Grass is Not So Green: Marijuana Has a Huge Carbon Footprint

Grass is Not So Green: Marijuana Has a Huge Carbon Footprint

indoor marijuana weed cannibisThe yearly greenhouse-gas pollution of the $40 billion per year marijuana industry is responsible for about 3% of all electricity use or 8% of household use. Indoor growers use high-intensity lights that are 500 times more powerful that a standard reading lamp. They also use several other high energy industrial practices. The closest comparison for these massive, industrial-style grow facilities are data centers, which consume about two percent of the nation’s electric power.

Can We Trust Climate Models? Increasingly, The Answer is ‘Yes’

Can We Trust Climate Models? Increasingly, The Answer is ‘Yes’

Forecasting what the Earth’s climate might look like a century from now has long presented a huge challenge to climate scientists. But better understanding of the climate system, improved observations of the current climate, and rapidly improving computing power are slowly leading to more reliable methods.

Linking the U.N. Climate Conference (COP16), Supply Chain Sustainability & Logistics

Linking the U.N. Climate Conference (COP16), Supply Chain Sustainability & Logistics

cop 16 supply chainCountries need to take ownership of their entire life-cycle emissions and when such agreements are based on data that attributes emissions fairly. But companies are not waiting around for any unlikely agreement that may come out of COP 16. Many are starting to see a sustainable supply chain as a way to not only cut costs, but also create new products that are less impacting to the environment and expand in developing-world markets that are likely to be hit hard by global warming.

Software to Hold “Greenwashers” Accountable

Software to Hold “Greenwashers” Accountable

Consumers’ growing interest in environmental sustainability has prompted companies to launching major ad campaigns touting their green credential, often with misleading claims. Enterprise Carbon Accounting (ECA) software can have the infrastructure necessary to hold greenwashers accountable.

How Reducing GHG Emissions Could Affect Employment

How Reducing GHG Emissions Could Affect Employment

The disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has reopened the debate over the direction the United States’ energy future is headed. Now more than any other time in history, citizens are beginning to understand the necessity to evolve past our love affair with oil. An economy that is dependent on a non-renewable, quickly fleeting resource can only move towards instability if alternative fuels are not found. The Congressional Budget Office is beginning to analyze how energy policies and initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will affect employment in an economy that is trying to pull itself out of a recession. Democrats are pushing for a comprehensive energy bill that will enhance the production of clean energy technologies, put a price on emitting carbon, reduce greenhouse gases by a significant amount over the next 20 years, and influence entry into a range of new renewable energy industries. Senators John Kerry and Joseph Lieberman are due to present their energy bill in the Senate next week. This bill, The American Power Act will be hard-pressed for passage without strong republican backing. The loss of republican Senator Lindsay Graham as a cosponsor of this bill is devastating. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said, “the oil spill showed drilling alone would not solve U.S. energy problems and that higher summer fuel prices will heighten consumers’ views that the country must move more aggressively into alternatives.” (Cowan & Gardner, 2010) If the country decides to aggressively reduce greenhouse gas emissions, this will have many significant implications for employment in our country.

What Skills are Needed to Succeed as a Sustainability Professional?

What Skills are Needed to Succeed as a Sustainability Professional?

The Sustainability Professional: 2010 Competency Survey Report provides insights into what sustainability professionals see as important skills needed and what are their most critical challenges.

Carbon Accounting Software Market Experiencing Tremendous Growth

Carbon Accounting Software Market Experiencing Tremendous Growth

carbon accounting softwareWhile other industries are sputtering along or even tanking, as a result of the global recession, the emerging Enterprise Carbon Accounting (ECA) software market is experience a phase of phenomenal growth. The number as providers has almost doubled, venture capital money is flowing freely and Groom Energy predicts that ECA software purchases will increase 600 percent by 2011

Carbon Accounting: Beyond The Calculation and Looking To The Future

Carbon Accounting: Beyond The Calculation and Looking To The Future

In recent years there has been a ‘boom’ in the availability of online carbon emission calculation tools. It seems as though every company with the slightest interest in the area is offering assistance on both commercial and personal levels. This do-it-yourself approach offers pros and cons, opportunities and problems. Are these tools reliable? Do they do what they say they do or are they simply a way to appear green whilst actually doing very little? This article seeks to explain the issues surrounding this type of emissions calculation and answer these important questions.

Fight Climate Change: The EPA is Requesting International Grant Applications

Fight Climate Change: The EPA is Requesting International Grant Applications

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced a $5 million grant to fund US as well as international organizations for reducing global climate pollution.