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The upcoming Energy Bill from the U.K. government will embody the “certainty and confidence” businesses need to invest in the nation’s power infrastructure, said newly-appointed energy minister John Hayes. The long-awaited legislation, which will be published in weeks, is expected to offer stable prices for low-carbon electricity through feed-in tariffs with contracts for difference. The aim is to provide investor clarity for clean [...]
Sneakers made of suede, rather than comparable synthetics, cost more to the environment but less to shoe brands, said Jochen Zeitz, chairman of Puma SE, Europe’s second-largest sporting-goods maker. The greenhouse gas emissions associated with raising and slaughtering cattle for the production of leather increase greatly its environmental impact. Zeitz said sustainable leather-like materials are currently not available in large enough volumes to [...]
Many hotel guests prefer their accommodation to have environmentally-friendly practices, though few vacationers are willing to “dramatically change their behavior” in the name of sustainability, said Paul Brown, president of brands and commercial services for Hilton Worldwide Inc. Brown said Hilton is maintaining its luxury brand while curbing energy use, investing in renewable power and [...]
Naoko Ishii, the newly appointed chief executive and chair of the Global Environment Facility, likes to cite the 1:10 rule when asked about the impact of the grants that GEF provides. “$1 billion from us leads to $10 billion impact, as co-financiers step in,” she said in an interview from her office in Washington, a city she moved to after resigning as the [...]
Energy is “the big kahuna,” for McDonald’s Corp., the world’s biggest restaurant chain, said its sustainability vice president, Bob Langert. With the fast-food restaurant’s global annual energy bill estimated at $2 billion, it’s looking at all sorts of ways to trim that check. In the U.S. for example, McDonald’s is putting up LED lighting in its stores that could save approximately $2 million operationally, [...]
It aims to add 160 gigawatts of total renewable capacity in that time. From 2012, 34 gigawatts a year is required. Wind and solar will likely overshoot the target for 2015. Click here to view graph.
Germany’s Siemens AG, best known for its engineering and industrial products, also has a financial services arm that accepted 6.3 billion euros ($8.8 billion) of new business in 2011. At a time when European economies and their banks are struggling to escape from recession, developers of wind farms and solar parks are asking manufacturers like Siemens and General Electric Co. to become anchor [...]
Asian countries still have some way to go in overcoming barriers to the development of renewable energy, said Asian Development Bank’s Pil-Bae Song, chair of the Manila-based lender’s energy committee. High initial costs, technological risks and inadequate regulatory and policy frameworks are hurdles to growth in the region, Song told Clean Energy & Carbon Brief. [...]
