Category Archives: Carbon Management

Bishop Ranch Announces First Blink® DC Fast Electric Vehicle Charger

by CGR Staff Writer

Posted on July 19, 2012 by CGR Staff Writer

SAN RAMON, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Bishop Ranch, the largest mixed-use business community in the East Bay, today announced a partnership with ECOtality (NASDAQ:ECTY) to install its state-of-the-art electric vehicle (EV) charging hub, including one of the first Blink® DC Fast Charging in the country, and the only one in San Francisco’s East Bay region. The EV charging center is located at BR 6, at 2440 Camino Ramon, San Ramon, California.

Bishop Ranch is dedicated to the transportation needs of its 30,000 commuters, and the EV charging center is the newest component of its award-winning transportation program. The program includes free connections to Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART); free bus passes (valued at $1,250 annually per employee); train, vanpool and carpool transit incentives; a Guaranteed Ride Home program; and personalized commute-planning assistance for tenants.

“Bishop Ranch is home to some of the world’s leading companies and innovative startups, with well-educated, environmentally aware employees. People who work at Bishop Ranch have many commuting options, and today commuting by electric vehicle just got a whole lot easier,” said Edward Hagopian, executive vice president of Sunset Development Company, owner and operator of Bishop Ranch. “Installing Blink EV charging stations is another example of our sustainable business practices and our commitment to providing green tenant services in order to preserve natural resources for the future,” said Hagopian. Continue reading →

Posted in Alternative Energy, Business, BusinessWire, Carbon Management, Energy, Energy Management, Energy Storage, Goods, Services & Product Design, Green Business, Smart Grid, Sustainability News | Tagged alternative energy, carbon, csr, electric, environment, environmental, sustainability, sustainable, technology | Leave a comment

Hershey’s CSR Report: A Deep Commitment to Reducing Environmental Impacts

by 3BL Media Press Release

Posted on July 10, 2012 by 3BL Media Press Release

(3BLMedia) The Hershey Company recently issued its second Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report – “Listen. Learn. Act.” – outlining how its commitment to environmental stewardship plays an important role in its business operations.

Minimizing environmental impact is one of the four pillars of the company’s CSR strategy. In its latest report, Hershey details its performance against the environmental goals it set in 2009 and describes a range of programs and initiatives that have delivered improved efficiencies, lower impacts and even decreased the cost of operations for North America’s largest confectionery company.

The Hershey CSR report also reveals how the company has met or exceeded nearly all of its environmental goals between 2009 and 2011. For example, Hershey aimed to reduce waste generated by U.S. manufacturing plants by 15 percent from a 2008 baseline to the end of 2011. In actuality, the company lowered its U.S. manufacturing waste reduced by 23 percent in that timeframe. Waste to landfill or incinerator decreased by 29 percent between 2008 and 2011 even as production increased by 19 percent during the same time period.

Now, Hershey is pressing to do more and has set out even more ambitious goals to achieve by the end of 2015. Continue reading →

Posted in Carbon Management, CSR, Emissions Trading, Energy Management, Goods, Services & Product Design, Green Business, Sustainability Practices | Leave a comment

First Photovoltaic Solar Panel Installed on Largest Solar Project in the World

by CGR Staff Writer

Posted on May 20, 2012 by CGR Staff Writer

DES MOINES, Iowa–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Less than two weeks after its official groundbreaking ceremony, MidAmerican Solar and First Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq: FSLR) marked another milestone at Topaz Solar Farms, located in San Luis Obispo County, Calif. On Wednesday, the first solar panel was installed on what is the largest solar project under construction in the world. When complete, the 550-megawatt_AC project will include nearly 9 million photovoltaic panels.

“Solar projects such as Topaz will allow us to continue to deliver one of the cleanest energy portfolios in the nation to our customers and help the state meet its green energy goals.”

To mark this significant event, the first solar panel was installed by Greg Abel, chairman, president and CEO of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company, and Walter Scott, Jr., who serves on the boards of directors for Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and MidAmerican.

“The installation of this first solar panel is more than symbolic,” said Paul Caudill, president of MidAmerican Solar. “It represents nearly five months of hard construction work put in by a dedicated crew of craftspersons and on-site supervision, a large majority of whom live in the local area. They are helping us achieve our goal of safely and reliably delivering energy to our customer, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, all while adhering to our core value of respect for the environment.” Continue reading →

Posted in Business, BusinessWire, Carbon Management, Energy, Energy Management, Green Business, Solar, Sustainability News | Tagged alternative energy, environment, environmental, renewable energy, solar, technology | Leave a comment

carboNZero Holdings Becomes the First Non-UK Company to Provide PAS 2050 Certification

by CGR Staff Writer

Posted on May 1, 2012 by CGR Staff Writer

AUCKLAND, New Zealand–(BUSINESS WIRE)–carboNZero Holdings, the world’s leading greenhouse gas (GHG) certification company today announces that is has become the first non-UK company to provide accredited certification for product carbon footprints under British Standard Institute’s (BSI) PAS 2050. carboNZero Holdings’ adoption of PAS 2050 as the standard for product carbon footprinting will arm its clients with a competitive edge in securing favourable recognition among their customers and promote ease of entry into the UK market.

