Environmental Leader

Corporate sustainability makes a lot of sense.  Reduce your costs and risk, increase profit, strengthen reputation, protect and conserve natural resources and social value while enhancing share value…what’s not to love?  So why is it that so many internal sustainability champions struggle to move their initiatives forward?  Perhaps it’s not the proposition at all – [...]

Electronics giant Panasonic is using SAP’s Recycling Administration software to aid compliance with product end-of-life regulations. Panasonic uses the SAP product to classify recyclable materials by type, weight, usage, destination, brand and category. The software also offers a central data repository of different countries’ regulatory requirements. The firm is currently using the program for 50 [...]

Deloitte is helping to develop the Water Action Hub, a public online tool to help companies collaborate with governments, non-profits, communities and each other to improve sustainable water management. The consulting firm is teaming with the International Business Leaders Forum, the Pacific Institute and the German International Development Agency in developing the hub under the [...]

Energy Edge Technologies Corporation has reduced energy consumption at a Yuengling brewery in Tampa, Fla., by over 14 percent. The efficiency analysis and subsequent refit also improved light quality and increased transformer capacity by 13 percent. The project has an estimated 18-month return on investment, according to Energy Edge. The Tampa brewery (pictured) is one [...]

Boeing has delivered its first 787 Dreamliner aircraft, which the company says uses 20 percent less fuel than similarly sized planes. Boeing describes the Dreamliner, delivered to All-Nippon Airways yesterday, as a super-efficient airplane with unmatched fuel efficiency. The $200m plane arrived three years late, following delays that cost Boeing billions of dollars, the Guardian [...]

The U.S. jewelry industry, still reeling from revelations that children’s products contained dangerous amounts of cadmium, is pushing back against strict limits passed by many states, The Associated Press reported.  The industry says that unless the its new voluntary standard is adopted as a national standard, the patchwork of state rules will cause chaos for [...]

Legal & General Property has amended its standard lease format to include ‘green’ clauses. The U.K.-based property fund manager has issued a memorandum of green lease principles – including clauses relating to the use of environmental contractors and upholding energy performance certificates – that will now be considered whenever it drafts a standard lease. Additional [...]

Nine out of ten CSOs are one or two steps removed from the CEO, according to a report by executive search and consulting firm Weinreb Group. Weinreb says the report, CSO Back Story, is the first to chart the evolution of the position by surveying every exec with that title among the country’s publicly traded [...]

The 2nd Annual Women In Green Forum was held at the Santa Monica Sheraton and attracted a global audience of sustainability professionals. This session, The Nexus of Design, Art, and Sustainability, was moderated by Evelyn Lee, Senior Editor & Writer, Inhabitat. Panelists: - Ann Hand, Chief Executive Officer, Project Frog, Inc. - Lori Dennis, ASID, [...]

Appliance Recycling Centers of America Inc. is using a robotic system to remove almost all coolant from refrigerators, including the hard-to-reach coolant in foam insulation. The Minneapolis-based company recently unveiled the 40-foot high machine at a facility in Philadelphia, the New York Times reports. Refrigerators are placed in one end of the machine and shredded, [...]

Banks Boost Profits and Shrink Risk with Environmental Strategy Why does Union Bank have a substantial dedicated environmental stewardship team? Why has Citibank pledged to invest $50 billion in climate change solutions? Why does Bank of America offer a Visa card with points that support The Nature Conservancy? This is the first in a four [...]

Dairyland Power Partners plans to to buy electricity created by an anaerobic wastewater system at a Bush Brothers & Co. plant in Augusta, Wis. The digester plant processes biogas produced in a covered lagoon to power a 635 kW generator. It should produce enough renewable energy to power nearly 500 homes, according to Dairyland. The [...]

The state of Alaska’s Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory will combine Siemens’ Apogee building automation and laboratory control system with the OptiNet system from airside efficiency company Aircuity to reduce energy consumption while improving indoor environmental quality, the companies announced. Siemens said that its product offers continuous monitoring of the indoor environment, providing assurance that evidence [...]

Grocery store chains Albertsons and Whole Foods have received awards from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for their work to green up refrigeration in their stores. The agency is recognizing both supermarket chains under the GreenChill Partnership, that aims to reduce harmful refrigerant emissions, protect the ozone layer and combat climate change. For the second [...]

The House of Representatives on Friday approved legislation that would establish an interagency committee to weigh the economic costs of any new EPA rules, and also delay for several years two EPA regulations on power plants that would limit mercury emissions and cross state pollution from ozone and particulate pollution, The Hill reported.  The vote [...]

As a parent, this time of year is always bittersweet – refreshed after a long summer vacation, my children head back to school eager to catch up with friends and fill their brains with new material. As a business owner, I envy them; the fresh start allows them to take on assignments enthusiastically and energetically [...]

“The Energy Efficiency in Affordable Housing” session at the 2011-2012 Conference Series on Urban Sustainability. Moderator: Ophelia Basgal, US HUD Panelists: Steven Raphael, UC Berkeley Matthew Schwartz, California Housing Partnership Corporation Ann Silverberg, BRIDGE Housing Wayne Waite, US HUD

A full half of multinational companies plan to select suppliers based on carbon performance, according to a study by Carbon Trust Advisory. The research says that 29% of suppliers are likely to lose their places on green supply chains if they do not have adequate performance records on carbon. The research also finds that 58% [...]

Meg Whitman’s appointment at HP sends mixed signals for the company’s future sustainability leadership. HP announced on Thursday that its board of directors appointed Whitman as president and chief executive officer, replacing Leo Apotheker. During Whitman’s tenure as CEO of Ebay, the online auction site helped to found the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, the industry [...]

Walmart plans to complete rooftop solar arrays on more than three quarters of its California stores, with projects planned for up to 60 locations. The planned projects will bring Walmart’s total number of solar installations in California to 130. Each array will provide 20 to 30 percent of the store’s electric needs, the company says. [...]