Dietary Choices have more impact on Climate Change than "food miles"

Carnegie Mellon Researchers Report Dietary Choice
Has Greater Impact on Climate Change Than Food Miles

PITTSBURGH—The old adage, "we are what we eat," may be the latest recipe for success when it comes to curbing the perils of global climate warming. Despite the recent popular attention to the distance that food travels from farm to plate, a.k.a. "food miles," Carnegie Mellon researchers Christopher L. Weber and H. Scott Matthews argue in an upcoming article in the prestigious Environmental Science & Technology journal that it is dietary choice, not food miles, which most determines a household's food-related climate impacts.

"Our analysis shows that despite all the attention given to food miles, the distance that food travels only accounts for around 11 percent of the average American household's food-related greenhouse gas emissions," said Weber, a research professor in Carnegie Mellon's departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering and Public Policy.

The researchers report that fruit, vegetables, meat and milk produced closer to home rack up fewer petroleum-based transport miles than foods trucked cross country to your table. Yet despite the large distances involved — the average distance traveled for food in the U.S. is estimated at 4,000-5,000 miles — the large non-energy based greenhouse gas emissions associated with producing food make food production matter much more than distance traveled.

The authors suggest that eating less red meat and/or dairy products may be a more effective way for concerned citizens to lower their food-related climate impacts. They estimate that shifting to an entirely local diet would reduce the equivalent greenhouse gas emissions as driving 1,000 miles, while changing only one day per week's meat and dairy-based calories to chicken, fish or vegetables would have about the same impact. Shifting entirely from an average American diet to a vegetable-based one would reduce the same emissions as 8,000 miles driven per year.

"Where you get your food from is a relevant factor in family food decisions, but what you are eating — and the processes needed to make it — is much more important from a climate change perspective," said Matthews, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering and engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon.

Chriss Swaney
412-268-5776
swaney@andrew.cmu.edu

All about Solar Energy

By Rachel Oliver
For CNN

(CNN) -- The sun, we are frequently told, is the best source of energy there is -- so much so that in just one hour it can provide the earth with all the energy its inhabitants demand in a year. Not only can the sun provide us with all of our energy needs (10,000 times over in fact, according to Greenpeace) but it can also apparently do this without any of those unpleasant side effects that you get from fossil fuels such as air pollution or ozone depletion. And best of all, this resource will never run out -- or at least, not in the next 5 billion years or so.

A warehouse covered with solar panels in Germany, the world's biggest solar energy producer

As a resource, solar energy has many useful functions -- predominantly the generation of heat and light, but it can also fly our planes, drive our cars and desalinate our water. When doing a like-for-like comparison with the resources we usually draw on to fulfill these roles, the argument for solar energy becomes even more compelling. According to the U.S.-based Union of Concerned Scientists, for instance, the energy we get from all of the world's reserves of coal, oil and natural gas can be matched by just 20 days' supply of sunshine.

But if you equate the level of seriousness with which world governments treat solar power with the actual amount of solar energy generated globally, the figures aren't that reassuring. According to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2007, solar, wind and geothermal combined only account for around 1 percent of the world's electricity generation, with the International Energy Agency (IEA) putting solar power's contribution to the global energy supply at just 0.039 percent. In the United States, solar power meets less than 0.01 percent of electricity needs, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Even Germany -- which, according to the Washington Post, supplied around 50 percent of the world's solar power-generated electricity last year -- doesn't use a whole lot of it at home. Solar makes up a relatively small proportion of the 7 percent that renewable energy contributes to the country's energy needs.

Solar power comes with many complex issues that suggest it may not necessarily be the panacea it seems at first glance.

The first obvious problem, some say, is that when it comes to power generation, photovoltaic (PV) cells (i.e., solar panels) can only work efficiently when the sun is shining. And that means certain parts of the world are supposedly more suitable for mass-scale PV plants than others. That being said, the world's leader in solar energy production is none other than Germany.

In order to tackle the problem of how to maintain a solar energy supply sun or no sun, there have been developments under way to store existing solar energy in a way which can get round the problem of unpredictable weather. According to PlanetArk.com, the Anglo-German utility company E.ON AG has, for example, has developed a battery with the power of 10 million standard AA batteries. The battery is capable of producing 1MW of electricity for four hours -- electricity that has been previously harnessed from the sun (or wind), and stored.

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Another problem, some argue, is space. A recent study by the Rockefeller University in New York found that for solar energy to meet current U.S. electricity needs for just one year, it would require PV cells covering an area of 150,000 square kilometers.

