August 13, 2008
The New Green SupplyLine
By Bruce Rayner

August 2008 marks the relaunch of Green SupplyLine. The site debuted in 2005 mainly to provide news and information about RoHS and WEEE, the two EU environmental directives that were making life miserable for many in the industry.

Now that the pain is fading, we turn our attention to the opportunities in the high-growth cleantech and green engineering markets. Solar, wind, wave, hydrogen, geothermal, and other renewable energy technologies have been around for decades, but the pace of developments has never been faster and the investment activity never stronger. The impact cleantech will have on societies, will be transformative. Green SupplyLine mission is to provide you with daily news and analysis on the technology and business of renewable energy, and the people, companies and investors that are driving the developments. Electronics is a major driver, both as a model for the structure of the cleantech industry - the complex university, venture capital, start-up and corporate relationships - and as the source for innovation - nanotechnology, materials, component and system design.

But there's more. We'll be looking at how established companies are changing their wasteful habits in product design by designing for recyclability and reuse. And we'll document how manufacturing, distribution, transport and logistics operations are redesigning processes to save fuel, time and money - all with positive consequences for the environment. It's a new day - economic and environmental factors are converging.

The site editor for the new Green SupplyLine is Gina Roos, a long-time reporter, writer and editor covering electronics as well as the site editor of the Green SupplyLine in its previous incarnation. In addition, Green SupplyLine will be tapping the talent pool of editors at EETimes for global coverage of cleantech. And of course, we'll be counting on contributions from our readers.

Cleantech is being heralded as the industry that will determine the course of the 21st century. I agree. Green SupplyLine will be chronicling the developments day in and day out.

Bruce Rayner Editorial Director bruce@afitplanet.com 508.429.0976
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May 10, 2007
EU beats the U.S. in environmental policies
By Gina Roos

When it comes to environmental policies, there is no doubt that the European Union is light years ahead of the United States. But of course, EU member states don't have to deal with an administration that only now grudgingly acknowledges the possibility of global warming or the need to embrace recycling or other environmental laws at the federal level. My personal opinion aside, the EU's recently released annual environment policy review speaks for itself.

The purpose of the EU's annual Environment Policy Review (EPR) is to not only highlight the key developments in environment policy at EU and Member States level over the last year, but also to serve as a way to monitor its progress in key environmental goals. It includes recent findings, environmental trends and key issues for 2007.

In 2006, the EU made strides in dealing with climate change via the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. It also renewed its EU Sustainable Development Strategy, and in December 2006 adopted the new REACH chemicals regulation, which will require the registration of about 30,000 chemical substances. The EU expects that the most dangerous chemicals will be progressively phased out and replaced by safer substances.

In addition, under the EU's European Energy Strategy there is a proposal to reduce energy by 20% by 2020, and in early 2007 the commission proposed an integrated energy and climate change package for a new Energy Policy in Europe whereby member states agree to a 30% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.

The review also notes that at the end of 2006, there were 420 infringement cases on environment legislation, and the Commission is working to improve the handling of these cases.

Looking ahead, the Commission will continue to look at ways to promote energy efficiency, eco-design, eco-innovation and clean technologies as well as to improve its implementation of environmental legislation. For more details about the EU's Environment Policy Review visit http://ec.europa.eu/environment/policyreview.htm.
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May 09, 2007
Greenhouse gas emission tracking gains traction
By Gina Roos

The Environmental News Service reported today that thirty-one states have announced that they are charter members of The Climate Registry to take responsibility for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. This was primarily driven by the lack of leadership at the federal level to deal with global warming. ENS says this marks the largest national effort to take action on climate change.

ENS explains that the climate registry is a tool to measure, track, verify and publicly report greenhouse gas emissions across borders and industry sectors. Currently, it's not mandatory to report greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.

Founding member states and tribes includes the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming and the Campo Kumeyaay Nation. In addition, two Canadian provinces, British Columbia and Manitoba, have committed to participate in the Climate Registry. Click the link for the complete ENS story.

ENS also reports that a group of large corporations calling on the federal government to enact mandatory national legislation to cap and trade greenhouse gas emissions doubled its membership to 22 corporate partners. Major greenhouse gas emitters such as automotive, oil and chemical companies are among the new members of the U.S. Climate Change Partnership, said ENS.

These companies are pledging to support national legislation to reduce America's emission of greenhouse gases by 60 to 80 percent by 2050. Click the link for the complete ENS story.
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April 23, 2007
Keeping count of e-waste reductions
By Gina Roos

In light of Earth Day, several companies have released data on how much obsolete equipment they've kept out of landfills through their recycling programs. Whether these numbers are useful or not, it does show that technology companies are making major efforts to clean-up the environment.

Here is a sampling from different industry sectors.

On the OEM side, IBM announced it processed over 100 million pounds of used and obsolete computer equipment, as part of its computer renewal and recycling efforts worldwide in 2006, returning less than 1% of non-hazardous material to landfills. Each week IBM Global Asset Recovery Services takes in more than 40,000 pieces of IT gear from clients worldwide. (See related article: IBM recycled more than 100 million pounds of computer equipment)

In the recycling world, Redemtech (Columbus, Ohio) says it has helped companies responsibly dispose of nearly 15 million pounds of obsolete U.S. electronic equipment in 2006. The company also diverted an additional 11 million pounds of equipment from the waste stream through remarketing.

Redemtech's U.S. operations recycled more than 50,000 desktops, 175,000 monitors, 75,000 printers and 6,000 servers, and remarketed nearly 120,000 desktops, 72,000 monitors, 23,000 printers, 61,000 laptops and 16,000 servers.

Redemtech is in compliance with best practices defined by the Basel Action Network (BAN) and Silicon Valley Toxic Coalition. The company is also a signatory of The Electronics Recycler's Pledge of True Stewardship, which imposes the world's most rigorous criteria for e-waste recycling, and its environmental management program is ISO 14001 certified.

Similarly, the Saskatchewan Waste Electronics Equipment Program (SWEEP) announced that it diverted more than 500,000 pounds (or 250 tons) of waste computers, printers and televisions from landfills in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.

By the end of the year, SWEEP expects more than 2.2 million pounds of electronic waste will have been diverted and responsibly recycled. Electronic equipment contains recoverable materials including precious metals, plastics and glass, said SWEEP. The program is funded through environmental handling fees paid by consumers on the purchase of new electronic equipment.

Do e-waste/energy saving figures help encourage your companies to implement recycling and energy-saving initiatives? Let me know in the Green Supplyline forum.
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