Green Buzz

The company, a contract manufacturer for a number of electronics companies including Apple and HP, faces questions about its labor practices in the aftermath of suicides by workers.

While there are a number of projects underway, payments for ecosystem services (PES) in the Southeast Asia region primarily occurs on an ad hoc basis through small-scale pilot projects. NGO Forest Trends has chosen Vietnam as the location for the next Katoomba PES Conference because the information, capacity and insitutional support is historically lacking in this region.

The EPA today unveiled its new and long-awaited Energy Star certification for buildings that house data centers and stand-alone facilities, marking a big step forward for energy efficiency in high-tech environments.

As the economic meltdown of 2008 showed, we've gotten accustomed to living well beyond our means. The consequences are devestating enough when it's just economics, but if we continue living so far beyond our ecologic means, it may just be suicidal.

The country's environment watchdog has become the first government-backed body to call a halt to domestic flights when a lower-carbon option is available, as a way to reduce its greenhouse gas footprint.

When it comes to the smart design of green buildings and cities, parking is an overlooked factor that can have a huge environmental and economic impacts.

Car rental giant Enterprise Holdings unveiled a new sustainability initiative Thursday aimed at reducing energy consumption and cost by 20 percent over the next five years at the companies vast network of neighborhood car rental branches and airport facilities. The initiative, called 20/20 Vision, began as a pilot in 2009 in select markets and is now being rolled out companywide.

McDonald's has recalled 12 million drinking glasses tied into the new Shrek movie because the paint on them contains the toxic metal cadmium.
 

Researchers from Brigham Young University found that, on average, employees with telecommuting and flex-time schedules worked an additional 19 hours per week before feeling overwhelmed by the work-life balance.

KKR and EDF revealed two-year results from their Green Portfolio Program and the results are impressive: millions in savings in operational costs, and 345,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions and 1.2 millions tons of waste avoided.

Levi Strauss & Co. is looking for innovative ideas for air drying clothing in an effort to slash the amount of energy used around the country to dry clothing.
 

The Green Portflio Program from KKR and EDF has saved more than $160 million in operating costs and eliminated more than 345,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions, 1.2 million tons of waste and 8,500 tons of paper use for eight companies.

The 'partially diminished fraction' of a product is the extent to which it affects its ecosystem throughout its lifecycle. BP has just seen its PDF shoot through the roof -- or spill through the floor.

Energy efficiency investments around the world have remained strong despite the global recession, commercial building executives told Johnson Controls in the company's first international energy efficiency survey.

The food service and facilities management giant is moving its 'Better Tomorrow Plan' forward with a global effort to measure the environmental impacts and greening efforts at all of its clients' sites.

As the healthcare industry strives to reduce its environmental footprint, the makers of pharmaceuticals and medical devices are working to curb their use of energy and water and run their facilities more responsibly. Thera Kalmijn examines their efforts in Part 2 of her series on green initiatives in the healthcare industry.

By redesigning the way they use energy, hospitals can reduce consumption by 60 percent, and a newly built, code-compliant facility can save about $730,000 a year, according to new research.

Gritty realism has tempered but not daunted hopes on the green job front. Advocates concede the ramp-up of stimulus-funded initiatives, such as the weatherization program, has been slower than anticipated. But they point to the 2 million jobs that have been saved or created and investment in renewal energy projects as signs of success

Students from the U.S. and Sweden will compete in a contest from Net Impact, Staples and International Paper aimed at finding innovations recycling solutions for companies.