Critics of the study retorted: In a country the size of the U.S. -- at 3.7 million square miles -- how big a deal is 150,000 sq km?

The issue concerns the amount of land which is actually available for such an endeavor -- without creating added harm to the environment (destroying forests to make way for solar plants, for example, wouldn't make much sense). Keeping in mind ongoing population growth with increasing urbanization and the increased adoption of land for farming (particularly with the growing interest in biofuels), the amount of space available for a large-scale project such as solar plants gets much smaller.

Making a comparison of solar and nuclear energy, the Rockefeller report says that to match the power-producing capabilities of one liter of fuel in the core of a nuclear reactor, for example, would take one hectare's worth of PV cells.

Sunshine and space is more of a problem to some countries than others, so many assume that only countries with an extensive land mass and guaranteed good weather are worthy bases for solar power generation. But according to Greenpeace, the small and often overcast United Kingdom could meet two-thirds of its electricity needs with solar panels -- on roofs of existing buildings, negating the need to find space for solar plants.

But there is one area of the world, some are saying, which does meet solar power's two basic needs of sunshine and lots of space: The Sahara Desert. According to the United Nations Environment Report, released in 2006, an area of 640,000 square kilometers could provide the world with all of its electricity needs (the Sahara is more than 9 million square kilometers in size).

The IEA has also said that if just 4 percent of the world's deserts were covered with PV installations, the world's main energy needs would be met. Opponents to such a centralized supply of energy, however, have one key objection: it would be too easy a target for terrorists.

There are also those who are even suggesting that solar energy could be more damaging to the environment than the end benefits it would provide. The Rockefeller report points out that installing such ambitious new energy infrastructure would require "a massive infrastructure, including steel, metal, pipes, cables, concrete, and access roads."

Building massive solar plants would also require large amounts of resources such as silicon and plastic. And this is where perhaps the biggest problem constraining the development of solar power lies. A strain on depleting resources -- such as silicon and plastic (ie oil) -- is pushing up costs, which is hindering growth, and ultimately putting them out of reach for the average consumer, even in rich countries.

Homeowners in the developed world have been reluctant to pay for solar panels to be installed on their buildings while costs remain so high. And according to a report by Greenpeace and the Chinese Renewable Energy Industry Association, China exports a staggering 90 percent of its PV cell solar output -- because its citizens can't afford to use it.

Ultimately businesses only invest in products that make economic sense, so while costs remain high, investment in solar energy will reflect that (as Exxon Mobil's head of public affairs told The Economist in an interview, "Exxon was a big investor in solar in the 1970s. We got out of it because we couldn't make any money out of it.").

However, according to Friends of the Earth, the solar Photovoltaic industry is now the fastest growing renewable energy technology on earth, showing a market growth of 60 percent between the years 2000-2004.

The future may still be bright. The World Bank believes the global market for solar electricity will be worth $4 trillion in 30 years. And a recent report by Greenpeace and the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA), believes that solar power will be able to power 2 billion people's lives by 2030.

(Sources: The Guardian; Union of Concerned Scientists; Greenpeace; LiveScience.com; Reuters; New York Times; Los Angeles Times; Washington Post; Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; Znet; The Economist; BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2007)

Top 10 Green Industries

by Lisa Smith

If you are looking for ways to put a little green in your wallet by putting some green in your portfolio, you might be surprised at the wide range of offerings available for your consideration. Let's take a look at 10 interesting areas, which are highlighted below.

Wind
Windmill farms are sprouting up around the world. Australia, Europe and the United States are all investing in wind as a leading source of renewable energy. The business of wind not only includes the generation and sale of power, but also the design and construction of wind turbines. Few countries rely on wind for more than a tiny fraction of their power generation needs, but many countries are interested in the possibility.

If this is of interest to you, look for wind farm companies that sell wind-generated energy or companies that produce the windmill technology. There are few pure play stocks that deal in wind in the U.S., which will likely change over time, but companies like General Electric (NYSE:GE) have a presence in this market.

Water
One of the most important natural resources we have is water as it is a necessity in our survival. However, there has been a lot of fear that we are running out of clean water sources as the global population continues to grow. To investors this has created a clear opportunity to invest in companies that collect, clean and distribute water. The largest water utility company in the U.S. is Aqua America (NYSE:WTR), which supplies water to nearly 3 million people. Another company in the industry, on the purification side, is ITT Industries (NYSE:ITT), which produces water purification systems that help to make drinkable water.

