Category Archives: water
Is Clean Water Vs. Dirty Air a Good Trade-Off?
Do you need to put 5,000 more cars to the road to get clean drinking water? I find the trade-offs that arise in energy development, environmental protection and human health fascinating. Over the years I’ve written on this topic a few times: … Continue reading
Filed under climate change, emissions, grid, transportation, utilities, water
Book Review: Greener Products
Greener Products: The Making and Marketing of Sustainable Brands by Al Iannuzzi CRC Press; November 8, 2011 Creating a sustainable society will depend in large part on reducing the environmental impacts of making, distributing and using products and of disposing … Continue reading
Filed under Life Cycle Assessment, marketing, sustainability, waste management, water
Creating a Water Management Plan
By Martyn Harrison Recent large global water catastrophes; flooding in Australia, Thailand and the U.S. can hide the fact that there is a global freshwater shortage not just in well publicized countries like Ethiopia and other similarly arid places, but … Continue reading
Filed under water
PUMA and Environmental Costs
Did you hear that “sportlifestyle company” PUMA burns up about half its income in environmental degradation? That factoid was not emphasized in this week’s announcement that the company had developed an “Environmental Profit & Loss Account.” The E P&L calculates environmental aspects of the … Continue reading
Filed under carbon, ecosystem services, emissions, Supply chain, sustainability, water
Setting Goals for Environmental Performance
This is the season that many companies publish their corporate sustainability reports, and in those reports updates on their sustainability goals. Some companies have recently announced meeting or exceeding goals they’d set. Apparel maker H&M, for instance, recently reported that … Continue reading
Filed under efficiency, emissions, sustainability, water
How Finance Departments Do Sustainability
When your company makes sustainability a part of its strategy, it looks for ways to embed sustainability thinking through the organization. In some departments, it’s pretty clear what that entails. Product development may seek sustainably sourced materials or designs that are … Continue reading
Filed under efficiency, illumination, Supply chain, sustainability, transportation, water
Assessing the Tone of ExxonMobil’s Environmental Reporting
I’ve been spending some time with corporate sustainability reports for a new research project. ExxonMobile’s 2009 Corporate Citizenship Report offers some interesting examples of rhetorical style that are worth considering if you are responsible for your company’s sustainability reporting. ExxonMobil is bound … Continue reading
Filed under hydraulic fracturing, oil, sustainability, water
Oil Spills and Market Crashes
The current news cycle links continuing coverage of the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, whose cause remains uncertain and whose solution so far elusive, with puzzlement about the cause of a recent 1,000-point plunge in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. … Continue reading
Future Cleantech Execs Gather in NYC
This week marked the kickoff of the CleantechExecs program at the Polytechnic Institute of NYU (NYU-Poly). The program will last 10 days spread over several months and will include appearances by an array of speakers from industry, finance and government. … Continue reading
Unintended Consequences, Part III: Electricity vs. Water
The latest installment in my compilation of the unintended consequences of new energy technologies: “clean” power projects can be giant water hogs. (Here’s part I and here’s part II.) The New York Times reported today that utility-scale solar energy projects … Continue reading
My Clean, Green, Sustainable Reading List
Over the last few months I’ve been reading through the literature on clean tech, energy and sustainability. In case you are looking for suggestions, I can recommend any or all of these. If you have any reactions or suggestions for … Continue reading
Filed under biofuels, carbon, coal, efficiency, emissions, energy prices, energy storage, grid, illumination, natural gas, oil, solar, sustainability, transportation, water
Reusable vs. Disposable Cups: Saving Money and Energy
You might think that disposable tableware–such as plates, cups and flatware–are an affront to the environment and should be avoided at all costs. But the truth is more nuanced. Image via Wikipedia To compare the environmental impact of reusables (such … Continue reading
Filed under efficiency, Life Cycle Assessment, sustainability, water
Unintended Consequences, Part II: Air vs. Water
I recently posted on the unintended consequences that often come along with energy technologies. An article by Forest Reinhardt in the Harvard Business Review 10 years ago presented a framework for making environmental strategy and investment decisions. It also provided … Continue reading
Filed under emissions, transportation, water
