  So check your local listings…or Google…or just start your own.

Green Drinks in Chicago began in February 2003.  Yes - for five long years, green drinks has been going strong here in the Windy City.  The events average around 75+ people and are now semi-monthly.  One meeting per month is a general focus while the other is aimed towards green business. 

Once I decided to finally bite the bullet and go - with the encouragement of my wife - I had to decide what mode of transportation I was going to take (although I knew immediately what I really had to do).  I live about 40 miles from the city of Chicago, yet I work downtown.  Luckily I had a couple things going for me.  One was that I already have a train pass paid for since I do go to the city via train every weekday.  The second is that the Green Drinks event is only about a 10-15min walk from the train.  The downside is that the train only runs hourly after a certain time and it makes every single stop.  I could easily drive to work and park.  Then driving home would potentially be very quick since it was way after rush hour.  Finally, I opted for the train for a couple reasons.  One is that  I’m cheap and the train is already paid for.  The second is that it seems a little hypocritical of me to drive to Green Drinks when I can easily take mass transit.  The third is that this is Green Drinks for crying out loud - maybe I could get a nice buzz on and learn about the environment and sober up on the train. 

So - I know what you’re thinking now - you want me to set the scene of me losing my Green Drinks virginity.  Break it down, yo.  First off, it begins at 5:30pm and your asked to donate $5 to the cause.  Not a problem.  5:30-6:45pm is for networking and getting your initial buzz going - which gives you the liquid courage to talk to even more strangers.  At 6:45pm the festivities begin.  There is usually a speaker on one or two topics.  Tonight was a little different.  The allotted time was one hour and there were 7 speakers to get through.  Each were given 7min to speak.  That left a little time for introductions and the initial MC by Peter who runs Foresight Design and Green Drinks Chicago.  During the speakers you can order some eats and drinks and sit back and relax…or take notes like me.  Then when the speakers are done, you can continue networking until 8:30pm or whenever everyone decides to leave.  Pretty simple.  There is also a table full of all kinds of good materials brought by the participants.  So you can find green businesses and all kinds of different initiatives going on in the area.  I have a nice stack of things…and no doubt I’ll be writing about them in a blog post soon.

Tonight’s episode of Green Drinks focused on the State of Sustainable Chicago with seven different organizations presenting.  The organizations involved this time were: Illinois League of Conservation Voters, U.S. Green Building Council - Chicago Chapter, Illinois Environmental Council, Openlands, Chicagoland Bicycle Federation, Access Living and Jobs With Justice.

I look forward to attending more meetings (I sound like I’m in a 12-step program) and seeing one that isn’t so schizophrenic.  Don’t get me wrong, I did have a good time and it was totally worth it.  It always feels good to go to those things and they’re not just filled with a stereotypical hippie treehugger, but people from all walks of life.  It makes you feel normal - like you’re not the odd-man-out.

Whole Foods Ditches Plastic Bags

Whole Foods is phasing out plastic bags in all of their stores - US, Canada and the UK.  It’s not just a quick phase-out, either.  They want to be plastic bag-free by Earth Day, April 22 (hey - isn’t it Earth Day everyday?).  This comes on the heels of decisions like China’s “free” plastic bag ban and last years San Francisco citywide ban.  Ikea also started charging $0.05 per plastic bag last year as well.  New York City recently announced that they are forcing stores to take back their plastic bags for recycling - and the store has to figure out how to get them recycled.

Its great that a “major” chain grocery store is taking this initiative and it only makes sense that it’s Whole Foods.  Although, I can’t say that Trader Joe’s ever had plastic bags that I can remember.  Whole Foods will still offer paper bags for free - but they are made from 100% recycled paper.  Kudos to WF.  They did do some consumer testing by eliminating plastic bags in several markets and saw positive customer response.  They also give you $0.10 off for each reusable bag you use.

