Tag Archives: green
Accelerating The Clean Energy Revolution With CA’s Cap-And-Trade
une 3, 2013 By Emily Reyna Emily Reyna Senior Manager of Partnerships & Alliances for CA’s Climate & Air Team, Environmental Defense Fund Six months ago, California launched the largest economy-wide cap-and-trade program in the world, in what many have deemed a grand experiment . Many people watched nervously as the market unfolded, despite California having applied the lessons learned from the growing pains of the EU ETS and from six years of crafting the market rules in consultation with the state’s – and the world’s – leading experts. Results from the first and second auctions eased those initial fears and today’s results continue to affirm the presence of a strong and viable market. That’s good news for California. Auction Results The third auction held on Thursday, May 16 th offered 14.5 million 2013 allowances for sale and 9.56 million 2016 allowances. So, what happened? Summary Allowance year Allowances offered Allowances sold Settlement price 2013 14,522,048 100% $14.00 2016 9,560,000 78.6% $10.71 Participation: Overall participation was high, with almost 1.8 times more credits bid on than were sold. A diverse array of 81 entities were approved to bid in the auction. Current (2013) vs. Future (2016) vintage allowances: All of the 2013 allowances sold, while almost 80% of the 2016 allowances sold, an indicator that there is solid confidence the program will still be around. Entities are keeping their options open in not buying all available allowances for use three years out, which makes sense given the multiple options for achieving compliance. Clearing price: As expected , the clearing price for 2013 allowances was high, settling at approximately 30% above the auction price floor of $10.71. Because 2016 allowances did not sell out, their clearing price remained at the floor of $10.71. Auction proceeds: By selling more than 10 million state-controlled allowances, California’s third auction raised over $117 million – that will be used to advance the goals of AB 32, to reduce climate pollution. The budget is still being finalized for this year, but at least 25% of the auction proceeds (or $64 million to date) must benefit disadvantaged communities. Three Reasons the Momentum Is Here to Stay California’s program is proving to be a strong model for replication elsewhere : Others are watching California’s program closely. In a short period, a price on carbon has been established, all credits at the first three auctions were sold above the floor price, and most importantly, we have begun the process of breaking California’s dependence on fossil fuels and seen a decrease in carbon emissions. Next year, Quebec will link with California’s market – a first step towards a broader carbon market, and potential blueprint for other states and provinces to join the program. Innovation : Smart companies are innovating to reduce their emissions. For example, Kroger Company uses an anaerobic digester in Compton, California to convert spoiled food to energy , generating 13 million kilowatt-hours of electricity a year. Unleashing this type of innovation accelerates the clean energy revolution and puts us further along the path to meeting the state’s aggressive climate goals. Future Leadership : Today, EDF kicked off its sixth year of EDF Climate Corps , an innovative fellowship program that places grad students in companies, cities and universities to identify energy savings within those organizations. This year, 116 graduate students will be working in over 100 organizations this summer — 19 in California — including Apple, Adidas and the Los Angeles Community College System. Many of the alumni continue the work they do in corporate, public and non-profit spaces to address the largest environmental issue of our time. As Van Jones said at the Greenlining Institute Summit recently, “Young people are fighting for us.” We have solid reasons to be optimistic about California’s carbon market, and the continued growth of the clean energy economy. The skeptics aren’t staying silent, but their case is losing steam. After all, facts are facts, and for Emily Reyna is the Senior Manager of Partnerships and Alliances for California’s Climate & Air team in the San Francisco office. In this role, Emily is responsible for engaging and forging common ground with businesses and other key stakeholders to further EDF’s work on implementation of California’s Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32). Emily previously worked in EDF’s Corporate Partnership’s Program on EDF Climate Corps , an innovative program that places specially-trained MBA and MPA students in companies, cities and universities to build the business case for energy efficiency.California, today’s auction results proved once again the numbers are on our side. Continue reading
New Oud-Based Natural Leather Perfume by Osmia Organics: Couro
In time for Father’s Day, this unisex scent, based on the smell of wet leather, is a unique, artisan gift handmade in Colorado. Couro Natural Perfume Carbondale, CO (PRWEB) June 03, 2013 For centuries, perfumers have been intrigued by the smell of leather – comforting, exotic, sensual, warm, and right on the line between masculine and feminine. A pair of brand new boots, or an old, leather-bound book, or a pair of gloves worn thin by physical work – all of these are held together by the primitive, softly sweet smell of leather. Ironically, the concept of a leather scent arose from the need to perfume leather gloves in the 16th century in France, when the tanning process left leather with a pungent, harsh odor. Precious oils such as rose, musk, and ambergris were then used to mask that odor. Eventually, as the gloves were worn and the oils were heated and combined, the concept of a leather perfume was born. For Osmia Organics founder, Dr. Sarah Villafranco, the concept of a leather scent arose when