Pepsi’s New Green PET Bottle

PepsiCo is one of the leading food and beverage businesses in the world. Since 2010, it has been focusing on protecting the earth’s natural energy resources with competent use of soil, water, power and finding and focusing on innovative ways to do so.Recently PepsiCo developedthe world’s first plastic bottle made entirely from renewable and plant-sourced raw materials. This, in contrast to the traditional PET bottle leaves less carbon trace on our planet.

A trend-setter and leader in green sustainability
The latest in PepsiCo’s green efforts is the ‘green’ bottle – manufactured from raw materials which are bio-based like: corn husks, switch grass and pine-barks. Soon bi-products from its own food business, like potato peels, orange peels and oat hulls will be utilized for producing the green bottle. This bottle is entirely plant based, from fully renewable resources and is 100% recyclable. This is identical in looks, feel and function as the petroleum-based PET bottle. After completion of a pilot production in 2012, commercial production will be commenced.

‘Performance with Purpose’
Sourcing raw materials for the green bottle from their own food unit to utilize for their other unit – the beverage unit has made PepsiCo realize their goal of ‘Performance with Purpose’ with a sustainable business model. This is a great example of ‘Power of One’ – matching strategic and innovative internal products against needs. This has won acclaim from As You Sow – a San Francisco-based foundation. It applauded PepsiCo’s corporate social responsibility for reducing carbon footprint and fossil-fuel dependency.

Goals & commitments
Some examples of the billion dollar giant’s environmental concern and green ethics are:

• Fully compostable bag at Sunchips and using solar power for manufacturing them.
• Introducing lightweight Ecofina bottles, and reNEWabottles in US.
• Achieving ‘Positive Water Balance’ in India 2009.
• Introducing the ‘Dream Machine’ for on-the-go recycling in US.

Marching towards the goal
Ms. Indra Nooyi, CEO & PepsiCo Chairperson says, “This breakthrough innovation is a transformational development for PepsiCo and the beverage industry, and a direct result of our commitment to research and development…. a sustainable business model that we believe brings to life the essence of Performance with Purpose.” PepsiCo indeed has shown exemplary and “unique commitment to sustainable growth by investing in a healthier future for people and our planet.”

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Phasing Out Some Low-Cost Heating Oil

New air quality regulations are in effect in New York City. They call for major changes to the use of low-cost home heating oil.


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Heating oil vs Natural Gas Part 2

So here we go again, oil is taking a trip to the summit of “Mt. How the hell can I afford to fill my oil tank”! A barrel of oil is now $111 and climbing faster than Stallone in Cliffhanger with no end in sight.  What can you do to help the situation? That’s correct, convert to Natural Gas! 

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Google Invests $168 Million Towards the World’s Largest Solar Power Tower Plant

Yesterday Google announced that they will be investing 168 million dollars into BrightSource Energy, making this their largest investment in renewable energy thus far. BrightSource is a farm in the Mojave desert that employs an Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System to produce clean, solar energy by utilizing fields of heliostats to concentrate the sun’s rays. The concentrated rays are directed towards the top of a tower where a receiver converts the rays into steam that powers a traditional turbine and generator to make electricity. The Ivanpah Power Tower will reach approximately 450 feet tall and will use 173,000 heliostats, each with two mirrors, and by the time the plant is up and running in 2013 it will be producing 392 MW of solar energy. Following last week’s announcement of Google’s 5 million dollar investment towards a solar photovoltaic farm in Brandenburg an der Havel Germany, plus several other smaller initiatives, the internet giant is taking huge strides towards having a significant impact on the future of renewable energy.

The plant began construction last October after getting approved by the California Energy Commission, and needs to raise more then a billion dollars to fully fund the project. In addition to Google, other investors include NRG Energy as the largest stakeholder committed to $300 million and a loan guaranteed from the U. S. Department of Energy for $1.37 million. After they’re up and running, two-thirds of the power from the plant will go to Pacific Gas and Electric, with the remaining one-third to Southern California Edison.

With Google’s subsidiary Google Energy, and the positive financial returns associated with these types of investments Google plans on doing more with these renewable resources than just powering their massive data centers. In an interview with Google’s Green Energy Czar Bill Weihl at Green:Net 2010 he goes into details about the company’s plans.