Now - if only Wal-Mart would either ban or start charging for plastic bags.  Baby steps.  They recently had each employee sign a Personal Sustainability Promise.  I guess that they’re starting with educating their employees first.  I’ll accept that.  A company like Wal-Mart who’s demographic certainly is not always thinking green, can make a huge impact.  If they charged for plastic bags and sold reusable bags, people would still shop there for their deep discounts.  While I don’t really like Wal-Mart, they are trying.

Source: CNN Money via tip from Steve

Who Needs Government Funding When You Have Google?

Google.org made some announcements today regarding five core initiatives. It looks like they’re out to save the world.  Let’s talk dollars before the big announcement.  Google is allocating $25 million in new grants, devoting 1% of Google’s equity, 1% of annual profits as well as employee time towards these new initiatives.  From Dr. Larry Brilliant, executive director of Google.org, “These five initiatives are our attempt to address some of the hard problems we as a world need to face in the coming decade. We have chosen them both because we think solving them will make a better, fairer, safer world for our children and grandchildren – and the children and grandchildren of people all over the world – but also because we feel that these core initiatives fit well with Google’s core strengths, especially its innovative technologies and its talented engineers and other Googlers, who are really our most valuable assets.” 

Good job, Google.org.  I like the fact that they have this power and are using it to benefit the world - sure  there will those who say that Google should stick to gobbling up technology companies and spying on your gmail, but I think they’re grrrreat.   I say stop waiting for the world to change when you can help change the world.

Drum roll, please….

Predict and Prevent

Google is working to “predict and prevent” disasters in communities from spreading beyond where they are now.  This includes everything from the spread of infectious diseases like SARS and avian flu to droughts to any other ecological disaster.

Inform and Empower to Improve Public Services

Google.org works with partners to improve the flow of vital information to improve basic services for the poor in India and East Africa. In many countries in the developing world, essential public services are failing, especially for the poorest members of society. Google.org supports efforts to provide information to empower citizens and communities, providers, and policy makers to improve the delivery of essential public services such as education, health, water and sanitation.

Fuel the Growth of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises 

Google.org supports efforts to lower transaction costs to invest in SMEs, create opportunities to access larger financial markets and make investments in this sector. They also want to help increase the flow of capital to “the missing middle” by tackling some of the root causes that prevent these firms from becoming profitable investment opportunities.

Develop Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal (RE<C)

This cross-Google collaboration has set a goal of producing one gigawatt of renewable energy capacity that is cheaper than coal, within years not decades. The initiative, known as RE<C, was launched in November 2007 and will focus initially on advanced solar thermal power, wind power technologies, enhanced geothermal systems and other potential breakthrough technologies.

We wrote about this when it was first announced…click here for the way-back machine on SCREAM

Accelerate the Commercialization of Plug-In Vehicles (RechargeIT)

RechargeIT is a Google.org initiative that aims to reduce CO2 emissions, cut oil use and stabilize the electrical grid by accelerating the adoption of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and vehicle-to-grid technology.

Source: Google.org

With My Own Two Hands - Ben Harper

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OpenEco.org: Manage your Impact

OpenEco.org is a new online community sponsored by Sun Microsystems.  The main goal of the site is a tool that allows you to manage your energy consumption with a focus on businesses (for now).  Calculate, compare, reduce your GHG (greenhouse gasses).

Once you setup an account, you can begin entering data for your organization.  It allows you to invite others from your organization to be members and administrators.  Then you begin entering some data.  Once you set your units of measurement (i.e. sq meters vs sq feet, etc), you add a building.  Once you are done with the basics, you are presented with a nice dashboard to see where you stand.  You’ll need to have access to some items like your utility bill to enter your usage.  The dashboard will show you various charts and graphs and you can compare yourself to others in a like industry or area.

You can’t have a community without communication.  This is where the forums come in.  You can share ideas, best practices, and gather all kinds of information.   I haven’t fully hashed it out yet to see what kind of things I can find out and I think the site is really in its infancy. 

Right now, OpenEco.org is looking for more ideas.  It’s a great start and could prove beneficial as you try to “green” your organization.  Did I mention they will be hosting events, too?  Check out the video below on the initial meeting.

