Tokyo, Japan, - Panasonic, the leading brand by which Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. is known, today announced its renewed commitment to climate change by adding ecological goals to its "GP3" three-year business plan that completes March 2010. The company also presented its "Panasonic Eco Ideas Declaration" identifying the three initiatives on which its environmental management activities focus.

In its pursuit of global excellence, Panasonic launched the GP3 plan in April 2007, setting goals and milestones such as achieving steady growth with profitability. The company has now added a new challenge in the ecological field to the GP3 plan - reduction of environmental burden in all areas of its business activities. Panasonic will strive to fulfill this ecological responsibility while realizing profitable growth.

Cambridge, UK - Environmentally friendly solar panels may be an affordable alternative to conventional power sources within the next ten years, as a result of a new initiative launched this week.

The project, funded by the Carbon Trust, will be led by the University of Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory in collaboration with The Technology Partnership.

Currently solar panels are made from silicon, which makes them expensive to manufacture and therefore cost prohibitive for many. However, new technology being researched at Cambridge uses plastic to create solar cells, a much more cost effective and energy efficient method.

Imagine wandering the supermarket aisles and choosing your breakfast cereal based upon how much carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gas was emitted to make and distribute a box of, say, corn flakes.

There’d be emissions for planting the corn, tending the fields, harvesting the grain, processing the cereal (which includes growing, harvesting, processing, and transporting the other ingredients in corn flakes: sugar, vitamins, minerals, etc.), making the cereal boxes and liners, packaging the cereal, transporting the finished product, and, possibly, the emissions associated with your trip to the market.

If it were a really good system, the emissions attributable to a box of corn flakes might include emissions related building the trucks that haul the cereal (everything from the tires to the asphalt roads), the clothing on the farmer’s back, the tanker that carried the oil for the plastic box-liner, the irrigation system that watered the field, and a host of other things. It may even account for the emissions related to a resource economist sitting down to add up all these factors (his paper, pen, lighting, computer, clothing, desk, chair, etc.).

Clearly, this could get way out of hand very quickly. And, undoubtedly, the emissions would probably only be a rough estimate. 

The system, which is administered by the United Nations, has inspired companies around the world to invest in environmentally friendly projects in the developing world in exchange for carbon credits. Businesses in the developed world looking to meet pollution reduction targets buy those credits, and the intermediaries, like EcoSecurities, help implement pollution-control technologies and renewable energy projects in the developing world where they are cheaper.

Pemex's 21 CDM projects in its production and exploration, gas, refining and petrochemical divisions could reduce Mexico's carbon dioxide emissions by 2.6 million metric tons. As many as 12 projects are expected to begin operation in 2008 but the rest require funds that have not been approved as part Pemex's budget, according to the company.

There are now more than 600 CDM projects around the world, and about 40% are in Latin America. :: Via Reforma (Spanish link and subscription required)

Source: Eliza Barclay, treehugger.com

After years of playing second fiddle to mainstream power sources, Europe's renewable energy sector is now going from strength to strength. Lucrative government subsidies, an EU-wide goal to reduce CO2 emissions 20% by 2020, and growing public support for the fight against climate change have turned this new industry into a force to be reckoned with.

Wind power is leading the push into renewables, helping to place Europe ahead of other regions (BusinessWeek, 8/3/07) in the race to capitalize on the green power revolution. According to Barcelona-based consultancy Emerging Energy Research (EER), the European wind turbine market—including construction—will surge by two-thirds between 2006 and 2015 to an annual total of $15 billion.

SEATTLE - Think of it as online dating for the traffic-impaired. With a new twist on car-sharing, for-profit companies are paying people to share the fast lane.

Founded by 24-year-old former Microsoft engineer Nick Shiftan, Goose Networks sends text messages to drivers in the Seattle area that share the same route to work. Then, the company rewards those who choose to carpool — with cash.

After proving the system encouraged one out of 20 Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) employees to carpool, Goose Networks earned a two-year, $111,090 contract with the Washington State Department of Transportation aimed at eliminating 322 single occupancy vehicles from state freeways daily. “When most states are spending money on asphalt and building new bridges, Washington state is spending money on text messaging and social networks,” Shiftan says. “It’s pretty innovative on their part.”