Since being approved by Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to buy and sell energy on the wholesale markets Google is now able to do more to put renewable into the grid. When buying electricity on the grid one doesn’t necessarily know where or how the energy was produced. The way these markets work is that you pay someone to produce energy like regulated utilities or independent power producers (like wind and solar) who use the local utilities to distribute their power. What Google plans to do is when it comes to these alternative, renewable sources they will buy energy directly from that source. He goes on to explain that ideally this is done prior to the plant being built. When a company is looking to start a project like building a wind turbine farm they will most likely need to obtain financing from a bank. If they’re given the opportunity to go to their potential financeers and the energy is already purchased their interest rates go down significantly freeing up capital to fund future projects. Google sees this as the best way for them to use their purchasing power to impact the amout of renewable energy available on the grid.

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Obama touts 'clean energy' in Pennsylvania

A wind-turbine and wind-farm builder President Barack Obama will visit helped reduce wildlife death and injury, Pennsylvania's wildlife chief said.

Gamesa Technology Corp. -- part of a Spanish company of the same name that is reorganizing its manufacturing arm to increase its U.S. presence -- is one of 30 companies voluntarily helping "avoid, minimize and potentially mitigate any adverse impacts the development of wind energy may have on the state's wildlife resources," the Pennsylvania Game Commission said.

The Gamesa plant, 40 miles northeast of Philadelphia -- where Obama is to hold a "town hall" meeting with workers Wednesday about "building a 21st century clean-energy economy" -- provided "real-world examples of how this voluntary agreement has helped protect wildlife and their habitats, as well as reinforced the conservation goal of wind-energy companies," state Game Commission Bureau of Wildlife Habitat Management Director William Capouillez said Tuesday in a wind-energy report.

A 2004 Pennsylvania law requires 18 percent of the state's electricity to come from renewable and advanced energy sources by 2019. The Game Commission has cooperative, voluntary agreements with companies developing wind energy, one of the technologies competing for a share of Pennsylvania's alternative-energy market

Wind turbines convert wind energy into mechanical energy, which is used to make electricity. It accounts for about 3 percent of all U.S. electricity.

Obama plans Wednesday to "discuss his long-term plan to protect consumers against rising oil prices and decrease oil imports as well as key components of his broader energy plan to diversify all of our energy sources, ensuring a cleaner, safer and more secure energy future," the White House said.

Obama, who declared Monday he is a candidate for re-election, held a similar town hall meeting at the same Fairless Hills, Pa., plant March 11, 2008, when he ran for president the first time.

"Fairless Hills is doing what Americans have always done in times of challenge and uncertainty -- you're reclaiming your own future and you're turning Bucks County [Pa.] into a center for green jobs in America," he said at the time. "And these kinds of jobs will only become more important in the coming years, because green jobs are the jobs of the future -- not just because they pay well and can't be outsourced, and not just because they help strengthen our economy and lift up our middle class, but because they help us reduce our dependence on foreign oil and may just save this planet for our children."

Last week Obama outlined what he termed a plan for America's "energy security," calling for a 33 percent cut in oil imports by 2025.

On Earth Day 2009, he said, "The nation that leads the world in creating new sources of clean energy will be the nation that leads the 21st century global economy."

Gamesa projects its U.S. sales will increase an average 15 percent through 2013. China's sales will increase 20 percent, India's 166 percent and Central and South America's 50 percent, the company says. European sales will drop 20 percent.

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Air Products starts solar energy project in Pa.

An eastern-Pennsylvania company that manufactures industrial gases is installing solar panels at its headquarters and hopes to use solar energy to power half of its administrative buildings.

The Morning Call of Allentown reports that Trexlertown-based Air Products and Chemicals is installing hundreds of thin-film solar panels -- manufactured by Air Products' customers -- as part of the nearly $9 million project. The company hopes to be cranking out 2 megawatts of energy by summer.

"We are going to produce power during some of the highest-priced power periods in the summer," Steve Pastore, Air Products' director of energy supply, told the newspaper. That will significantly reduce Air Products' demand for power, while also cutting it energy costs, Pastore said.

The project, which uses thin-film solar cells produced by Air Products customers, also will reduce the company's carbon dioxide emissions by about 2,000 tons a year, he said.

Air Products, which supplies oxygen and other gases to the industrial and medical sectors, created a separate solar products group about five years ago. Dave Tavianini, the company's global photo-voltaic marketing manager, said the business has grown in each of the last five years.

"We saw that coming and we decided we need to focus on it as a market," Tavianini said.