To see the power of water, one needs look no further than China's massive Three Gorges Dam project. While this $25 billion structure on the Yangtze River will be the largest hydroelectric power station in the world, it's sure not the only one. Hydropower involves a lot of technology, a lot of infrastructure and a lot of power-hungry customers. Every one of those areas holds potential opportunities for investors. On the power side, two publically traded producers include PG&E Corp. (NYSE:PCG), which has one of the largest hydro operations and Idacorp (NYSE:IDA), which has 17 hydro projects. (For related reading, see Water: The Ultimate Commodity.)

Solar Energy
Solar energy is powering homes, buildings and a variety of other items from lights to radios. As the cost of fossil fuels continues to rise and their availability continues to decline, the future looks bright for solar energy.

If you think the sun is just starting to rise on this industry the companies to look at are those that produce solar energy panels, which will benefit if homeowners and businesses adopt solar technology. Two of the leading producers of solar panals are Evergreen Solar (Nasdaq:ESLR) and Sunpower Corp. (Nasdaq:SPWR), which both develop, manufacture and sell panels and components and will directly benefit from the increased adoption of solar power.

Fuel Cells
On a smaller scale, researchers are working with fuel cell technology to develop an alternative method of powering automobiles. The U.S. government hopes that hydrogen powered cars will be commonplace by 2020. If this technology works, there are millions of cars - and millions of consumers - waiting for it.

If you think this is the type of energy is the wave of the future there are a few companies that operate in the space and and develop fuel cell technology. For example, some of the largest producers include Ballard Power Systems (Nasdaq:BLDP), which produces cells that can be used in from cars to power plants, and Fuel Cell Energy (Nasdaq:FCEL), which focuses on providing power options to commercial and industrial facilities. (For related reading, check out Getting A Grip On The Cost Of Gas.)

Efficiency
Just about every aspect of efficiency is good for the environment. Energy efficient construction and appliances reduce home energy use and energy efficient cars reduce our dependence on oil. From efficient lighting to creating the paperless office, innovative companies are developing innovative products that maximize the benefit that we get from the resources that we use. Efficiency is the watchword of the day and a developing field that will create the technologies that we will use tomorrow. (For more insight, see For Companies, Green Is The New Black.)

This area is a little more difficult to invest in as there are no real pure play companies dealing strictly in efficiency. However, there are some companies that have done a great job at leveraging efficiency such as General Electric with its Ecomagination business unit.

Pollution Controls
Reduction is the key term here. From reducing green house gas emissions on industrial power plants to minimizing the emissions that come out of the tailpipe of your car, the pollution control industry is on the rise. Every time legislation mandates an improvement in the amount of some harmful chemical that can be released into the environment, the pollution control industry responds.

If this is something you are concerned about, look for companies that develop pollution control technologies such as Fuel-Tech (Nasdaq:FTEK) and Versar (AMEX:VSR).

Waste Reduction
Recycling has become a standard practice for many people in recent decades. The stuff that was formerly thrown away and trucked off to the landfill is now turned into useful products. Most people are aware that household products such as paper, metal and glass are reprocessed and reused, but they never stop to consider the business behind these endeavors. Of course, these aren't the only items that are reused; waste oil, vegetable oil, batteries, cell phones, computers and even parts from cars can have a second life. Recycling these items involves a business enterprise humming along in the background. (To learn more, see Less Trash For More Cash.)

In terms of your portfolio, waste management companies with a large base of recycling facilities may be of interest including companies such as Allied Waste Industries (NYSE:AW) and Waste Management (NYSE:WMI).

Organics
Organic farms eschew the use of pesticides, engage in sustainable farming practices and sell products that are often healthier to eat than the stuff composed of three-syllable words that you can't pronounce and a shelf-life measured in decades. They also engage in animal management practices that avoid the use of hormones and antibiotics, keeping those chemicals out of the food chain and out of the ground and water surrounding the farms. It's good food - and good business.

With U.S. organic food sales reaching $17 billion in 2006, there is a huge market for organic food producers and grocery stores. Some of the biggest organic food companies include Whole Foods Markets (Nasdaq:WFMI), United Natural Foods (Nasdaq:UNFI) and NBTY (NYSE:NTY) among others.

Best In Class
For many companies, the urge to go green is a relatively recent phenomenon. Like change everywhere, some firms adapt and some don't. Investment managers in the "green" space have begun to categorize firms by the place they hold along the "green" spectrum. Take oil companies for example. One would be hard pressed to think of these firms as green, and for the most part, they aren't. But if you take a closer look at their business models, it is easy to see that some are greener than others. Choosing the firms with the best environmental records and practices is another way of looking at "green". (To learn more, read Can Business Evolve In A Green World? and Change The World One Investment At A Time.)

