ENVIRONMENT

Greenest Nation

A laggard no longer, America could soon out-innovate Europe and Japan.

By Stefan Theil | NEWSWEEK
Published Feb 21, 2009
From the magazine issue dated Mar 2, 2009

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  • Posted By: lbeaudry @ 03/19/2009 12:33:51 PM

    The notion of sustainability and "Green" today is expanding, and I think must go far beyond reducing the impact of operations, remaking brands, educating stakeholders, and developing new environmental technologies and strategies. I believe the concept of greening/sustainability must now also encompass what a company does in the community to better the environment.

    The greenest companies, the most socially responsible companies, are those that combine operational and community greening. Environmental advocacy, charitable contributions, volunteerism, green nonprofit board service???these are important (yet often overlooked) elements of a comprehensive approach to corporate environmental responsibility and sustainability.

    I like the viewpoint espoused within a new research study ??? The Green Effect. Published by LBG Associates, the report presents a redefined view of corporate environmental responsibility/sustainability that mandates the inclusion of community involvement. It really opened my eyes to the full scope of a company???s impact in the green arena???and it includes a great tool that allows companies to rate their environmental performance in both operations and in community affairs. This type of approach dovetails perfectly with the triple bottom line impact (people, planet, profit) most companies are aiming for.

    FYI - An executive summary of The Green Effect report is at http://www.lbg-associates.com/15.html.

  • Posted By: rgentle @ 02/26/2009 7:02:38 PM

    Green is good but, The cost is the first hump in road. Europe & Asia say they are green but they are not! I am a Veteran of Army & never seen much Green Power overseas. I have a web site to get Green in USA & speacial section to buy Green Products. http://GentleEnterprize.biz

  • Posted By: louisMMVII @ 02/26/2009 4:01:27 PM

    You are totally wrong about the diesel tax in Europe. When that tax was lower along with the cost per liter everyone went diesel, and, since Europe survives on fuel tax raised the tax on diesel. None the less, America is going to fulfill the whinny European grope on environmental issues, thus inspiring them to search out other probs wit 'merica. A beautiful thing. Although I have to admit , the fact that Europe has this kind of influence on my US creates an everlasting bond! The Old Country is the elder here. Just avoid the progressive religious views, they are not advanced in that department, Regressive. Due to the Yeshua speculation of the first millennium, understandable. So, channeling Yankee spirit into being nice to our planet is a wonderful thing, G-d just may even give her another chance. Don't screw it up. As for China, let's hope we can depend on them to get that grass growing on the moon, soon (Wow, that even sounds Chinese, Moon Soon). Hey, you can't get any greener than that. Oh yeah, Russia's worthiness in support for a better, greener and peacefuller tomorrow is not far off!!

  • Posted By: DieselAddict @ 02/24/2009 4:33:15 PM

    It's misleading to simply say that Europeans haven't embraced hybrids as much as Americans have. They already drive very fuel-efficient vehicles thanks to diesel technology that until recently Americans have largely rejected. That's starting to change and even in the US diesel vehicle sales are projected to surpass those of hybrids in the next few years.

    • Posted By: ckm5 @ 02/26/2009 1:39:14 AM

      And the cost is huge, ugly emissions. So much so that most diesels can't be sold in California. Besides, the reason why diesels are popular in Europe is because the tax on diesel fuel is much, much lower than on gas. It cost about 1/2 as much to fill up a diesel vs a gas car. Perversely, this means that Europeans have been encouraging vehicles with atrocious emissions......

