Hasbro Improves Product Packaging
As part of Hasbro’s commitment to sustainability they are beginning to make changes in product packaging. One result is an increase of approx. 15% in the ration of product to packaging. In other words - less packaging for a given amount of product.
Other planned packaging changes include:
- plastic blister packages that use less material
- more efficient packaging
- removing PVC packaging
- no longer using wire ties
- increasing recycled content: “ … the 2013 MY LITTLE PONY assortment pack is expected to reduce the size of shipping containers by 20 percent …”
Less and more efficient packing means less shipping costs and shipping emission and less material for the consumer throw away in the trash.
For more on Hasbro’s sustainability efforts follow this LINK
Via: Hasbro LINK
Nike collects and recycles old sneakers. You can drop sneakers off at Nike Stores (
Exelon is repurposing a brownfield site in the Chicago area into a solar farm. The 41 acre site have 32,292 solar panels and generates 14,000 mWatt-hrs yearly.
G / MULCHING / COMPOSTING rather than landfilling your tree.
Some Home Depot stores in Texas and the western US will carry Southwest Windpower’s Skystream 3.7 home sized wind turbines. This makes wind power – 100 % renewable energy – readily available to consumers. 
Here are some … 
hout turbine blades.
ergy from the wind as it flows around commercial and residential buildings. …”
Seventh Generation is known for its green products and low impact manufacturing. Their paper package for 4X detergent takes this to a new level. 
bs / sq-ft with external (to the panels) wiring. GE is looking to develop systems in then range of 1 lb / sq-ft. with connected wiring. These could unfold at the installation site and be ready to install – without the need for heavy racking systems.
“OPOWER … is working with Facebook and the Natural Resources Defense Council to create an app that will let people share data about how much -- or little -- electricity they're using at home.”
Peninsula Packaging uses recycled materials and green energy. I recently saw some apples packed in one of their clamshells that noted the plastic was 70 % recycled and made with 50% solar energy.
”
The King of Prussia Mall, in King of Prussia PA is getting EV charging statins.
The University of Delaware is working on technology to enable EV owners use their cars batteries as storage / stabilizing capacity for the grid.
(lowering the carbon footprint of bringing in a non local raw material) and help eliminate industrial waste.
Airbus along with major European Airlines and producers are crating an initive called the ‘
a novel design to mount HORIZONTAL wind turbines on overhead highway signposts. By modifying the existing signposts they can be become wind energy sources. See mocked up picture at RIGHT >>> 
ing energy efficiency closer to the mass market.
ome has a 
United has a green sustainability program called eco-skies. Among the highlights of the program are ... 
The rubber industry is looking for alternatives to petroleum based rubber as pricing for petroleum is going up fast.
he bark (cork) is harvested approx every 10 years from trees that can live for 300 years.
e-Waste is a growing problem - one significant issue is that it is often taken to other nations for handling and improper or unsafe disposal.
North American electronic waste and provide support to nations in both Africa and Asia coping with e-waste imports ..."
MIT scientists have found a novel way to use virus' to improve the efficiency of PV cells. The virus' " ... perform detailed assembly work at the microscopic level ... based on findings that carbon nanotubes ... can enhance the efficiency of ... solar cell's surface."
Street sgns and utility power poles are almost everywhere. A project at The University of Nebraska is looking into ways to use wind power and solar panels on signs to power roadway lights and traffic signals. Any excess power will go into the local energy grid.
feature batteries for storage. " ... Each unit consists of a wind turbine generator and one or more PV panels mounted on the top of the pole for electric power generation." 
Ecotricity is a green UK energy supplier. 
San Francisco's new Terminal 2 was retrofitted to be green by design. It is the first Airport Terminal in the US to achieve GOLD LEED. 
es is matched by an equivalent, guaranteed CO2 reduction through a carbon offset project." 
The other day while walking in the city I noticed an interesting large green sticker on a intercity bus. It was from the Green Coach Initiative and promoted the bus line's "support being and acting green."
The Dow Chemical Company and Cobblestone homes have collaborated to build Michigan's FIRST Net Zero Energy Home. The home uses techniques like "...insulation, sealants, geothermal heating and solar generation."
Vovlo plans to introduce a V60 wagon that is the WORLD's FIRST Diesel Plug In Hybrid. 
le not at home or the office. If you make it easy folks will recycle.
VE.
The First National Bank of Omaha (Nebraska) has as green focus. They have a fuel cell powered data center that is a GHG free power source. They also offer paperless / online banking which can reduce your impact on the environment.