How to Grow a Green Portfolio
If a "green" investment catches your eye, there are plenty of ways to find a place for it in your portfolio. Mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, stocks, bonds and even money market funds that focus on the environment are all available.

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Solar Powered Curtains

I love design so this story interested me. I want to get in touch with Sheila to learn more about her Solar Curtains and when we can expect them on the market.
Tiffany

Imagine every time you closed your curtains, you were capturing enough solar energy to power your laptop. The technology is available, but no one's packaged it up in a handy DIY kit at your local hardware store.

Solar textiles use the same technology as traditional solar panels to convert sunlight into energy.

Sheila Kennedy hopes to be the first. She's not an interior designer but an architect and professor in practice at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who is convinced that solar textiles will revolutionize the way we collect and consume power.

"I've been thinking about what happens when power and light become flexible, literally flexible," she said.

She calls it "soft power," as in the "soft energy path," a term coined Amory Lovins in the 1970s as a way to describe a world where renewable energy would gradually replace the centralized grid.

Later, Joseph Nye used the term "soft power" to describe the ability of persuasion, values and culture to influence change.

Kennedy's work with soft power builds on both of these ideas. For her , soft power is the ability of flexible materials to convert sunlight into energy.

"The soft power approach says there are some incredibly sensual, compelling, beautiful spaces and products that we can be producing using these emerging energy-harvesting materials," Kennedy said.

Her Boston-based firm, Kennedy & Violich Architecture, has been working with thin-film photovoltaic material, a fabric that looks and moves like cloth but does the job of a solar panel.

"These are materials which can be prepared in the chemistry lab or can be found in nature. They produce electricity when exposed to light. They are very efficient and flexible," she said.

"We are pairing the thin-film photovoltaic material with another semi-conductor material, the light-emitting diode; they're two sides of the same coin. One takes a little bit of the energy of sunlight and transforms it into electricity; some takes that electricity and turns it into light."

Rechargeable batteries pocketed into the hem of the curtains gather energy that can be downloaded into a larger home battery.

"From a technical view, the thin-film has the potential to be produced in very high volumes, with a very low embodied energy and a low carbon footprint. These new photovoltaic materials can be produced in the same way one might print and produce a newspaper, roll to roll. That can make it very affordable," Kennedy said.

Its limitations are its performance. It's less efficient that glass-based solar technology, but Kennedy predicts that's going to change.

"Right now there's research being done on developing sensitivities in thin-film that will allow the energy to continue to be harvested, even at night. That's going to revolutionize the applications for solar textiles," she said.

The current technology can be found hanging in the Vitra Design Museum in Essen, Germany, in a prototype pre-fabricated home called the Soft House.

Farther south and west, the designers are taking their ideas from the Soft House and applying them to a research project for a Soft City.

Kennedy and her team have calculated that by covering just 10 percent of a roof area in Porto, Portugal, solar curtains could provide as much as 70 percent of the average electricity used by a typical household each day.

"It goes to show that you don't need a very large area. We've calculated that 15 square meters would be enough."

Kennedy envisions a future in which a single homeowner or a group of neighbors would decide to wean themselves off the centralized grid and power their homes using the energy they've "harvested" themselves from the sun.

"You could look at it as a type of urban farming," Kennedy suggested, adding that one of the reasons people aren't doing it now is not the lack of technology but old habits and inherited centralized building systems in architecture.

"Instead of tucking way electricity and lights in walls and accessing that with a plug, we have the possibility of thinking of a whole new experience for energy, energy-harvesting and for light."

She talks about material that you could reel in from the roof and wrap around to make a new type of instant room, a Zip Room. Plastic wall plugs would cease to exist; instead you'd harness your appliance into the surface or edge of the textile.

Her ideas may seem radical to homeowners who don't give much thought to where their power comes from or how much it costs, which is why Kennedy is so keen to see the solar curtains in consumer-friendly packs on hardware store shelves.

"Energy-harvesting solar textiles are a very good beginning point. I think that the notion of tying in a new technology with something very familiar really has its advantages if one's about large-scale uptake and widespread adoption of a new energy regime."

Regime may sound like a hard word to be used in the context of soft power, but as Kennedy says, it's up to architects and designers to convince homeowners that there are more efficient alternatives to traditional homes.

Her firm is going one step further with the offer to work with developers and manufacturers who are interested in building digitally fabricated Soft House demonstration projects.

"My team is actively interested in speaking to people who are serious about realizing a pilot program that adapts the Soft House model to actual needs on urban or rural sites. I do think the moment is now."