By Dave Harcourt •
January 14, 2009
SAB Ltd, is funding water saving projects to compensate for its potential water consumption of 14 billion litres a year in South Africa. WWF (World Wildlife Fund) is facilitating the “water neutrality” process with a South African Government Project to ensure that this is not just a multinational greenwashing.
SAB Ltd is the South African subsidiary of SABMiller which is the second largest brewery in the world .
Water Neutrality
In October 2008, Dr Deon Nel, Head of the WWF Sanlam Living Waters Partnership explained
“The concept of water neutrality, based on its carbon equivalent, has been used loosely over the past years; however, until now no-one has been able to quantitatively justify these claims. We believe that our scheme is the first in the world that allows participants to truly claim to be water neutral.”
Participants will replenish water supplies, by investing in projects that quantitatively supplement water supplies equal to their water usage.
Note: Water neutrality has taken on a form in certain areas that is significantly different to the process introduced here by WWF.
By Lester R. Brown
At a time when major U.S. companies are announcing job layoffs almost daily, the renewable energy industry is hiring new workers every day to build wind farms, install rooftop solar arrays, and build solar thermal and geothermal power plants. The output of industrial firms that manufacture the equipment for these energy facilities is expanding by well over 30 percent a year. These investments both create jobs and help prevent climate change from spiraling out of control.
Among the several sources of renewable energy, wind looms large. The United States has 24,000 megawatts of wind generating capacity already online (think 24 coal-fired power plants), and 83 wind farms with some 8,000 megawatts of capacity are under construction. Beyond this, a staggering 225,000 megawatts of planned wind farms are waiting for access to transmission lines.
Currently, the United States has 40 plants manufacturing wind power components. Eight of these plants are assembling wind turbines, 20 are fabricating wind towers, and 12 are making blades. In addition, many more manufacturing facilities are under construction, recently announced, and in planning. Every billion dollars invested in wind farms creates some 3,350 jobs—nearly four times the 870 jobs created with a similar investment in coal-fired power plants. (See data.)
By Leah Edwards •
October 20, 2008
In this uncertain economic time, it is great to hear some good (and not just on a relative scale, but really good) news. A just-released report authored by UC Berkeley professor David Roland-Holst, called “Energy Efficiency, Innovation, and Job Creation in California,” documents the job growth and economic development that resulted from thirty years of policies enacted in California to encourage residents to adopt energy efficiency measures.
A summary by the author David Roland-Holst on the sponsor (Next 10’s) site, documents that there is wealth to be created in reducing greenhouse gases and improving the environment. You can also download an executive summary or full report via that link.
The report shows that there were job losses in a few sectors due to energy efficiency policies, but it also lists over a dozen industries where the employment gains were significant. The net result is
By Reenita Malhotra •
October 15, 2008
After another tumultuous day in the market with the worst one-day percentage declines since the crash of 1987, addressing the state of the U.S. Economy was supposed to be foremost for both candidates in an effort to win the votes of undecided and independent voters. Advisers for each candidate said that he would use the final debate to lay out his vision for the country and promote his economic policies while drawing differences with his opponent.