One key infrastructure item slowing the acceptance of pure electric vehicles is a lack if EV charging stations. Cracker Barrel is helping to build out the infrastructure using locations along highways
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illion pounds of carbon dioxide over a 25 year period. ...energy created ... equals more than 111 million miles not driven by a medium sized car ... 11 million trees would need to be planted to equal the same level of carbon dioxide reduction."
a Trek store for recycling.
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in a parking lot with the Sustainable Waste Solutions and knew there would be a blog post there. SWS is a local company with a Souderton, Pa address that turns waste to energy (W2E).
h electricity from waste to power tens of thousands of homes per day ..."
n uses no fossil fuels for heating. Instead they uses biomass from farming leftovers. 80,000 homes heated by biomass and not fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas! And this is an area of the world where it gets VERY COLD !
According to the Scott's web site 17 billion toilet tissue tubes are thrown away each year ..." That's enough to fill the Empire Sta Building. Twice". Or 20 747s.
Samsung's Evergreen is one GREEN phone.
ns and facilitate recycling away from home - who wants to carry bottles home for recycling?
Electric Vehicles produce no smog in operation and are very low cost to operate. They have a range of up to 100 miles and are great for city use. 
There is a lot of wind energy off the northeast seaboard ... but no good way to move it to consumers. Google is looking to change that with a new transmission line called the Atlantic Wind Connection (AWC).
Home Power Magazine is full of ideas on renewable energy for home owners and professionals.
Supply and demand are always achieved on the grid. One issue for renewable energy is how to store the power which may be generated during low demand for use during high demand rather than have it go to waste.
West Texas has lots of wind and wind farms - and no good way to get this energy to the South East US. Pattern Energy is looking to build a 400 mile transmission line to the Atlanta area from " ... the nation's No. 1 wind state."
Beyond Low Energy homes are Zero Energy Homes (ZEH). Using technology including geothermal heating and cooling, PV panels, heat recovery ventilation and super insulation and high efficiency windows the homes in Green Acres (New Paltz NY) may be the first ZEH in the world.
Solar power for consumers has lots going for it ... renewable energy, clean power, being green ... and one near term stumbling block --- cost. Most systems are EXPENSIVE for the initial capiital outlay.
ing our dependency on oil. In addition to fibers and fabrics, Sorona® can be used in films, filaments, engineering resins and other applications." 
EcoMotors International has developed the OPOC engine - opposed-piston opposed-cylinder engine. This engine can run on a number of fuels and is lighter in weight and produces more power than a conventional engine.
" ... ground-breaking internal combustion engine ... eliminates the cylinder-head and valve-train components ... lighter, more efficient and economical, with lower exhaust emissions compared with conventional designs...."
Viva Terra's Mad Mats®are made from recycled plastics. 
For an additional $1 in shipping fees you can offset the carbon impact from shipping. Details on the Viva Terra web site under shipping.
The EPA has statistics on who uses the most renewable energy. For the nation as a whole the biggest users are found in the Top 50 ... first by kWh is Intel with 51% of its total electric use and second by kWh is Kohl's department store at 100 % of its total electric use!! 
etwork, the most advanced, easy to use, electric vehicle ... charging infrastructure ... " 
Braxton's in Devon, PA (western suburbs of Philadelphia) is a 3rd generation family business. We buy a lot of our dog stuff there ... one day I noticed a sign outside touting their "
green-ness" by installing LED lighting.
In June of 2009 Dell announced that they source over 1/4 of their global energy needs from renewable sources. 
Kudzu is a very aggressive fast growing vine that is invasive ... if it could be turned into a source of ethanol ... it might kill 2 birds with 1 stone. And it does not compete with food crops as a route to ethanol.
The US Army is getting greener. They are beginning " ... development of a 500-megawatt solar power plant at Fort Irwin, Calif."
"Minesto contributes a solution to the worldwide energy demand by offering a unique technology that explores the vast, renewable and abundant ocean power resource."
It might be a marriage made on the farm .. with data centers being located in rural areas that have lots of farms using manure to power data centers is a way to be green
"Data centers need a lot of energy. Dairy farms create a lot of methane. ... HP Labs has done the math to show that one could be used to support the other."
My brother and his girlfriend sent photo's of her new Ford Fusion Hybrid. They and the car live in the Research Triangle Park area in NC ... 
Springside School - Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia - continues it's green activities by snagging 5th place - in the US - in the Earth Day Challenge. 
Springside School - Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia has the largest solar installation in the city of Philadelphia. You can see the solar progress with the monitoring station ... the system has the capacity of 92.4 k
W DC. 
Google has made its first DIRECT investment in a production scale wind farm ... 
"UPS ... became the first small package carrier to offer its customers the ability to offset the carbon dioxide emissions generated by the transport of their packages within the United States."
