A U.S. biotechnology company is planning to build the nation’s first commercial-scale cellulosic biofuels plant in Mississippi, where it will be able to use wood chips and other plant matter as an alternative to corn in the production of ethanol.
Virdia, a California-based company formerly known as
Ten global energy and climate “megaforces” are doubling the costs of environmental impacts on businesses every 14 years, currently equal 40 percent of average profits, and could significantly affect corporate growth by 2030, says KPMG International.
This rapid acceleration of external environmental
The Chinese government has issued a statement admitting that the controversial Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest hydropower plant and a centerpiece engineering project for the nation, has numerous problems that are “urgently in need of resolution.”
In the statement, the state council acknowledged that the 600-foot-tall dam, completed in 2006 on the Yangtze River to provide a new source of renewable energy, has produced troubling ecological, human, and geological impacts downriver.
The 1.5-mile barrier produces the electricity equivalent of about 500 Chinese coal-fired power plants, but that energy production has come at enormous human and environmental costs. In addition to the relocation of 1.4 million people and the flooding of more than 1,000 towns and villages, the project has triggered pollution-fueled algae blooms in the reservoir area, landslides, and erosion of slopes.
“Problems emerged at various stages of project planning and construction but could not be solved immediately, and some arose because of increased demands brought on by economic and social development,” the statement says. The government offered no specific plans to address the problems.
Article appearing courtesy Yale Environment 360.
Electric vehicles are often touted as much better for the environment than cars with internal combustion engines. But just what are the environmental costs associated with electric vehicles?
It Starts with Production
For starters, electric cars are still made with materials
In a historic move spelling hope for the triumph of sustainable business over dirty and outdated means of energy production, last week the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) vetoed one of the most destructive mining projects proposed in the United States. Invoking the agency’s authority under the Clean Water Act, the EPA formally overturned an earlier decision
(Reuters) – A top Pennsylvania Republican rejected a Democratic-sponsored plan for taxing natural gas production on Wednesday, vowing to stop a bill that he said would drive energy companies out of the state.
The opposition will force Governor Ed Rendell, a Democrat, to seek a compromise between Democratic and Republic plans.