she unintentionally got a leather bracelet wet. She was intrigued by an intermittent, mystery scent as she worked that day, and finally realized it was the wet leather bracelet she was smelling. She began work on Couro that day. Says Villafranco, “Creating a modern leather scent with only natural essences was a challenge I couldn’t resist – my brain kept rearranging the formula in my sleep, and I tweaked it for months until it was right. I wanted a perfume that would be somewhat masculine, but still completely alluring when worn by both men and women.” Today, Osmia is releasing the new, natural perfume. Oud, or agarwood, is one of the world’s most precious and costly fragrance ingredients, long revered as a sacred oil for use in anointing blends. Couro combines oud with amber and tobacco notes, for a lusty, sweet, leathery base. Bulgarian Rose absolute rounds out the center of the scent, and top notes of saffron and black pepper add a gentle spice. The scent, based in organic grape alcohol, resides somewhere between male and female, perhaps more on the masculine end of the spectrum, but still appropriate for women who prefer a more gender-neutral perfume. All of Osmia’s natural perfumes are cruelty-free, and made with essential oils, CO2 extracts, and absolutes (see article explaining these here ), and never contain synthetic or chemical fragrance. Couro is priced at 150.00 for a 0.48 ounce bottle, pictured above. Samples of all Osmia’s natural perfumes are available for purchase on the website. Continue reading
An African Setback For The Palm Oil Industry
By Bruce Einhorn 31/05/13 Africa is the next frontier for the world’s producers of palm oil, a food ingredient that environmentalists blame for destruction of rain forests in Southeast Asia. Indonesia is the world’s biggest producer of palm oil but the government there is trying to reduce deforestation by banning development of new plantations on primary rain forest. With the world’s appetite for palm oil increasing, plantation developers are targeting territory in sub-Saharan Africa . That’s alarming some green activists worried about the industry clearing rain forests in order to plant palm trees. “The global palm oil industry is running out of land,” says Filip Verbelen, a Brussels-based senior forest campaigner for Greenpeace. “People look where the land is available and they look for Africa.” The drive into the continent suffered a setback on May 18 when Herakles Farms, a New York-based company developing a 73,000-hectare plantation in Cameroon, announced it was suspending work and laying off 690 workers there following a dispute with the government. The U.S. company needs to get the correct permits before it can proceed with the project, according to Cameroon’s Ministry of Forestry & Wildlife, which says it took action following complaints from the local community. A 2009 agreement between the Cameroonian government and Herakles subsidiary Sithe Global Sustainable Oils Cameroon does not exempt the company from respecting “legal procedure and environmental constraints,” Forestry Minister Ngole Philip Ngwesse said in the statement. Herakles Farms says it had been acting properly. “The Company had obtained permission to proceed and always has and will comply fully and transparently with government regulations in force,” the company said in a statement . “The Company is deeply distressed to see so many of its committed Cameroonian employees being left without jobs for an uncertain period of time,” Herakles Farms added. “The company finds these events especially tragic and will do all it can to achieve a positive outcome.” Greenpeace says the Cameroon project could set a precedent for other palm oil developments in Africa. “If this project isn’t stopped, investors are going to say, ‘Look at what is possible in Cameroon and the rest of the region,’” says Verbelen. “‘You can go for a free ride.’ If we can stop this or create strong safeguards, I think then new investors will become a lot more careful.” The Cameroon standoff is also significant since demand for palm oil continues to grow—thanks in part to health concerns among Americans worried about the dangers of trans fats. As consumers try to avoid unhealthy trans fats in their diets, the global food industry has been trying to reduce its reliance on hydrogenated oil, and palm oil has become an attractive option, according to Eric Decker, a professor at the University of Massachusetts and head of the school’s food science department. “Ever since the awareness that trans fats have negative effects, the food industry has had to find alternatives,” he says. “It used to use solid fats that came from hydrogenated oil, but those are high in trans fats. So they had to find another fat source that was still solid. And so they have switched to palm oil.” Developing countries are big consumers of palm oil, too. The World Bank expects demand to double by the end of the decade, thanks largely to increased consumption in China and India. Palm oil is an inexpensive ingredient in ice cream and cookies, and unlike other vegetable oil sources such as soybeans, the palm fruit produces mostly oil, so growers looking to maximize their oil production can get the most bang for their buck. “Palm is the most efficient,” says Paul Conway , vice chairman of Cargill, a major importer of palm oil from Southeast Asia. “It’s basically all oil.” Palm oil is versatile, with uses not just in food but also in soaps and detergents and, increasingly, biofuels. “Anything you can make from petrochemicals, you can also make from palm oil,” Dorab Mistry, a director of Godrej International, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. And, he added, there aren’t a lot of big costs involved with making it. “There are very few commodities in the world which are as profitable to produce as palm oil.” Einhorn is Asia regional editor in Bloomberg Businessweek’s Hong Kong bureau. Continue reading
