This post was originally published at Intent.com on Monday, December 15, 2008.
The winter holidays are almost upon us, and whether you’re celebrating Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, or the holiday(s) of another tradition, you may still be stumped for gifts to give this year… especially gifts that fit your own (and the recipients’) values.
For the past few years, I’ve moved away from buying “stuff” as much as possible, and focused on giving the gift of giving (say that three times fast!). That is, I look for gifts that contribute to larger causes. After writing about ‘TisBest gift cards a couple of weeks ago, I started brainstorming on other good “gifts that keep on giving” for the “treehugger” on your list.
By Tom Schueneman •
November 12, 2008
The University of Phoenix, in partnership with local Phoenix, Arizona energy provider Salt River Project (SRP), announced yesterday that they will make the largest purchase of renewable energy tax certificates in Arizona history.
The University will buy 46.5 million kilowatt-hours of renewable energy credits, equivalent to all of its Phoenix campus’ annual consumption and 27% of its more than 200 campuses across the county. It is also enough power to keep the lights, computers, and TVs going in 3,800 American homes for a year or removing the carbon emissions of 5,280 cars.
University of Phoenix is purchasing the credits from the Hopkins Ridge Wind Facility in Washington state through SRP’s EarthWise program.
As a result of the purchase, the University of Phoenix is ranked 7th on the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Top 20 College & University Partner List“.
Though much of my time over the past couple of weeks has been devoted to the behind-the-scenes work of bringing The Inspired Economist into the Green Options Media blog network, I’ve also made sure to follow the discussion regarding Wal-Mart’s comments to the FTC regarding carbon offsets and renewable energy credits. In a post titled “Wal-Mart Lobbies Against Carbon Offset Guidelines,” Tony Calero at Wal-Mart Watch got this discussion started by pointing to the company’s comments filed in response to an FTC request:
Herein lays the scandal: Despite the company’s “green” initiatives, Wal-Mart is actively lobbying against the clarification of offset guidelines. The company’s hypocritical stance on the issue came to light last week in a hearing of the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC is attempting to modernize the “Green Guides,” guidelines issued for corporations defining acceptable marketing claims regarding environmental products and initiatives. In response to the FTC’s solicitation of retailer comment to guide the process, Wal-Mart’s Director of Energy Regulation, Angela Beehler, expressed Wal-Mart’s firm opposition towards the clarified scope and definition of carbon offsets…
As you might imagine, other media outlets picked up on this pretty quickly: Grist, for instance, noted that Consumers Union and other groups have “been advocating for clear, specific definitions to avoid misleading green claims, ” and that “the FTC’s definition of carbon offsets could most affect the retailer’s ultra-ambitious goal to someday run on 100 percent renewable energy — a huge amount of which would likely have to come from offsets or renewable-energy certificates.” US News and World Report’s “Fresh Greens” blog asked “Is Wal-Mart being hypocritical, or are its green efforts in good faith?” Eoin O’Carroll of the Christian Science Monitor’s “Bright Green Blog” not only expressed a reaction similar to my own (essentially head-scratching), but also took a step further than the rest of us: he gave Wal-Mart a call. Much of the response he received followed the typical MO of a corporate communications department: the company restated its broad sustainability goals, and offered some more specific ones related to greenhouse gas emissions and energy efficiency. It addressed offsets and renewable energy credits in the last paragraph:
By Philip Proefrock •
August 7, 2007
Last week I wrote an article titled "Real Renewable Energy vs. Renewable Energy Credits" where I looked at the issue of renewable energy credits (RECs) versus direct purchase of renewable energy. (For some followup to that story, a podcast of the WDET radio program ‘Detroit Today’ where the issue of the local REC program was discussed is now online. In addition to discussing the DTE Greencurrents program, the [...]
A couple of my friends have recently asked about the new renewable energy credit program that our local electricity utility, DTE Energy, is now offering. One friend asked me about it directly, and another raised the question on the state mailing list for the o2 Network. There was an interesting discussion about the topic on the 02 list, and I’ve included some of the information that other people shared on
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This post was originally published at Intent.com on Monday, December 15, 2008.
