Green Options

What makes a protest worthwhile? Does it have to change policy, or achieve the reversal of a specific decision? Recent protests in the environmental arena seem to have educative as well as practical purposes.

Utilities may soon be helping to bring biofuels to your gas tank in an unexpected way. Montreal-based Enerkem recently announced it has finished building what it’s calling its first commercial-scale plant, one that will make cellulosic ethanol, methanol and various biochemicals from discarded utility poles.

After 14 months of construction, the Westbury, Quebec, factory was “mechanically completed” in December, but it isn’t yet fully operational. The company is now working to get the gas part of the plant – the part that will convert the poles into what’s called “syngas,” a mixture that includes carbon monoxide and hydrogen, and will use it to make methanol — up and running now and expects it to be running constantly by early February, CEO Vincent Chornet says.

In a 390-25 vote, the House approved a measure on Tuesday that will increase protection of the Great Lakes region.

As part of electricity restructuring efforts in the last few years, 25 states have adopted a Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS). This new policy promotes renewable energy sources that are consistent and compatible with competitive electricity markets and if efficiently implemented can develop 3,800 MW of new renewable energy capacity…North of the border in La Belle Province, Quebec, the public utility Hydro-Quebec is eager to capitalize on rising energy prices and high demand from the Northeastern and New York sates.

The Quebecois, always more French in their approach to food than the rest of Canada, have decided raw milk cheeses are worth taking a risk on after all.

Quebec, like the rest of Canada and the U.S., has long required raw-milk cheeses to be aged 60 days before sale to ensure against the possibility of harmful bacteria in unpasteurized milk. Artisan cheese makers [...]

Photos by Chris Jordan | “Intolerable Beauty: Portraits of American Mass Consumption”

Design Goes Green - The first of a series of articles by Green Printer on the cross-section between the environment, business and the creative communications industry.

According to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, used or unwanted electronics amounted to 1.9 to 2.2 million tons in 2005, with most of that ending up in landfills. We did a post earlier on the how the chemicals that seep into the soil, even decades later, can have harmful human health effects and the fact that heaps of the stuff are often left abandoned in developing countries.

More Quebecers will be getting their power from hydroelectric dams, thanks to a $4.2 billion USD project begun by the province. The four dams and 72 dikes will add 883 MW of electricity by 2010, enough to power 425,000 homes.

The Quebec-owned utility, Hydro-Quebec, will be the producer and distributor of the hydropower. The utility is the fourth-largest power producer in the world, generating and distributing most of the province’s electricity as well as exporting

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