What initial features will the community offer?

• Calculation of greenhouse gases related to an organization’s facilities and vehicle fleets based on standard, approved carbon accounting standards
• Ability to compare building and fleet energy and GHG emissions performance with that of other participating organizations
• Data import and export using common formats such as comma-separated values (CSV)
• Tracking of trends and progress towards GHG reduction goals over time
• Results output suitable for reporting under programs such as the EPA Climate Leaders
• Open APIs for extensions and mashups
• Forum tool to enable community interaction on topics of interest
• Links to other key resources related to energy efficiency and GHG management

Source: OpenEco.org

NYC To Force Stores To Take Back Bags

I guess this post falls on the side of “at least they’re doing something.”  New York’s City Council has passed a bill that requires any store with five or more locations in NYC or any store that is larger than 5,000sq ft to take back plastic bags.  They will have recycling bins for the bags at their location where shoppers can return the billions of bags that the bag boy gives you.  If you remember from our plastic recycling primer the other day, these are #4 bags.  So you could probably sneak in the plastic sleeves that your newspaper comes in.  The bags will be shredded and turned into fibers or new bags eventually.  Mayor Bloomberg still has to sign off on the bill, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed.

It’s great that a large city like New York is taking this action  and encouraging people to recycle the bags.  What about not offering plastic bags at all?  San Francisco banned the plastic bags last year.  What about charging for plastic bags like Ikea is doing or places in Europe.  I went to Germany in the 90’s and had to pay for a bag.    If you must have the plastic bags - they could make them out of a corn-based plastic so they biodegrade.  Just saying…

I should keep a count of how many plastic bags I actually get in 2008.  I keep my ACME Workhorse bag in my coat pocket - but it will eventually get warm out and I’ll have one in my work bag, but that’s not fool-proof.  I’ll add in one point that my friend Joy would tell me frequently, plastic bags that you get from the store are reusable, too.  You don’t have to go buy some special reusable shopping bag. 

To sum it all up…

Good: Forcing stores to take bag their plastic bags
Better: Getting paper bags instead.  Bags made from corn-based plastics.  Selling bags instead of giving them away.
Best: Bringing your own bag, reuse a different bag, or just refuse a bag. 

Source: New York Times

[UPDATE: Apparently California has a law forcing the stores to take back their bags, too.  The State of CA uses ~19billion plastic bags year according to this news report.]

Ford Motors Unveils EcoBoost

Well, when it rains - it pours.  Somehow it seems that like celebrity deaths, stories on certain topics come in clumps.  Just the other day I wrote about the changes at Chevy.  Today, it’s Ford’s turn.  Ford is set to unveil what they are calling “EcoBoost.” Not sure how much Ford is putting on this for the future or if they’re just banking on this for the short-term.

What is EcoBoost?  It’s described as a “gas-turbo direct-injection engine.”  Yeah - I’m not sure what that means, either. From what I understand from reading the PDF on the Ford website, its still a standard gasoline engine.  They are just using a creative way to get 20-30% more efficiency from a standard gas engine.  At the same time they are reducing CO2 emissions by around 15% and increasing engine torque.  That seems like a fair tradeoff for right now, but I hope they have something better than that in their back-pocket for the future.  Like something with less oil dependency.  Why not put more into their PHEVs?

Ford Motor Company hopes to have the EcoBoost feature in 500,000 cars and trucks in the next five years.  The first vehicle to get it will be the 2009 Mercury MKS sedan.  The new Ford Explorer America concept truck (it kinda looks like those boxy Mercedes SUVs) will be shown at this year’s Detroit Auto Show and will showcase the new EcoBoost engine.

From today’s press release:
“EcoBoost is meaningful because it can be applied across a wide variety of engine types in a range of vehicles, from small cars to large trucks – and it’s affordable,” said Derrick Kuzak, Ford’s group vice president of Global Product Development. 