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Former Gov. Culver forms energy consulting firm

Former Iowa Gov. Chet Culver plans to open a consulting firm that will focus on helping small businesses find less expensive ways to generate renewable energy. 

Culver had made building the state's renewable energy industry a priority in office, and he said he sees demand increasing as gas prices continue to rise and with the unrest in the Middle East. 

"More and more Americans see renewable energy as part of our energy portfolio," Culver told The Des Moines Register. 

Culver, a past chairman of the Governor's Wind Energy Coalition and Governors Biofuels Coalition, said he considered several options after losing the November election but decided to create the group because it will give him flexibility to do many things, such as marketing, business development, public policy work and advocacy. 
"I'm very excited about the jobs that can be created," he said. 

Expanding renewable energy companies can help the state "come back from the recession stronger and better," he said. 

Although Culver is the only member of the firm, named the Chet Culver Group, other partners are likely to join, said Brad Anderson of LinkStrategies, a Des Moines public relations firm. 

Fred Hubbell, a retired insurance executive and chairman of the Iowa Power Fund, said the move makes sense for Culver. 

"He was involved in a lot of national groups in renewable energy, so he has a lot of contacts and knowledge that could be pretty helpful," Hubbell said. 

Many renewable energy companies need expertise and money as they research and develop next generation technology, Hubbell said. He said Culver has insight into both. 

"There are a lot of ideas and opportunities out there," he said. 

Culver created the $25 million Iowa Power Fund to help finance renewable energy research and development. 

Republican Gov. Terry Branstad, who defeated the Democratic Culver, plans to eliminate the fund but has said projects can still get money through the state's economic development program. 

Culver said he plans to promote renewable energy nationally and internationally and hopes to find "nonpartisan opportunities" to advocate for education, infrastructure and other issues. 

His first client is Viryd Technologies, an Austin, Texas-based producer of small wind turbines. 

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Information from: The Des Moines Register, http://www.desmoinesregister.com 

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First Wind Turbine Erected at Lower Snake River Wind Project

Puget Sound Energy late last week erected its first wind-power turbine among the wheat fields and rangeland of southeast Washington’s Garfield County, where PSE is constructing its 343-megawatt Lower Snake River Wind Project - Phase I.

“This project, like our existing Hopkins Ridge and Wild Horse wind facilities, is supporting a cleaner, greener energy future for Washington state,” said PSE president and CEO Kimberly Harris. “But more than that, it is creating good jobs and a stronger, more secure energy future for our nation.”The first of the project’s 430-foot-tall turbines was completed Friday afternoon by the turbine manufacturer, Siemens Energy. When all 149 turbines are erected and operating in spring 2012, the facility will be PSE’s largest wind-power operation and one of the largest in the Pacific Northwest – generating enough electricity to serve up to 100,000 homes. Final assembly of the first turbine had been delayed for a week by high winds, gusting at times above 70 mph.

Huge cranes, with booms extending 390 feet into the air, are now setting in place the turbines’ tower sections, nacelles and three-blade rotors. Many of the nacelles – they contain the turbines’ gear boxes and power generators – are being manufactured at a Siemens plant in Hutchinson, Kan. A Siemens factory in Fort Madison, Iowa, is producing all the Lower Snake River turbine blades. Each rotor is 331 feet in diameter – more than a football field’s length. The turbine towers are bolted to concrete foundations that are up to 8½ feet thick and weigh in excess of 600 tons (equal to the weight of more than 100 bull elephants). The turbines themselves weigh more than 340 tons.

PSE and its lead contractor, RES Americas – together with Siemens Energy and various subcontractors – started building the Lower Snake River project in May 2010. Over the past 11 months, project work has focused on building access roads and installing underground power cables that will deliver the turbines’ electricity to the large on-site substations now under construction as well.

About 150 construction workers, on average, are on the site, though the number can exceed 250 on a given day. About half the construction workers are from Eastern Washington, with about a quarter hailing from Washington’s southeast corner. Besides creating local jobs, the project is generating a significant amount of commerce for local businesses, including lodging, restaurant, hardware, auto service, and catering businesses.

Work also is progressing on the project’s operations and maintenance building on the outskirts of Pomeroy. The 15,000-square-foot O&M building along Falling Springs Road will contain office, warehouse and workshop space. Opp & Seibold, from Walla Walla, is PSE’s general contractor. Approximately 25 permanent employees from PSE and Siemens Energy will occupy the building once it opens this fall.

