February 2010

Recently the CEO of Sprint, Dan Hesse, presented some of his company’s green priorities to a committee in Washington. While the news isn’t as exciting as the buzz flying around about the HTC SuperSonic potentially hitting Sprint’s WiMax network, it’s good to know that the company is taking sustainability seriously by empowering its customers to easily recycle their old phones.

Sprint already had a phone buyback program in place but has expanded the number of devices it will accept. As an example I have an HTC Hero and I’m able to score a $121.87 account credit. Granted, with an HTC Hero that’s in good working condition eBay would probably provide a greater return in cash but that takes the gumption to set up a listing and ship it.

Bloom Energy has enjoyed a burst of buzz with the unveiling of its Bloom Energy Server product, which essentially puts fuel cells to work generating electricity by combining natural gas or biogas with oxygen. The company claims a 2 to 1 efficiency over traditional power companies and puts energy production on the properties business owners. That certainly doesn’t render the existing power grid obsolete, and established power companies may actually stand to gain from the Bloom Energy Server.

It’s a global trend. More people are getting mobile phones and more people are getting computers every day. That’s great because it means all of us are more connected and essentially able to communicate with the broader world, right? Sure, so what’s the problem?

Everybody’s mobile phone and computer eventually becomes garbage. Manufacturers are making efforts to reduce the amount of hazardous materials contained in electronics but that’s only half of the battle because even safer materials are reusable and we need to reclaim them to reduce our environmental footprint. Developing nations like China, India, Mexico, and Brazil all are rapidly increasing their adoption of electronic goods but don’t have an infrastructure or regulations in place to foster sound recycling processes.

Texas is making more noise about the threat of tougher emissions standards than a trampled rodeo clown.

The Lone Star state filed a petition in federal court this week, arguing the government has no right to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. The message is loud and clear: Don’t mess with big business in Texas, or you’ll have a fight on your hand.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry says the regulations will sacrifice jobs and hurt the energy industry. According to the EPA, Texas and other Region 6 states are responsible for 35 percent of greenhouse gases emitted by industrial sources. But that doesn’t mean much in Texas.

Early on in his presidency, Obama looked like the anti-Bush when it comes to green issues. He pushed tougher vehicle emissions standards through and was hitting hard on climate change legislation.

Then reality struck. The health care debate slowed green negotiations and now Obama is tripling federal loan guarantees for nuclear reactors to $54 billion, while opening the door to off-shore drilling and more coal plants.

From the looks of things, his next move will be to buy a big ranch in Texas.

As you might expect, the reaction to Obama’s change of heart has been harsh from the environmental community that thought Bush’s replacement would turn the country toward renewable energies at a much faster pace.

GM has taken a long time to bring a strong hybrid offering to market, and recently chairman Bob Lutz made it clear that the company’s decision to pursue hybrid cars is bittersweet. The 2010 Chevy Volt is a popular topic, made obvious by the amount of buzz streaming across the Internet and its already extensive waiting lists of orders.

With all of the positive publicity why then is Lutz down on hybrids? He says that GM loses money on many of its hybrids and will continue to do so in the intermediate future. Marring the future of hybrids further he also predicted that they will own a small piece of the overall car market, at 10% or less over the next 10 years!

LG has shown off some innovative technology for e-readers like solar power, but hasn’t gotten a device to market yet. According to reports, they will join the e-reader marketplace with a new device due to arrive at the same time as Apple’s iPad.

The new e-reader is set to debut in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) in April. Their CEO for MEA KW Kim didn’t exactly say that the product is an e-reader. He only said that “[the product] will compete with Apple and Amazon.” The only other thing that Amazon makes besides the Kindle seems to be money.

Tech companies have figured out that adopting green ideas is a frugal way to add to their bottom line. HP is the latest to open a data center that uses cold fresh air from the North Sea to lower energy costs.

Data centers are special areas that house computer equipment like web servers or other storage devices. Servers require power to run and give off heat during operation. Because of that, the temperature of the facility must be monitored and tweaked to ensure that the equipment functions properly.

Cooling all of that tech stuff isn’t cheap, though. HP says that an average data center in the UK will spend $15.33 million in 2011 alone for cooling costs.

They may not be the most technologically savvy pieces of equipment on a computer, and they certainly are not the most glamorous (considering most hide in the shelter of a drawer or shelf until ready to be used), but the computer mouse and keyboard play an integral part in the total energy consumption of the computer. They are the brawn outside of the brain, and they, like all the other components of a computer, require energy.

Not every make and model of the wireless computer mouse and keyboard, however, can be treated the same when it comes to energy consumption. Some are energy hoarders while others are more apathetic. And still others, like the new Logitech mouse and keyboard, are environmentally designed to conserve as much energy as possible.

The Kindle 2 continues to hold consumer attention despite Apple’s recent entry in the eBook reader space with its long anticipated iPad. Both devices have slim form factors and access to a lot of reading material but barring that, the list of features differs significantly. Regardless, the minds behind those products products are competing for the same segments and will be looking for ways to differentiate themselves. How?

Even the environment is sometimes bad for the environment.

When cold weather and huge amounts of snow hit a region – like recently on the East Coast, dubbed “Snowmageddon” by President Obama – it takes a tremendous amount of resources to adapt.

Road crews drop thousands of tons of salt to keep ice off the roads. Plowers come from hundreds of miles away to help clear high-priority urban roads. Heating systems go into overdrive to keep in-door temperatures up. Consumers rush to stores for emergency provisions.

Storm like the one that was projected for Maryland and Virginia are actually referred to as emergencies by the National Weather Service. In this case, the National Guard was even called in to help in the cause.

Gas and oil prices were through the roof in the region because of higher than normal demand, not only hurting the environment but pocket books as well.

The Federal Trade Commission warned 78 retailers – including Wal-Mart, Target and Kmart – to stop advertising rayon textile products as bamboo.

Rayon is made from plant fibers processed with harsh chemicals, which in return releases pollution into the air. Fortunately for big box stores, it looks a lot like bamboo. Unfortunately for their execs, the FTC isn’t buying it anymore. Consumers of clothes and other products deserve to know what they’re buying. That’s why calling rayon names like “Pure Bamboo,” “ecoKashmere,” and “Bamboo Comfort” are just plain wrong.

Last year, the FTC sued several companies for labeling and selling rayon as bamboo. Under its rules, the FTC can seek $16,000 per violation for a company that fails to correct false advertising.

Many scientists agree that global warming is a globally imminent catastrophe and that our current reprieve is caused by a temporary reduction in water vapor in the upper atmosphere. The best way to cut carbon emissions is to change how we generate power, and in the United States that’s still primarily done by burning coal. Obama wants to change that by investing in new nuclear power plants.

The nuclear industry is gun-shy right now about investing in new nuclear power plants because they’re afraid of getting the building half finished before funding dries up or that it would take too long to recoup huge investments with current electricity rates. How do you get around that? Obama thinks it’s with the government guaranteeing loans to the tune of $54 billion.