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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