Wonder how plastic bags get recycled? You see the recycling bins in most grocery stores that take #1 and #2 plastic bags and newspaper sleeves. Watch the video to see how they are recycled back to plastic material. 
Amtrak is experimenting with a bio-diesel fueled train ... called the Heartland Flyer. 
Green Touch is a program at Alcatel-Lucent that focuses on green aspects of technology. " ... looking at how the world of telecommunications is responding to the urgency of preserving our natural environment. ... Green Touch ... a consortium of telecoms operators, manufacturers, universities and non-profit organisations with a mission to conceive and demonstrate the effectiveness of this revolutionary low-energy network - all within the next five years… "
lly you should use a reusable cup rather than a disposable cup. I try to .... how about you?
While diesels are efficient they are polluting ... and use fuel at the rate of a gallon / hour at idle.
Ghost power users are devised that are "turned" off but still draw power. Included in this category are batter charges used for cell phones and the like.
Whether you are a landlord, run a bar or hotel there are things YOU can do to celebrate Earth Hour. 
Earth Hour 2010 is just a few days away.
Which is less carbon intensive: electic heat or wood stovfe heat? 
India has lots of gas and diesel powered rickshaws ... these emit significant quantities of pollution ... there is work to outfit rickshaws with batteries and an electric motor. These cost close to 3 x the cost of a traditional rickshaw but the government may offer loans to help offset the cost differential. 
Small changes can save energy and can really add up. Some changes are not hard to do at all ... just put your mind to it.
Enviance makes a carbon reporting system for the " ... Apparently close to 61 percent of companies still don’t have any sort of carbon emissions tracking system in place."
Darden Restaurants - owner of Red Lobster and other restaurant brands - is embracing the USGBC LEED Standards.
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r year ... "
."
BloomEnergy has announced a novel fuel cell and unlike typical fuel cells if does not require precious metal catalysts. Fuel cells are typcially "cleaner" than other power sources.
David de Rothschild has built a boat from recycled plastic bottles and plans to sail it from San Francisco in the US to Sydney, Australia. 
Along the lines of which is better for the environment - paper or plastic bags is the "which is better for the environment" paper or digital format for documents. Bet you are leaning towards digital --- I am.
U2 has taken a novel approach to getting fans to getting fans to think about the bands carbon footprint and in doing so may help promote the idea of carbon offsets.
The UTS Tower in Sydney, Australia is may get a proposed upgrade - a solar skin. This PV "wrap" would turn the tower into a very green and energy efficient structure.
Scientists from CalTech have developed technology that might lead efficient solar cells from silicon nanowires. This could lead to all sorts of configurations for solar cells including fabrics.
gawatt hours per year ... if they were classed as a separate industry, they would be the sixth-largest user of electricity ... "
"Samsung and Korea Electric Power Corp. will invest $6.6 billion into wind and solar projects in Ontario ... will build and maintain power plants as well as erect four new factories in North America for making the equipment for the power plants ... plants will employ 1,440 and building and maintaining the power plant will keep 16,000 busy ..."
Puppy Toys have gone GREEN. 
Green Fuels Ltd makes it possible to produce your own biodiesel ... with one of their FuelPod products ... 
Cagoule, a small company from Portland, Oregon, sells a line of gloves, hats, blankets and scarves made from post consumer recycled plastic beverage bottles.
and see some of the technology he is using as well as ways to cut your carbon footprint.
The University of Illinois has developed the Carbon Capture Report™ that brings together all web information Carbon related. If you are looking for something carbon related this would be a good place to search!
FedEx is adding 51 hybrid trucks to its Bronx, NY faciltiy - making it FedEx's first 100% all-hybrid site. 
Samsung is well know for developing greener cell phones -- including the Reclaim ...
ow offers the Climate Passport program; a way to help travelers reduce their travel carbon footprint by purchasing offsets. 
production by 83 per cent over the next 40 years." 
The Dow Chemical company is active in the green energy space with several innovative products. They recently announced their entry into the solar cell market with the " ... POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingle, ... panels in the form of solar shingles that can be integrated into rooftops with standard asphalt shingle materials. ... expected to be available in limited quantities by mid-2010 and ... more widely available in 2011, ..."
"
tant as solar and wind start to power the grid.
itment to turn their campuses green. ... this movement can be carried forward to graduation. "
Want to travel 
Savings Via Behavior Modification ..." ... Educate ... by publishing real-time and historical data ... Cut electricity usage up to 10% by changing habits of building occupants ..." 
its already substantial GREEN fleet of cars and trucks. 
