April 22, 2010 – Every Year on Earth Day, the newswires are filled with stories about how companies are improving the environment through process improvements, product design achievements and the implementation of cool new technologies. Here are a few highlights for Earth Day 2010.

As you may recall, last August the Navy put out a call to biofuel companies for 40,000 gallons of fuel to start testing in their F/A-18 Super Hornet jet.  Sustainable Oils ultimately won the contract to develop biofuel for the military branch and now the Navy is prepared to take the Hornet on a supersonic flight using a blend of 50 percent jet fuel and 50 percent camelina-based oil.

Tomorrow, at the Air Station at Patuxent River, Maryland, the so-called "Green Hornet" will fly over the Chesapeake Bay, hopefully proving that biofuels can perform well in a full range of flight operations, including traveling faster than the speed of sound.  The Super Hornet was picked as a test craft for biofuels because it's the Navy's largest aviation fuel-consumer.

Camelina biofuel has shown itself to be a great choice for jet fuel blends because it can work as a drop-in replacement for jet fuel.  All aircraft systems -- fuel gauge, etc. -- operate the same as if it were straight petroleum.  Also, a recent study found that the use of camelina jet fuel could reduce carbon emissions by 84 percent compared to regular jet fuel.

The Hornet won't be the only naval craft to get a makeover though.  The Navy has committed to getting half of their energy from renewable sources by 2020, which will include cleaning up ships, aircraft and all of their power systems.  The U.S. military is the world's greatest consumer of petroleum, so their commitment to reducing that consumption is an important one.

National Geographic News

April 22, 2010 – Bacardi Corporation unveiled the largest wind turbine installation in Puerto Rico on Wednesday at its flagship Casa Bacardi distillery, the largest rum distillery in the world. The turbines will provide between 3%-7% of the facilities overall energy usage, the equivalent of Casa Bacardi’s entire visitor center operations.

In a interview with EarthSky, Dr. Robert Epstein explains that "creativity is critically important for sustainable business, in part because sustainability is a goal that has a deadline. We are under pressure as a civilization to correct the damage we’ve done to the environment. That means we need new ideas flowing... and flowing fast."

Listen to the story of the FedEx Electric Truck from Chief Engineer Keshav Sondhi, and watch as he gives us an inside look from the driver's seat at the dashboard, controls, and explains how the vehicle charges up.

Imagine the Toyota Prius.  Now imagine it stretched a little longer and taller, perhaps a "Baby on Board" sticker attached to the back, and that may just be what's in store for a new version of the hybrid vehicle.

Japanese news source Nikkei is reporting that Toyota will be releasing a Prius minivan sometime next year. The minivan would be the first expansion of the Prius brand by the automaker.

Beyond being the first hybrid minivan on the market, the vehicle may also be the first Toyota to use an in-house developed lithium-ion battery pack.  Details are scarce, but it would likely be a three-row, sliding-door vehicle, capable of seating up to seven people.

The automaker reportedly expects to price the minivan in line with it's fully gas-fueled competition.

via Reuters

April 20, 2010 – While LED bulbs are popular in outdoor applications such as traffic signals, the technology had not made its way to streetlights - until this week. Dialight Corporation has developed a new Smart LED lamp specifically for overhead street lighting, and began testing them in two east coast cities this week.

A vague, but potentially exciting announcement from Chrysler this week says that the automaker and NASA are pairing up to "share knowledge" and resources on advanced technologies.

The topics that this new alliance will discuss and investigate include materials engineering, robotics, radar, battery systems and other energy storage mediums.  Chrysler has obviously gained a very valuable resource for creating cutting edge (most likely electric) cars, but what's in this partnership for NASA?

The car company says that they have a history working with NASA in their space program, specifically, building rockets and boosters for some of the manned Mercury and Apollo missions in 1961 and 1968.  Could Chrysler be offering the same type of help again?

So while the press release is vague with its mentions of "synergies and shared interest," the possible outcomes of this partnership could be exciting.  But let's face it -- we're ecogeeks.  Any discussion of robots, electric cars and space exploration has us giggling with anticipation.

via Autoblog Green

 

April 19, 2010 – On the heels of Frito Lay’s move to 100% compostable packaging for their SunChips brand products and just in time for Earth Day, Snyder’s of Hanover has announced that their organic line of pretzels will be packaged in compostable bags made from 90% plant-based materials.

There's been a lot of press lately about EV launches and pricing strategies of big auto companies, like Nissan with their LEAF.  But out of the shadows, practically-unknown Envision Motor Company has emerged and announced that they will be launching not one, but three EVs this summer, all with a price tag under $30,000, once the $7,500 federal tax credit is applied.

The all-electric vehicles will include a seven-passenger wagon, a utility van and a small pickup truck.  All models will be sold at a selection of dealerships across America.

The vehicles will be outfitted with 24kWh sodium nickel chloride batteries and AC motors.  The company states they'll have a max speed of 75 mph and a 200-mile range.  They have onboard chargers and can juice up at home on a 110V circuit in six to eight hours.  The vehicles have already passed crash testing.

The EVs will make their debut on a test-drive tour around the country that starts in May.

via Autoblog Green

April 15, 2010 – At the design museum in London on Tuesday PUMA launched the latest phase in its long term sustainability program, its “Sustainable Packaging and Distribution System,“ featuring a whole line of newly developed sustainable packaging options designed in conjuction with Yves Behar, of San Francisco based fuseproject.