"It's exciting to see the first wind turbines going up at the Lower Snake River project," said Dean Burton, chairman of the Garfield County Commission. "Puget Sound Energy has been a strong partner in our community and its wind project is bringing a lot of benefits to the people of Garfield County."

Siemens employees will be responsible for all maintenance of PSE’s Phase I wind turbines, while PSE’s staff will manage the production and transmission of the wind facility’s electric power.

With the completion of its Hopkins Ridge Wind Facility in 2005 and Wild Horse Wind and Solar Facility in 2006, PSE became the United States’ second largest utility producer of wind power. Phase I of the Lower Snake River Wind Project will boost the utility’s wind-power capacity by another 80 percent. All together, the three PSE wind facilities will produce enough electricity to serve about 230,000 households.

Harris noted that PSE is pursuing federal stimulus-package funding and state incentives for using apprentice labor for at least 15 percent of the construction work. These incentives lower the cost of the project for the utility’s customers. In addition, the apprentice program supports skills training and apprentice development in a variety of different trades.

A short video on the new project can be viewed on the Lower Snake River page of PSE.com or on Vimeo. Photos of Lower Snake River turbine assembly and construction of the project’s O&M building also can be viewed on PSE.com.

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Schumer Wants To Save NYC From 12% Con Ed Rate Hike

Now that a federal ruling has raised the amount that power generators can get, which would then result in a 12% rate hike for Con Ed customers, on top of another previously-scheduled 4% rate hike, we need a hero to stop this madness. And Senator Charles Schumer is signing up for hero duty: Schumer told the Post that he spoke to the head of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, "I told him how upset we were about FERC's decision, and how we thought they left out some very key information, and about how we wanted a rehearing. He said there will definitely be a rehearing."

Schumer, Mayor Bloomberg, and other officials think that FERC is giving Con Ed the extra money because it mistakenly thinks the city won't guarantee property tax breaks to power generators. Con Ed is also against the extra hike (it is a power transmission company, so it won't get a cut of the rate hike) and says that it'll get blamed by customers instead. Schumer said of FERC Chairman Jay Willinghoff, "He's not averse to changing his vote. I'm going to fight this tooth and nail. I think it's really unjust for ratepayers in New York and bad for business and job growth... I got the feeling that we have a second shot here. He wasn't being perfunctory, or 'Yes, yes, yes.' He was serious. He understood."

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A Plea for Presidential Leadership on Sustainable Energy

When President Obama ran for President, it seemed to me that he really understood the need to transition our economy from fossil fuels to renewable energy. After eight years of Dick Cheney's Texas oil industry energy policy, it was a relief to hear Obama's perspective. As the campaign evolved, and certainly once he took office, the President decided that political expedience required that he favor nuclear power and deep sea oil drilling. My guess is that he is now a little less enthusiastic about these technologies. In fact, every so often he resumes his rhetorical push for renewable energy.

The President inherited an economic disaster that by necessity, dominated the agenda of his first two years in office. With the economy beginning to pick up steam, the BP oil disaster and the Japanese nuclear catastrophe are increasing the demand for President's leadership on energy. But so far, we haven't seen much. A new energy policy is urgently needed, and it must be influenced by an updated assessment of the risks of energy development after our experiences in Japan and the Gulf of Mexico.

Instead of a massive national mobilization for renewable energy, we got a "Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future" from the White House. The blueprint starts with the typical rhetoric about expanding the domestic production of fossil fuels. The big news in that plan is that coal is omitted in order to "expand safe and responsible domestic oil and gas development and production." The other elements of the plan include building more fuel efficient vehicles and encouraging more energy efficient buildings. Toward the end of the blueprint, they get around to "innovating our way to a clean energy future." This part of the blueprint includes the goal of generating 80% of our electricity from clean energy sources by 2035. The Obama energy plan provides a number of déjà vu moments. They really are rounding up the usual suspects.

The problem is that the Administration assigns a lower priority to energy and environment than to the economy, health care, and our military engagements. While sustainable energy could be a huge boost for the economy, the American political right is unwilling to invest government money in R & D and will not allow tax policies that favor renewable energy. All of that could be overcome with Presidential leadership, but I do not get the sense that the President really cares about these issues. Until he does, I don't think anything will change.

I hope it won't take another local disaster to move this issue up on the political agenda. As the news from Japan's damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plants turns from very bad to even worse, one can't help but be reminded of the slow motion disaster of the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. All the elements are there: assurances that the technology was manageable, the sudden lethal accident, a clean-up effort characterized by trial and error and unproven technologies. Let's hope the next energy disaster isn't the contamination of a city's water supply as a result of hydrofracking for natural gas.

