Day: August 24, 2011

Energy

IISD pushing for national pledges to phase-out fossil fuel subsidies

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Read the full post at Green Car Congress.

The IISD (International Institute for Sustainable Development), a Canada-based, public policy research institute, is recommending that the upcoming Rio+20 meeting—the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development gathering scheduled for 4–6 June 2012—focus on a few high-impact initiatives that will help create the enabling framework for sustainable development.

Specifically, IISD is pushing for a national pledge to phase out fossil-fuel subsidies to free up valuable fiscal resources that can be redirected to fund other sustainable development priorities, provide the opportunity to introduce more targeted measures to support low-income households, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help incentivize investments in renewable energy.

Canada, Regulation

Canada moves towards reducing electricity sector emissions

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Read the full post at Green Car Congress.

Environment Canada released the text of the proposed regulations to reduce emissions from the coal-fired electricity sector. The proposed Regulations will apply a performance standard to new coal-fired electricity generation units and those coal-fired units that have reached the end of their economic life.

The government says that the gradual phase-out of traditional coal-fired electricity generation will have a significant impact on reducing emissions. The proposed regulations, in addition to other measures taken by federal and provincial governments and utilities to reduce electricity emissions from coal and other sources, are projected to result in a decline in the absolute level of GHG emissions from electricity generation.

Green business

AT&T Tool Shows Savings of Switching From Travel to Telepresence

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Read the full post at GreenBiz.

AT&T is touting the environmental and business benefits of its services for remote workers and teleconferencing with a tool that lays out company-specific savings.

The AT&T Carbon Impact Assessment Tool is geared toward showing business customers how they can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save money by reducing or eliminating business travel with other communication services.

Auto industry, Plastics, Recycling

BASF supplying resin for Ford air intake manifolds with post consumer recycled content

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Read the full post at Green Car Congress.

BASF is supplying a PA6 resin for select Ford air intake manifold (AIM) programs that includes the addition of post consumer recycled resin to the traditionally prime base polyamide. This customized grade exclusive to North America will be adopted on three of Ford’s current production engines.

The polyamide resin manifolds appear in the 2.5-liter I-4 engine for the Ford Fusion and Ford Escape; the 5.0-liter V-8 engine used in vehicle models including F-Series trucks and Mustang; and the 6.2-liter V-8 engine for the F-Series. Tier 1 Suppliers Montaplast (2.5L), and MAHLE North America (6.2L and 5.0L), are producing the manifolds.

Climate change, Transportation

Transport for London package of measures to tackle pollution levels at the busiest roads in central London; Dust suppressants and Eco-marshals

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Read the full post at Green Car Congress.

Transport for London (TfL) recently announced a package of measures to tackle pollution levels at the busiest roads in central London. The new targeted clean-up measures, which could reduce local pollution levels of PM10 by 10-20% where applied, are financed from a Clean Air Fund secured by the Mayor and TfL from the Department for Transport (DfT).

Canada, Publications, Regulation, Transportation

Canada developing regulations to limit fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from new on-road heavy-duty vehicles

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Read the full post at Green Car Congress.

Environment Canada recently released a consultation paper on the development of proposed regulations to limit greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from new on-road heavy-duty vehicles. Canada and the United States are taking a common North American approach and Canada intends to implement regulations with the 2014 model year in alignment with the United States.

The US announced first-ever fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas emission standards for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles earlier in August. (Earlier post.)

Green business, Textiles

Dutch Company Uses Liquid CO2 in Dyeing Process to Reduce Water Use

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Read the full post at Triple Pundit.

Fabric dyeing is one of the most environmentally harmful processes in textile manufacturing. Effluent from dyes are often released into lakes and rivers. Without proper treatment this runoff wreaks havoc on local ecosystems. These are some of the reasons why Dutch company DyeCoo has come up with a new technology of fabric dyeing using carbon dioxide.

DyeCoo’s waterless innovation, which the company has branded DryDye, took 11 years to develop. Its parent company, FeyeCon, previously engineered a similar process for applications in the industrial sector for example, chemical extraction in pharmaceutical production.

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