China is full of business opportunities and is also looking to become / embrace the green movement. The China Green Business Summit - 2009 is being held May 13 - 15th in Beijing, China.
" ... Dell now powers its 240,000 square-foot Oklahoma City campus with 100-percent wind energy, the latest action in its commitment to become the 'greenest' technology company on the planet. ... partnering with Oklahoma Gas and Electric on the use of renewable energy and expects to avoid nearly 5,100 tons of CO2 emissions per year."
ental goals. ... was the first IT company to join the Carbon Disclosure Project's Supply Chain Leadership Collaboration to help suppliers with emissions reporting."
rk ... can dynamically adjust power consumption to reduce the energy used overall. ... uses an advanced power management system ... allows Mac mini to use ... up to 45 percent less power at idle than its predecessor. And it makes Mac mini the most energy-efficient desktop computer."
" ...20 percent – of building materials were from recycled content and over 75 percent of construction waste was recycled. ... drought tolerant landscape and a portion of the power used for operations will be green power supplied by wind energy."
mmitted to converting all items the Company makes to green material composition. ... any company can make a few products green, we will commit to making them all green—and we'll tell people what that greenness is product for product and what positive result there is."
Cisco has developed EnergyWise, an approach to monitor, control and report on energy use across the enterprise. 
Frito Lay is working to reduce the impact of their packing materials. Chips and other snacks come in Mylar type plastic bags that are not sustainable ... 
Air Products and Chemicals, Allentown, Pa, received an award for a process that removes CO2 from coal power plant waste streams.
xide (CO2) waste streams from coal-fired power plants. ... an essential requirement for the compression, transport and potential sequestration of greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. ..." 
Ever wonder what impact your choice of travel destination / hotel has on the environment? Wonder just how green your hotel / resort really is?
Toshiba is working on a small sized nuclear reactor that can be situated where needed ... it is designed to use liquid sodium for coolant (not water) resulting in higher efficiencies. 
Apple's new MacBook line of computers boasts some impressive GREEN credentials ... the result of design efforts to remove mercury and arsenic from the display, and new packaging that uses less material and highly recyclable aluminum cases and glass screens.
ergy to manufacture, distribute and operate the phone by investing in renewable energy sources and reforestation. ... 100% of the Motorola W233 Renew's phone housing is recyclable. ..." 
As part of their 2020 Low Carbon Roadmap .... PECO opened their first "green" building in West Chester (Chester County) Pa. 
My family and I had Thanksgiving dinner at Longwood Gardens (Kennett Sq, Pa) - a beautiful garden that is getting more into being GREEN and their impact on the planet. As I was eating leftovers I noticed that the plastic container was not the #1, #2 or #5 that I expected ... but #7 (inside a recycling triangle) PLA and was marked as composable.
Marriott International Inc has embraced going green. Read about what they are doing corporate wide to become more environmentally friendly.
See what BNSF is doing to develop a Greener inter modal freight port ... 
Business Conferences and conventions are a fact of life for business travelers ... now one conference / sponsor is using Carbon Offsets as a way to help attendees feel better about the carbon impact of their travel to the conference. 
Fortune's "Brainstorm Green" is an invitation only event on April 21 - 22, 2008 in Pasadena, California. 
Aramark, a large concession operator based in Philadelphia, Pa, has been using green cleaning products at some of the ball parks it serves.
Paper.
"The new Vatican Climate Forest will be created in Hungary's Bükk National Park ... dimensions will be determined by the Vatican’s 2007 energy usage and the success of its current emission reduction efforts. KlimaFa has received EU JI Track 1 approval to plant thousands of hectares of new native species, mixed growth forests under the permanent protection of European national park systems. Its initial projects are being conducted in collaboration with Hungary's government, Academy of Sciences and National Parks Directorate."
"Planktos/KlimaFa has further committed to work with the Vatican ... to develop methods to calculate the CO2 emissions of individual Catholic churches and offer ecorestoration options to turn their carbon footprints green."
The Taiwanese company "Evergreen" is building Green Cargo Ships. One major source of pollution takes place when cargo ships are docked at port - either loading or unloading. Read on how Evergreen solves this and other typical pollution sources from ocean going cargo ships.
We hear a lot about buying locally grown food. The "costs" of buying products from across the country or world are huge: fuel to freeze and / or refrigerate, fuel to transport and the resulting carbon impact. 
worldwide. ..."
Want to be green?
" Here are some more of the 50 Easy Ways to go Green". For the complete list follow the link at the end of this BLOG post.
Just in Time before the End of May!
"Insulate your home: Make sure your walls and ceilings are insulated. Save 2,000 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $245 per year." 