IBM has made a significant step in cleaning up its global operations.  It's now requiring all of its suppliers in 90 different countries to install management systems to track environmental data like energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, and waste and recycling levels.  All suppliers must set environmental goals and publicly report their progress.

For large global companies like IBM, turning over a greener leaf starts with gathering environmental data on all parts of your supply chain.  Once armed with that information, IBM will know where and how to make changes.

IBM is also requiring any subcontractors of their suppliers to track the same data if they're a significant part of the supply chain.  The company says their goal with this project is to systemize environmental management and sustainability so that all of its global partners are working with the same type of information and are easily able to set and reach environmental goals.

All suppliers will need to have these systems installed by early 2011.  If they don't comply, IBM says it will no longer do business with them.

via NY Times

The Solar Impulse HB-SIA, a solar-powered aircraft under development for an emissions-free around-the-world flight, had its maiden flight on April 7. Bertrand Piccard, the adventurer who first flew a balloon non-stop around the globe, is the chairman of the Solar Impulse project. The plane was flown to an altitude of 4,000 feet during its 87 minute test flight in Switzerland.

The single-seat plane has the wingspan of a 747 covered with nearly 12,000 solar cells which provide the power for the four electric motors. Further tests, including longer duration flights to test batteries and verify the ability of the plane to fly through the night will be the next step for this project. Solar Impulse plans a flight to cross the Atlantic in 2012 in preparation for an eventual non-stop, around the globe flight.

video link: Solar Impulse

via: EERE News

Previous Solar Impulse articles on EcoGeek

Solar panels are one of the greenest and least controversial types of renewable power generation technology. Some neighborhoods don't like how they look on roofs of houses, but there are no concerns about harming wildlife, as with wind turbines or tidal power systems. And the technology to make them is continuing to improve.

But not all solar panels are created equally. Solar panels are energy intensive to produce, and potentially harmful materials such as cadmium and lead are sometimes used in their production. The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition has begun to assemble a 'Solar Scorecard' that evaluates solar panel manufacturers.

Because the Scorecard is based on company self-reporting, presently there are only ten PV module manufacturers and one solar cell manufacturer with scores listed. Four compaies also have a gold star, indicating that the company "has a takeback program and has policies against exporting waste and using prison labor to dismantle end-of-life panels."

Scoring is based on a 100-point scale, with four major categories: Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and Takeback, which deals with end-of-life and recycling for the panels; Supply Chain Monitoring and Green Jobs, which looks at employee exposure to toxic materials among other issues; Chemical Use and Lifecycle Analysis, which looks at hazardous material use; and Disclosure, which considers a company's transparency about these issues. The survey was originally sent to 227 [*] solar PV companies in October 2009 and the survey dealine was extended to late January 2010. Hopefully more companies will respond and the listing can be kept current in coming years, providing consumers with more information about the panels they are considering.

link: Solar Scorecard

An extended version of this article is available on GreenovationTV.

* Ed. note: earlier typo said 27 solar PV companies

April 14, 2010 – Coca-Cola has partnered with iconic, sustainability focused furniture designer Emeco to produce a new iteration of their 106 Navy Chair, the 111 Navy Chair, named after the 111 re-used plastic soda bottles diverted from the Coca-Cola Spartanburg, S.C. bottle-to-bottle recycling plant to manufacture each chair.

Many companies are still looking for some low hanging fruit to get them started in a sustainability program. They know that energy efficiency is easy to translate to money savings, and that they should invest in savings projects with short term paybacks in order to lower operating costs, increase company value, and improve profits. But many companies don’t know where to start. By Mark Monroe

Yamaha, one of the best-known names in motorcycles, is finally entering the electric bike fray.  The company has announced that it will be selling shares in order to raise $812 million to go towards developing low-cost, all-electric motorcycles and "motor-assisted" bicycles.

So far, electric bikes haven't really taken off -- they're expensive and haven't had that "it' factor -- but not many of the big players have been designing them, until now.  With Yamaha's presence in the market, electric motorcycles may make a name for themselves.

Yamaha won't be spending all of that money just on all-electric motorcycles, though it will all go to cleaning up the business.  The company's R&D team will also be working on more efficient engines for its bikes and boats.

via Reuters

Image via Yamaha

April 13, 2010 – After raising 50% of the necessary capital to commercialize their latest solar technology, NextGen Solar has announced that their nanoscale solar “paint” technology is closer than ever to entering the market, and is expected to achieve up to 40% efficiency at one third of the cost of traditional PV panels.

NextGen Solar has announced that it has raised half of the $1 million it needs to bring its "solar paint" to customers.  The company claims its paint-on solar cells can hit 40 percent efficiency and will cost only a third of traditional solar PV panels.

The NextGen solar paint is a liquid material that forms webs of nanoscale solar cells when it dries and it can be painted onto practically any surface.  Developed by the Argonne National Laboratory, the solar paint beats out thin-film PV cells in efficiency because it captures more wavelengths of light.

The company is working with ambitious clean tech investors, hoping to get the prototype out of the lab and onto roofs, windows and walls soon.  A commerical breakthrough of this type of clean energy technology - one that is cheap and efficient enough to go up against coal - could make a big impact.

via Cleantechnica