  • Posted By: Dr_SFZed @ 02/26/2009 1:35:05 AM

    It is easy to make a case that the greenest manufacturing country in the world is ... China:

    1) #1 in Hydropower
    2) #1 in use of solar thermal, and in production of solar thermal
    3) #1 in production of solar PV, though they haven't started to use their own PV much ... yet
    4) #1 for production of e-vehicles - yes, we forget that the Chinese government raised the taxes on gas motor-cycles starting in 2001, while keeping electiro-power cycle taxes at zero, so now China produces and consumes about 25M electric motorcycles each year, and growing; they are producing hybrid plug-in sedans NOW, not in 2010, as well as fully e-vehicles
    5) #3 in production of wind turbines, but will soon be #1
    6) #1 for planting trees
    7) #1 in use of CNG for buses and taxis - yes, CHina has virtually no non-CNG public vehicles in major cities
    8) #1 in high-speed rail
    9) #1 in having the first solar + wind + hydro powered fully green Olympics (yep, that Bird's Nest had solar, baby!)
    10) #1 for new coal plants - oops, I guess they still have a ways to go...

    China is doing a lot more than most people know. After all, they are probably the industrialized country that is already being most hurt by global warming. They recognized this in the mid-1990s and have instituted one innovation after another to control pollution and reduce carbon usage. The coal is a big problem for them - but watch what happens when their PV gets to < $2/W (installed) which should be about 2012. And check out their stimulus package - there's $88 B (at China's labor costs, that's about $400B US effective) just for high speed rail, and more for clean energy...

  • Posted By: bkghd @ 02/26/2009 12:54:14 AM

    ". . . the world is crmbling beneath your feet" - - - Barak Obama , First Inaugrural Address

  • Posted By: bkghd @ 02/26/2009 12:48:16 AM

    ". . . the world is crumbling beneath yourfeet." - - - Barak Obama, Inaugural Address

  • Posted By: bkghd @ 02/26/2009 12:46:01 AM

    "Theworld is crumbling beneath yuur feet" - - - Barak Obama, Inaugural Address.

  • Posted By: valhalla phil @ 02/24/2009 5:21:40 PM

    The very fact that the states have gone ahead without the federal government just proves that the feds DON'T need to be involved. As the article pointed out, by allowing the states to take the lead instead of being dictated to, much more innovation is possible and solutions can be optimized much faster.
    I do like the California neutral energy for all new housing idea and hope all states move to this model.

  • Posted By: Oopshooray @ 02/24/2009 10:38:48 AM

    Surely it seems like a very patriotically optimisitc. But I do hope those actions will be achieved. As long as America once again comes back on track of being environmental-friendly, people benefit from her competing with Europe about this environment, energy market as well as stimulating more technology innovation.

  • Posted By: milehighmike @ 02/23/2009 7:05:35 PM

    I know, I know shameless plug in 3,2,1, ....to dramatically cut your utility bill, check out www.easyrealgreenenergy.com

  • Posted By: coraltown @ 02/23/2009 5:28:12 PM

    The only thing that really mattters is whether the US is doing as much as it should/could in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and the obvious answer to that is no... not even remotely close.

    • Posted By: McLovinB @ 02/23/2009 6:50:59 PM

      Although I think that other things matter, I think you are dead on.
      Improving recycling, higher gas taxes, renewable energy, better gas mileage of vehicles, planting trees, even gardening...
      all of those things would go a long way to reducing CO2 emissions.
      If we need only one mantra, it should be REDUCE CO2.

  • Posted By: Blitzen @ 02/23/2009 3:29:11 PM

    Your artical just seems to be more of the same old 'party line' dogma. Bush/allRepublicans are horribly naive and/or uncaring. Wealthy people (there are no wealthy Democrats) are the source of evil and the others are wonderful, all-knowing, all-caring, wise beyond description benefactors of humanity. Have you ever read the cost of Kyoto or wondered why companies can buy credits to continue polluting...if of course the real purpose is to clean up? Have you ever taken a look at what leading 'environmentalists' including your present savior, Al Gore, have to gain financially from this piece of fluff? Do you not even wonder why certain countries do not have to comply at all? Aren't you at all uneasy that if we add another layer of costs to industry we may just up in on ourselves?