“Clients of carboNZero Holdings are utilising CEMARS and carboNZero certification to not only ‘walk the talk’ with respect to their environmental claims, but also to clearly differentiate themselves from competitors with internationally recognised standards in measuring, managing, and reducing or offsetting their carbon emissions”
“We are pleased to reach this major milestone at carboNZero Holdings. Our product certification offerings, now in accordance with PAS 2050 guidelines ensures our clients are in parallel with international best practise so that organisations can extend the scope of their carbon footprints to include the impact of goods and services they produce”, said carboNZero Holdings Technical General Manager, Ann Smith. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, BusinessWire, Carbon Management, CSR, Energy, Environment, Green Business | Tagged carbon, csr, environment, environmental, green, green companies, greenhouse gasses, sustainability, sustainable, sustainable companies | Leave a comment

Citi to Purchase 1.17 Million Tonnes of Carbon Credits

by CGR Staff Writer

Posted on April 28, 2012 by CGR Staff Writer

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–In a deal that combines microloans in Mongolia with the sale of carbon credits on the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), Citi’s London-based Environmental Products Trading and Origination team, working with Citi Microfinance, has agreed to purchase 1.17 million metric tonnes of carbon credits over the next seven years from Seattle-based social enterprise MicroEnergy Credits. The carbon credits will be generated by capturing reductions of greenhouse gas emissions following the installation of more efficient household insulation and heating fixtures in Ulaanbaatar, the capital and largest city in Mongolia. The purchase and installation of the fixtures will be funded through microloans from Mongolia’s XacBank.

“Under this arrangement, we are implementing an innovative market-based strategy to tackle real challenges faced by developing countries.”

Under the arrangement, a XacBank customer will purchase an energy efficient stove or home insulation products like a “ger blanket,” which covers a ger, the traditional and ubiquitous Mongolian portable tent-like structures in which more than one quarter of the Ulaanbaatar population lives. Gers are traditionally under-insulated and heated by inefficient coal-burning stoves that contribute to Ulaanbaatar’s especially severe air pollution. Ger blankets greatly increase heat retention, and, like energy efficient stoves, lower the rate of fossil fuel consumption and carbon emissions. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, BusinessWire, Carbon Management, Climate Change, CSR, Emissions Trading, Energy Management, Green Business, Sustainability News | Tagged carbon, carbon credits, greenhouse gasses, sustainability, sustainable | Leave a comment

Technologies and Practices Could Limit Total Data Center Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 13% Through 2016

by CGR Staff Writer

Posted on April 27, 2012 by CGR Staff Writer

As corporate computing requirements grow steadily and consumer-focused IT services continue their rapid expansion, the demand for data center capacity continues to rise. The rapid adoption of IT use in the emerging economies is also providing a powerful engine for the growth of data center capacity. In turn, the growth in demand is further increasing these facilities’ energy footprint. Today’s data center industry consumes around 1.5%% of the world’s energy. Data center operators are struggling to keep energy demand in check while continuing to grow their capacity. The need to reduce energy consumption is being driven by a diverse set of factors that includes the rising price of electricity, greenhouse gas emissions, information technology improvements, cloud computing, virtualization, large advances in cooling techniques, and significant improvements in monitoring and management tool suites.

According to a new report from Pike Research, the widespread adoption of energy efficient data center technologies and best practices could significantly limit the growth of emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from data centers over the next several years. If current trends continue, GHG emissions from data centers are expected to total 1326 million tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent; green data center best practices could reduce that total to 1156 tons, a difference of 13% compared to the business-as-usual trend, according to the cleantech market intelligence firm’s analysis. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Carbon Management, CSR, Energy, Energy Management, Green Business, Green IT, Information Systems, Sustainability News, Technology | Tagged carbon, csr, Data Center, data centre, environment, environmental, green, green companies, green it, sustainability, sustainable, sustainable companies, technology | Leave a comment

sPower™ Installs Solar Electric Systems for the University of Utah

by CGR Staff Writer

Posted on April 23, 2012 by CGR Staff Writer

SALT LAKE CITY–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Sustainable Power Group (“sPower”) has announced the installation and commissioning of solar power generation systems on the rooftops of the Natural History Museum of Utah and the HPER East Building at the University of Utah. The Natural History Museum’s system is a 330-kilowatt system and the HPER East system is a 263 kW system. The combined systems consist of 2,470 Sharp photovoltaic panels covering 40,000 square feet of rooftop space. The Sharp modules are American-made, manufactured in Memphis, Tennessee. sPower partnered with Okland Construction of Salt Lake City, Utah to build the systems, and McCalmont Engineering of Campbell, California to design and engineer the systems.

sPower will own and operate the systems for 20 years and will sell the power to the University of Utah under the terms of a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). This third-party ownership arrangement was made possible due to a $125,000 Blue Sky Grant from Rocky Mountain Power, as well as a $1,000,000 grant awarded to the University through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

“We are excited about this system for numerous reasons including the long-term direct financial benefits from solar energy, the duty that we feel to be good stewards of our planet, and the educational opportunities that this will offer our students. This project is consistent with our Energy and Environmental Stewardship Initiative: 2010 Climate Action Plan, wherein we set a goal to be carbon neutral by 2050,” said Dr. David Pershing, President of the University of Utah. Continue reading →