“Compared with the current cost of diesel and hybrid technologies, customers in North America can expect to recoup their initial investment in a 4-cylinder EcoBoost engine through fuel savings in approximately 30 months.  A diesel in North America will take an average of seven and one-half years, while the cost of a hybrid will take nearly 12 years to recoup – given equivalent miles driven per year and fuel costs,” he said.

I should mention that Ford, like most automakers, is making strides environmentally.  They already have seats in vehicles now that are made with soy-based foams.  They have worked with BP on establishing two hydrogen filling stations.  I’m sure there is more… 

I’m waiting for the auto announcement one day where I actually get excited rather than just being skeptical.  I know there are better ways out there.  Maybe someone will buy me one of those Air cars being made with TaTa Motors in India that just runs on compressed air.  Or perhaps the new ZAP-X car that is being developed with the design engineers from Lotus that is electric with solar and a slew of other exciting features…including photovoltaic glass for heating and cooling, 100% electric, 0-60 in under 5 seconds, 155mph, 350 miles per charge…okay…I have to stop now because I’m drooling on my keyboard again.

Source: Ford Motor Company

FTC to Madison Ave: Stop Greenwashing

The FTC hasn’t looked at its environmental policies since the 90’s, but that is going to change.  After recent workshops, they’ve decided that it’s time to reevaluate their standards.  It seems that every major advertising company and PR firm across the country is starting up a “green” practice to advise their clients.  We talked about this recently with the “Good and Green Conference” here in Chicago which we were a little more than critical about.  Like we said then - go ahead and market your green products and services - just make sure they’re legit and not BS. 

A report in the fall by TerraChoice Environmental Marketing said it found that of 1,018 green products, all but one were marketed with false or misleading claims.  That isn’t surprising at all.  I’m really curious to see how things start to change.  They need to have hard guidelines and an independent third-party certification to verify the legitimacy of the products and services. 

 Source: Columbus Dispatch

The Chevy Car Report

There were two stories about cars out recently, both concerning Chevy.  As you may or may not know, Chevy has been working on the Volt car.  Its one of the first commercially-made PHEVs (plugin hybrid electric vehicles) in the States.   They’ve been wanting to get this on the market by 2010 if not sooner, but as with a lot of technology there are setbacks.  The setback hinges on the lithium-ion batteries.  They have engineers working on perfecting a battery system for the car.  It’s not simple to just go out and get new ones like you would for a kids toy, so they kinda need to get it right the first time. 

There are some sexy factors going in to the Volt (I never thought I’d call an American car sexy, but hey, as Dylan says, “Time’s are a changin’”).   I’ll start off with the smaller factors - the PHEV.  Third-parties make kits for cars like the Prius to make them PHEV.  Those kits get the Prius over 100+ mpg.  The way their system will work is that you’ll go the first 40 miles off of battery power from the electric-side.  Then the engine would recharge the battery while driving on fuel.  Here’s a sexy factor, but its still fuel-dependent.  Chevy is making what they are calling the “E-Flex” system.  This system will allow the car to be fueled with diesel, E85, regular gas, and even hydrogen. 

We’ll see when it really comes out and by the time it does hit the market, how many other manufacturers will be right there with them…


The other Chevrolet announcement is about the new Chevy Tahoe Hybrid.  It kinda makes me throw-up in my mouth a little bit just talking about it.  The new Tahoe will get 21mpg city and 22mpg highway.  That’s almost double what it gets now - so that’s an improvement, right?  The price different is about $8,000 to get the hybrid drive versus the standard Tahoe. 

I’m sure it drives like a dream and feels like sitting in the lap of luxury.  It’s great that they are working towards making more vehicles hybrids, but I see this car like putting lipstick on a pig.   The pig is just prettier and eats a little less now.  Maybe I’m pointing the finger in the wrong direction, though.  Maybe its the public who buys these cars who are the pigs?  I’m not saying all SUVs are horrendous.  Some are very practical for families.  But the ones that could be in the Macy’s Day Parade and  make monster trucks look normal aren’t necessary but American’s think they need them so they can take home half of Costco with them each time they go. 

Source: Detroit News and Seattle Times