    • Posted By: McLovinB @ 02/23/2009 6:48:19 PM

      By the way, no country is forced to comply with the Kyoto Accord. Signatories can opt out at any time, even if they fail, and avoid any penalties whatsoever.
      The point really is not that America did not achieve any environmental goal of the Kyoto Accord.

      The point is that America did not even try. There is your "environmental leadership" in a nutshell.

    • Posted By: McLovinB @ 02/23/2009 6:44:53 PM

      Yeah. The people who thought up the Kyoto Accord are a lot stupider than people like Blitzen. Why can't people see that?
      Companies for which it is very expensive to reduce CO2 emissions can effectively PAY other companies, which can reduce emissions cheaply, to reduce their emissions. Get it? That guarantees the most efficient allocation of burdens throughout society to meet CO2 emission reduction goals.
      Lets put it into terms you can understand. You are in an aerobics class... wait... work with me on this... and the aerobics class has 50 professional dancers. And you like potato chips and Pabst Blue Ribbon. Well, collectively, you have to lose 50 pounds. It makes sense to you to pay each dancer 50 dollars to lose a pound each. Then you get to have your beer and chips and watch the Simpsons and let them do the work. They can lose the weight faster than you can say celery and raisins, and you get to be fat. And they make a buck. Being professional dancers, they can tuck that away somewhere.
      Get it?
      Regarding other points. Yep. You sure have it right. The Kyoto Accord was such a bad idea for the economy that all of Japan's auto companies were ruined and their economy is in a shambles. America on the other hand... ooops... wait a minute....

  • Posted By: Robb_Henshaw @ 02/21/2009 12:51:13 PM

    Excellent article, Stefan. Very thorough. A few of the things that jumped out at me were the comments about green initiatives possibly costing jobs (as opposed to creating them) as well as the discussion of the stimulus bill and the opportunities/challenges therein. First of all, when it comes to jobs, I think the clean tech and renewable energy markets have a solid track record of creating jobs over the past several years, and especially with the stimulus money being dedicated to more aggressive energy initiatives, I think that trend will continue. For example, San Jose's Mayor Reed recently cited cleantech companies as one of the keys to the Silicon Valley's economic recovery, noting the fact that cleantech/greentech and renewable energy companies have created more jobs than any other market.

    Regarding the opportunities and challenges presented by the stimulus bill, I think It's great to see such a commitment to renewable energy and energy efficiency in this stimulus package. It's also interesting to see how many of the areas receiving funding open up huge opportunities for the energy monitoring market. The grants for smart grid, HUD, Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block, State Energy Programs, transmission systems upgrades, GSA, and many more -- all of these initiatives will require open energy monitoring platforms that can ensure maximum efficiency and performance across all renewable energy systems. Technologies from companies like Fat Spaniel Technologies -- www.fatspaniel.com -- that provide open platforms that can monitor all renewable energy systems using one central console will likely become a key/required component for ensuring that the systems paid for by the stimulus grants are operating as optimally as possible, while also providing max energy efficiency.

    These technologies are essential for ensuring the cost-effectiveness of the systems deployed, and providing oversight and accountability. Especially in this economy, it's not enough to just deploy "green" technology and use renewable energy -- you need to oversee those systems and get the most of them. We must combine eco responsibility with fiscal responsibility.

    Fat Spaniel was the first open energy monitoring platform on the market, and already monitors over 2,000 energy systems in 15 countries. Our platform enables the integration of many different vendors??? hardware devices ??? such as inverters, solar modules, wind turbines, environmental sensors, combiner boxes ??? into the intelligent energy management infrastructure. So, regardless of the hardware components organizations choose to use for their renewable energy initiatives, they can rest assured that they'll have one single platform to manage everything, giving them a holistic view of their systems to ensure that everything is operating optimally. If you'd like to learn more or have any questions, please visit us at www.fatspaniel.com. We'd be happy to answer any questions you have.

