Clean Technology, Recycling, Renewable Energy

Autodesk’s second annual Sustainability Summit focuses on a new definition for sustainability and how their partners and customers utilize Autodesk tools to help realize a vision of a better world through sustainable development.

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The solar power company Solar Reserve has just announced a major construction milestone for its billion-dollar Crescent Dunes solar thermal project in Nevada, with the completion of the plant’s signature 540-foot central tower. That puts Crescent Dunes on track to begin operating in less than two years, following what has been a decades-long program of [...]

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Hoping to avert an all-out solar energy trade war, 45 US solar energy CEOs have sent a letter urging Pres. Obama to focus on mutual benefits with Chinese VP Xi Jinping, who is expected to succeed Hu Jintao as China’s president in 2013.

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Hong Kong’s Upsolar in mid-January became the first Chinese silicon PV supplier to complete an initial Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) of its two best-selling solar PV modules. Now, it’s using Facebook to crowdsource a public contest to create its 2012 advertising campaign.

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The EPA’s latest ranking of the top renewable energy buyers has Walmart moving to number three on the list from number 15 three months ago.

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California is probably one of the most environmentally progressive states in the U.S. It is also the country’s most populous state and according to LA Times, the state now derives 5 percent of its total electricity needs from wind energy. This powers about 400,000 households and now generates a total of 4,000 MW through renewable wind [...]

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The following outlines six best practices that enabled DuPont’s success in achieving zero landfill waste stream results

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Oversupply, a precipitous price drop and high-profile bankruptcies notwithstanding, venture capital (VC) investments in the US solar sector set a record in 2011, with 182 different VC firms participating in 111 transactions. Conditions might well get worse before they get better, however, according to a Mercom Capital Group report.

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Levels of solar radiation vary dramatically between countries, as do the various subsidies available. Where in the world is the best place to live to benefit from solar panels when these two factors are combined, and should there be more funding for solar power in sunnier countries?

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Consumer boycotts and pocketbook pressure has been effective in the past in changing corporate behavior. How do we keep the pressure on to keep companies incentivized to do the right thing?

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Well, the vultures might be circling, but they might have to wait a while to pick the bones of the CleanTech industry, which by many accounts, is still far from dead. Juliet Ellperin wrote in this month’s Wired, that the CleanTech boom has gone bust, comparing it to both the Internet bubble and the housing bubble. But a number of experts are forecasting significant growth for the renewable sector despite several mitigating factors.

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A team of researchers at Columbia Engineering has launched an interactive online energy map that breaks down the patterns of power consumption in practically every building in all five boroughs of New York City. Though the map is based on estimates rather than actual metered data, it does provide an easy way to compare real-life [...]

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Bloomberg recently reported that India’s clean tech investments, “reached $10.3bn in 2011, some 52 percent higher than the $6.8bn invested in 2010. This was the highest growth figure of any significant economy in the world. There is plenty of room for further expansion – in 2011, India accounted for 4 percent of global investment in clean energy.” [...]

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An Israeli company is developing biodegradable food packages that perish within 180 days. The Tipa packages are currently suitable for soft foods and the company is developing packaging for beverages as well. The company hopes to enter the market with several pilot products by the end of this year

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This story, our story, is like a dream where we dream we are falling– falling into a climate that is spinning out of control, falling into an economic crisis that has left millions impoverished, falling into dependence on a dwindling energy supply that is largely in the hands of those we don’t trust. The only thing that can save us from this “bad dream,” is for us to awaken in time. But we must all awaken together for it to work. And the thing that we must do when we all awaken together, to save ourselves, is to embrace the Green Economy.

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For the past 18 years, the NFL has been trying to decrease the environmental footprint of the largest annual sporting event in the U.S. – the Super Bowl. This year, the NFL is trying to outdo itself yet again by making Super Bowl XLVI the greenest on record.

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Moving along with Scotland’s ambitious plans to be the European leader in wind energy, Samsung has announced that it will base its first European offshore wind project in Fife. The venture is said to be worth up to £100m and is expected to create 500 new jobs in the clean energy sector in Scotland. Korean-based Samsung [...]

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Venture capital investments in US cleantech fell 4.5% in 2011, though transaction numbers held steady, according to Ernst & Young, a relative victory given the difficult economic, market and industry conditions.

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The UN High-Level Panel Global Sustainability released its report in Addis Ababa yesterday entitled “Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future Worth Choosing.” The panel’s 99-page report, which will serve as an input to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in June, (otherwise known as the Rio+20 Summit) is a call to action, “to address the sustainable development challenge in a fresh and operational way.”

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Renewable energy merger and acquisitions surged 40% in 2011, with solar energy and energy efficiency leading the way, according to a PwC report. Larger, billion-dollar, deals dominated, a sign of the sector’s increasing maturity, but persistent EU debt problems and overcapacity will continue to plague the sector and M&A in 2012, PwC believes.

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The global power industry leader ABB of Switzerland recently pumped $20 million into California’s GreenVolts solar technology company, and the investment could pay big dividends for U.S. farmers. With fuel prices rising, a switch to solar power could ease the bottom line for the domestic agriculture sector, and GreenVolts has just announced a partnership with [...]

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By Ryan Matley, Rocky Mountain Institute President Obama’s call in his State of the Union address to capitalize on “the strongest two-year period of manufacturing growth since the 1990s” by encouraging businesses to bring work back to the United States can be accelerated with energy efficiency innovation. While Obama urged Congress to take a series [...]

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A UN-backed survey conducted by Globescan and SustainAbility, of 642 senior executives, campaigners and academics found that the vast majority feel that pressure to deliver short-term financial results is impeding their sustainability efforts. Of course the sluggish economy has been a challenge, but do companies today really have to choose between profitability and sustainability or is this a false choice?

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A company called Verdant Power has won the first ever commercial license for a hydrokinetic  tidal power facility in the U.S., and that could be just the first drop in a torrent of more than 100 new hydrokinetic projects.

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First Energy will close six coal-fired plants this year in another victory for anti-coal groups.

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AORA Solar, an Israeli developer of concentrated solar power, will be opening its second-ever gas-turbine solar thermal power station in Spain. The plant will answer the electricity needs of the local population and provide additional heat energy for an adjacent desalination facility.

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In 2007, Timberland pioneered eco-labels on their apparel, modeling them after USDA nutrition labels. The imitation was deliberate, said VP of Corporate Social Responsibility, Mark Newton. With the wealth of green information that is currently tracked, measured, analyzed and debated, the intent was to capture the essence of several large categories on a very small [...]

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At the VerdeXchange Marketmakers Conference that took place in downtown Los Angeles this week, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa gave a keynote speech to an audience of about 500 industry leaders working to build and shape the green economy of Los Angeles and the nation. In his presentation, Mayor Villaraigosa explained how his focus on developing Los Angeles’s clean technology market is helping him address some of the biggest challenges facing the city.

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My recent stay in Detroit and current trip to Doha have opened my eyes to how citizens are taking matters into their own hands and building more sustainable economies.

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Renewable energy still has a long way to go to be our de facto utility energy source, especially in a state like California. What bottlenecks are keeping us from a renewable energy future?

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