Our inability to manage technology and our extreme need for energy leads to technological failures. The irony is that the only way to solve these problems is through the application of other technologies. Dismantling the energy based economy is not politically feasible. There is little question that along with the wondrous benefits of modern technology we face substantial risks. There is also little question that people are willing to tolerate those risks in order to obtain the benefits of technology. We know that we cannot live in a world without risk, but the issue is what type of risk? What is the probability of risk and what its possible scope and intensity? All risk is not created equal.
Every time you put your key in your car ignition and start to drive, you know you are risking an accident. You take steps to deal with the risk. To reduce the probability of risk, you might avoid icy roads. To reduce the potential scope of an accident you might use your seat belt and turn down that shot of tequila someone offers you "for the road," However, even a horrific auto accident is unlikely to result in massive death and destruction. While some of the impacts of a crash may well be irreversible, most will fade from view fairly quickly.

By definition, the technologies with the greatest potential negative impacts are large scale and capital intensive like most of the power plants that generate electricity. These plants are vestiges of the 20th century era of heavy industry. They are built on the management notion of "economy of scale." Today, inexpensive communication and information technologies allow you to build supply chains and production processes utilizing many organizations located in many places. We have done this in a number of business operations but not energy. It is possible to conceive of a decentralized energy system, but we have not yet built one. Distributed electric generation utilizing small scale power generators managed by smart grid technologies can ensure that electric generation capacity is less prone to breakdown due to the failure of a single generation source.

The amount of investment in capital intensive energy generation has resulted in a powerful set of economic interests that have long prevented America from addressing its critical energy problems. These established interests define energy reality. New technologies that require R & D and other incentives to compete with low tech fossil fuels are defined as infeasible and inadequate. The terms of debate are controlled by these interests and reinforced by the ideology of the free market. This is an amazing argument given the tax breaks and other government funded incentives long enjoyed by the fossil fuel industry.

While there is a clear need for the U.S. government to implement an active and if you'll excuse the pun, energetic energy policy, the political calculus in Washington is moving in the opposite direction. The House Republicans are so clueless about the need for sustainable economic development, that they are working overtime to use the budget process to prevent EPA from regulating greenhouse gasses and other air and water pollutants. And the President seems reluctant to push energy and environment and provide meaningful, sustained leadership. This is not a new story. But I for one hoped for more. I still do.

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Feds Invite Startups to Be America's Next Top Energy Innovator

The Obama Administration is offering a deal to America's entrepreneurs: With a strong business plan and $1,000, startup companies that qualify can get an option agreement to license some 15,000 patents and patent applications for groundbreaking energy technology developed by the country's 17 national laboratories.

Starting May 2 and continuing through December 15, the Department of Energy is cutting upfront fees and streamlining the paperwork for the licensing of national lab patents and patent applications. The deal offered through the "America's Next Top Innovator" challenge represents a big cut in price and red tape. Typically, the upfront fees run $10,000 to $50,000.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the limited-time offer this week. "America's entrepreneurs and innovators are the best in the world," Chu said in a statement. "We're challenging them to create new businesses based on discoveries made by our world-leading national laboratories."

The program is designed to address several of the administration's aims -- stimulating high-growth entrepreneurship through the Startup America Initiative, accelerating commercialization of next-gen energy technology, and reducing the country's reliance on fossil fuels and improving energy security by developing new technology and finding new ways to use existing technology better.

Details on program requirements and how to apply are available at the Energy Innovation Portal set up by the DOE's office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

"Because we've cut the upfront fees and reduced the paperwork, we'll make it easier for startup companies to succeed and create the new jobs our economy needs," Chu said. "Our goal is simple: Unleash America's innovation machine and win the global race for the clean energy jobs of the future."

Only about 10 percent of federal patents have been licensed to be commercialized. Through the America's Next Top Energy Innovator program and the Startup America Initiative, the government hopes to double the number of startup companies spurred by technology developed by the national labs.

In addition to the challenge program, the DOE is lowering the advanced payment it requires companies to pay before using national lab facilities for collaborative research and development. The requirement had been for companies to pay upfront for 90 days of research work in the facilities; now the requirement will be for a 60-day upfront payment. The rate change applies to all firms, not just startups.

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City Power & Gas at NYC Pillow Fight 2011

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