    • Posted By: McLovinB @ 02/23/2009 6:34:56 PM

      Excellent, thorough PLUG Robb.
      Good to see you have all of your gratuitous pandering to the author, in addition to buzzwords and slogans supporting your agenda.
      It is also interesting to see that you mention your web site along with your hinting at how grants will go a long way towards moving along the development of your "technologies" which remain cleverly vague.
      ECO RESPONSIBILITY FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY. Great slogan. That is a keeper.

      Now do tell, with 2000 energy systems in 15 countries, why is it that you need to spam Newsweek rather than using advertising budgets or lobbyists as other "technology management" firms do?
      Remember everyone, that is www.fatSPAMiel.com Run along there doggie.

  • Posted By: tma-sierrahills @ 02/21/2009 9:20:27 PM


    Re: Green Americans/Dirty Political Elites

    Average Americans are no doubt some of the most environmentally conscious people on earth. We came from pioneers who had a great appreciation for the wilderness and it has shaped our character for the better. Tragically, American political, corporate, media and other elites are in the process of making sure we will be the dirtiest nation on earth, by pursuing deranged pro-overpopulation policies. When it comes to our immigration-overpopulation policies, we are the ultimate slash-and-burn nation.
    - - -
    Border Enforcement + Immigration Moratorium = Job & Eco Sanity

    • Posted By: McLovinB @ 02/23/2009 6:26:21 PM

      You lost me at NO DOUBT.
      Cattle ranchers, sheep ranchers, mining, logging, trapping.
      Have you seen even one episode of Deadwood? Even panning and sluicing denuded forests and silted rivers.
      And it just got worse after that. The Hudson River, the Cuyahoga freaking caught on fire!! Upton Sinclair... The Jungle..
      No. The article mentions that Americans pioneered conservation, but they simultaneously squandered, outright wasted, and otherwise despoiled 10 times (ballpark only) those resources. It is hard to tell if recent history is better. If it is, it is because of government regulation.
      Most countries had similar problems during development.
      Where is America now? Few municipalities (percentage) recycle. In Japan, all do. In some places, refuse is sorted into 12 categories before pick up. Metals, different sorts of plastics, paper, biomass, etc. All packaging components are labelled for contents. All electrical devices are recycled. All hazardous materials such as batteries, are disposed of properly. Shops for second hand items are ubiquitous. Gas taxes are high.

      The article is preaching to the choir. American people would like to think that what they are doing is substantial or sufficient, but it is not institutionalized at all. It is fashion. The flavor of the day is unemployment now, so Americans will put off or delegate greenness to someone else. Earth Day? Bah. Humbug. In some countries, every day is earth day.

      I think Newsweek had a recent article on how inexpensive used SUVs are these days... hmmm.... where was that article... that is the real news American people want to read.

    • Posted By: TheFourthHorseman @ 02/22/2009 7:19:03 PM

      Over population can become an issue in America, IF we don't change the way we do things from coast to coast. Take Germany for instance: It's the most populist nation in the EU hosting roughly 80 million people (these stats are fairly old), which doesn't sound like much until you consider the size of the country (merely twice the size of WI). Though, they still have the Black Forest, and the Bavarian countryside intact since they learned to build up, and to utilize public transit and cleaner energy sources. Though, if people continue with teh building out and driving everywhere (espeically those four car families) then over population will only add to this.....

      Though, it seems most states are working on mending this, after all self indulgent behavior and driving SUVs are really iout of step with teh times, wouldn't you agree?

    • Posted By: Cazador72 @ 02/22/2009 6:01:16 PM


      Do explain your theory of overpopulation. As you well know, The largest block of people in the US are people turning or over 60, a population that will retire within the next 10 years and will require their chunk of SS that they paid into as well as medical benefits. How well do you think a nation will fare when MOST of its inhabitants are over retiring age? How do you suggest we make this plan sustainable?

      I get a lot of heat from my own -Hispanic- community when I make the legit and rational point that EVERY country in the world has a right, indeed duty, to defend its borders. The US is no exception, Mexico guards its Southern border very well, so does my native Dominican Republic and EVERY other state in Latin America and indeed the world. Yet blaming illegal immigration within the context of this article is ridiculously nonsensical. By the way, Americans only became environmentally conscious under FDR before that we were as most industrialized nations are, irresponsible.

