With 17 million inhabitants, Beijing is China’s second largest urban area. In less than a month, the Imperial City will host the XXIX Summer Olympic Games, and both the People’s Republic of China and the City’s government are making sure the most viewed planetary event will be a success. Even the air pollution that has been plaguing the city will be taken care of ($17 billion has been spent to this effect), even if it means forbidding car access for a full month. Athletes with asthma will be able to compete. China’s efforts to organize a green event have become incompatible with the resources required for a smooth event of this magnitude. Actually, Beijing Summer Olympic Games may enter history as the most environmentally unfriendly event in Olympic history. But this is only a “historical detail” in comparison to what the future may hold for this megalopolis. Continue Reading »

Starting February 17, 2009, U.S. TV stations will switch from using analog signals to using digital signals. So the question is what will happen to your old TV when you take on this opportunity to buy a new one (of course, this does not apply to you if you consider purchasing a converter box)? The problem paused by disposing old TVs is not new. Americans have on average 2.6 TVs per household and replace one every 2 years.

If most TVs are donated or join the flourishing used electronic market (2,500 TVs listed on SF Bay Area’s craigs list today), many more end up in the exponentially growing electronics waste. And the amount ending up in landfills is likely to surge as an estimated 70 million TVs will become obsolete past that date. No doubt that some cleaver trade businesses will take on this opportunity to ship a large portion of them to Latin America, Asia and Africa where they will be sold or “recycled”. The recycling of ewastes in developing countries offers a gloomy illustration of an industry that lacks regulation and enforcement when products reach the end of their life cycle and the millions of TVs that will not find a second life will contribute to an environmental nightmare. Here and abroad. Continue Reading »

The long wait is over. Companies that would start their projects to use renewable energy through the end of 2009 will receive a tax credit of 2 cents per kilowatt hour generated. The cost is estimated to $6 billion over the next decade. “Extensions would also be given to other tax credits for making energy-efficient appliances, building energy-efficient facilities and residential purchases of renewable energy systems. Through the credits, homeowners and businesses could avoid paying 30 percent of the cost of installing solar of fuel cell systems.” Reports ClimateBiz.com

Finally! I thought this would never happen. But what took them so long? Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection has launched its grassroots initiative. The We campaign’s goal is to empower people to take action to fight global change. You can create group and share your own initiatives with others. Continue Reading »

Mark your calendar: Earth Day is on Tuesday April 22. So, what are you going to do? Earthday.net gives you plenty of tips, events you can join to make this day enjoyable and memorable. Professional organizations are also on the deck. Tips from green cleaning guru Steve Ashkin: how about informing your clients? I agree: how about sharing three green/ environmental tips with each one of your friends and learning three from them?

It started as a tease but hey, why not endorsing a candidate on this blog? So here is my candidate: Barack Obama.

“Well, I don’t believe that climate change is just an issue that’s convenient to bring up during a campaign. I believe it’s one of the greatest moral challenges of our generation.” Presidential candidate Barack Obama.

So do I.

Continue Reading »

AFTER BALI: THE ROAD AHEAD ON CLIMATE CHANGE

Hosted by the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on February 7th, 2008.

I thought it would be interesting to hear what three distinctive voices representing the political, business and scientific spheres had to say about the Bali talks. I was particularly curious to see how the policy maker (in charge amongst other to define, coordinate, implement US environmental policy) would answer when facing the hard reality as exposed by a renown and respected scientist.
Continue Reading »

I like this video very much and want to share it. George Carlin’s stand-up comedy on saving the planet. Acidic and sarcastic, it did it for me.
Continue Reading »

Congratulations to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and former US VP. Al Gore, winners of the 2007 Peace Nobel Prize … “for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change”.
But it is the Nobel Peace Prize that was awarded, and truly so, the Norwegian committee recognized that the effect of climate change increases the chance of conflicts as natural resources are becoming scarce and countries or ethnics will fight to access these resources. Looking at the list of Nobel Prize Winners, I believe this is the first time that this prestigious – although sometimes controversial – distinction has been awarded for the sake of conflict prevention. Continue Reading »

The CleanTech Crossroads had its premier conference on the new UCSF Mission Bay Campus. A perfect location as UCSF has been one of the strongest adopters of green building, adopting LEED standards and exceeding State’s mandated energy code requirements, so when my friend Rachel Sheinbein of the Keiretsu CleanTech Committee asked me to come along it sounded like the perfect environment to look at the ground covered in the CleanTech space since my last experience with renewable energy in 2003/4. Continue Reading »