      To learn more (or something) about the environment, population statistics and why you'd pay three times as much for most of your groceries if Jose went back to Mexico, visit your local library.

    • Posted By: Vigilance @ 02/22/2009 8:54:52 AM

      I think what you really mean to say is "I hate Latinos".

      Racism works better when you're up-front about it.

  • Posted By: christopherkidwell1 @ 02/22/2009 7:43:28 PM

    Over population is never going to be an issue in a country where only 15% of the land in the country is being lived on at any time. People keep on saying "Overpopulation is our greatest threat!' The truth is that the world is NOT overpopulated in the slightest, and won't be until we get about 600 billion people on this planet.

    • Posted By: wildyaker @ 02/23/2009 3:54:46 PM

      Agree! Over population is just like Global Warming... Global Cooling... Global Warming... Global... hmmm.. Climate Change! LOL! The problem that we are going to have in this nation and in most of Europe is not over population, but under population. Europe's population is contracting at an alarming rate. The U.S. is getting ready to go through the same process.

      • Posted By: McLovinB @ 02/23/2009 6:06:28 PM

        Let me suggest a solution. Have 14 kids. No need to get married even.

    • Posted By: coraltown @ 02/23/2009 5:30:11 PM

      You have got to be kidding. :)

    • Posted By: TheLunatic @ 02/23/2009 2:40:41 PM

      Over population IS the biggest issue on the entire planet. Even with our current global population, we are consuming more resources, killing more species, polluting the rivers and oceans with pesticides and fertilziers, and devouring the rain forest at a gut-wrenching rate. If we double the world's population, 80% of the people will live in worse poverty than anyone does today because we will not be able to feed everyone.

  • Posted By: urbnsurfr @ 02/23/2009 5:23:51 PM

    Lunatic and dbaDefense, where do you get your facts? Assuming the top 2% has 33% of the money (I presume you meant wealth, and not income), so what? I just read an article in Newsweek that says in California it's the rich elite snobs who WANT to pass environmental regulations no matter how much it might hurt the working class there.

    I think you have both made up statistics. Even worse, the statistics are irrelevant. 74% of the time, making up statistics is a bad idea and not helpful to the debate!

  • Posted By: California Made @ 02/23/2009 5:22:14 PM

    Hello, I live next to the altamont wind farm since its inception. It has gone through periods where US wind power has been on the brink of bankruptcy. I have seen windmills broken down by the hundreds. They sat literally rusting in their place. And I believe US windpower bought the company and its install base from a company that did go bankrupt. US windpower has been struggling with Environmetalists of all things. You see .. . the windmills kill birds. . .and some of those birds are rare. The enviromentalists use the legal option of suing us windpower to stop new construction. No matter what people do there is always someone with money and access to a lawyer that trys to stop you.

    I applaud Bush for not signing the Kyoto accord. Not untill China and India are forced to abide by the same rules we are.

    In fact. . I want all cars around the world to have catalytic converters and the same emission standards of California. Untill those two things are done, there is no use in siging the Kyoto accord. And does anybody realize the pollutants realeased in the manufature of Batteries and solar cells. Lithium and Silane as raw materials have their own problems. CIGS solar cells are even worse. Lets not forget about Phosphine and Diborane dopants for the PIN junction. There is no free lunch. . . There is only a way to employ americans which is the number one concern in my book. I say drill for oil. . go nuclear. . more wind farms. . more solar cells. . more hydro power. . . . anything to reduce foreign depedance

    As Far as Overpopulation topics on this thread. . . Worry about the food supply .. . not the people. . . .three years of drought and a case of mad cow or bird flu would wreak havoc on the food chain. . .

    Environmetalists and lawyers are their own worst enemies when it comes to saving the world. . . .RL

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