Sustainable Development

Google to Invest $200M in Council Bluffs, Iowa Data Center

Google is going big in Iowa, with the second major investment announced this week in the form of another $200 million investment in their Council Bluffs, IA data center. A couple of days ago, the search giant announced a $75 million investment in a wind farm in Greene County, IA.

Google data center in Council Bluffs, Iowa

Google data center in Council Bluffs, Iowa (Photo – google.com)

With these two new investments and the $900 million worth of existing data center investments in Council Bluffs, Google’s total investment in Iowa now stands at $1.1 billion.

This $1.1 billion includes the $300 million already invested into the Council Bluffs data center whose size will be almost doubled with the new $200 million investment. Another $600 million has been invested by Google into a second data center in Council Bluffs, IA.

No state incentives were offered to Google, although Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad was present at the Google news conference, along with Google data center manager Chris Russell and Iowa Economic Authority Development (IEAD) director Debi Durham.

“Google’s decision to continue its investment in Iowa is a tribute to the company, and to Iowa,” said Gov. Branstad. “We have worked hard to make Iowa an attractive and safe place to do business, and this is another example of that work bringing great results.”

Google’s past investment in Council Bluffs has created 130 high-tech, high-paying direct jobs. Russell said new jobs would be created in the tech and construction sectors, although he did not specify the number of jobs that would be created. He did say that they had looked at other locations for the $200 million data center investment before selecting Council Bluffs, IA.

“The number of people put back to work to rebuild $600 million is unbelievable, from those pushing dirt to laying concrete, electricians, plumbers, all those jobs that had been lost for a number of years,” said Council Bluffs Mayor Tom Hanafan.

The $75 million Google invested into the wind farm in Iowa is hardly a random foray into green energy. The timing of the two near simultaneous announcements says that Google is looking to offset the carbon footprint of their massive data centers. The Rippey Wind Farm will produce enough renewable energy to light up 15,000 Iowa homes.

Apart from the $1.1 billion investment and the resultant jobs created by Google in Council Bluffs and Iowa, Google has also awarded more than $608,000 to local schools and nonprofits. Last year, they partnered with the City of Council Bluffs to launch a free Wi-Fi network for people in Council Bluffs.

USDA to School Cafeterias – Buy Local

The U.S. Depart of Agriculture (USDA) announced the first-ever “Farm to School grants” totaling $4.5 million for 68 projects, spanning 37 states and the District of Columbia. These grants are meant to help connect school cafeterias with local agricultural producers.

USDA Farm to School Grants

USDA Farm to School Grants (Photo – agriculture.sc.gov)

The grants will serve more than 3,200 schools and 1.75 million students, nearly half of whom live in rural communities.

“When schools buy food from nearby producers, their purchasing power helps create local jobs and economic benefits, particularly in rural agricultural communities,” said Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan. “Evidence also suggests that when kids understand more about where food comes from and how it is produced, they are more likely to make healthy eating choices.”

Some award recipients, such as the Lawrence County District in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, are using grant funds to coordinate efforts with other school districts to aggregate buying power and attract new producers to the school food service market.

Weld County School District 6 in Greeley, Colorado, will expand kitchen facilities to serve local products year-round through processing and freezing techniques.

Des Moines Municipal Schools in New Mexico will receive grant funding to increase the types of products it buys from local vendors. They already buy 100 percent locally produced beef. The USDA grant funds will be used to develop relationships with local fruit and vegetable producers to serve a full meal using locally sourced products.

Twenty-five of the programs being supported will create jobs by hiring new farm to school coordinators, while 43 projects are supporting and maintaining existing staff.

As per data provided by the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC), the USDA received a total of 365 applications, of which 230 were for implementation grants and 135 for planning grants. The grants announced (32 planning and 36 implementation grants) will be funding only about 18.6 percent of the applications.

The largest numbers of applicants were schools (208) and nonprofits (106). State agencies (25) submitted far fewer applications, with even less interest from agricultural producers (12), local agencies (11), and Indian tribal organizations (3).

California received the most (six awards), followed by seven states with three awards each.

Farm to School grants are administered by USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service. You can see the full list of awards for fiscal year 2013 on the usda.gov website.

IBM Names 2013 Smarter Cities Challenge Grant Winners

IBM (NYSE: IBM) named 31 cities around the world as recipients of the IBM Smarter Cities Challenge grants for 2013.

This is IBM’s single-largest philanthropic initiative, wherein they assign a team of six top IBM experts to each winning city to study a key issue identified by the city’s leadership.

The services provided for free to each city are valued at about $400,000. The IBM Smarter Cities Challenge is a three-year, 100-city, $50 million competitive grant program.

Seven of the 31 cities chosen by IBM this year are American cities:-

IBM's Stanley Litow with Mayors of Smarter Cities Challenge grant winners

IBM’s Stanley Litow with Mayors of Smarter Cities Challenge grant winners (Courtesy: Feature Photo/IBM.com)

Buffalo, New York

Burlington, Vermont

Fresno, California

Knoxville, Tennessee

Reno, Nevada

Richmond, Virginia

Tucson, Arizona

The winning cities proposed innovative projects and areas of focus for IBM experts. These included strategies that address:·

-          Economic and Workforce Development — reducing local dependence on a single industry·

-          Social Services – creating an ecosystem that supports independent living for a growing senior citizen community·

-          Sustainability – setting policies around billing rates, electric vehicle use, and solar power generation on a smart power grid·

-          Capital Budget Planning – enabling citizens to request expenditures, while also analyzing their potential impact·

-          Urban Planning – taking a more systematic, data-driven approach to housing policy, downtown revitalization, zoning, and permits.

“We congratulate the cities selected as IBM Smarter Cities Challenge grant recipients for 2013. This was a difficult decision because so many cities made strong cases to earn our time and talent. But the winners distinguished themselves among their peers by convincingly demonstrating their preparation and willingness to make the kind of improvements that will improve their residents’ quality of life and make their cities even smarter,” said Stanley S. Litow, IBM vice president of Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs, and president of IBM’s Foundation.

Reactions from some of the winners:-

Fresno, California Mayor Ashley Swearengin  - “The City of Fresno is poised and ready to benefit tremendously from the expertise that IBM will provide to our ongoing efforts to deal with our economic challenges. We are pleased to partner with IBM through the Smarter Cities Challenge to help us optimize the use of our limited resources.”

Fresno hopes to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to build a regional cloud for sharing “open data” and modeling tools that will be instrumental for citizen engagement. Fresno will also work with IBM on a plan to deploy ultra-high speed broadband in the Downtown Corridor, which could serve as the underpinning for development of a regional agricultural technology cluster in Fresno.

Knoxville, Tennessee  Mayor Madeline Rogero – “We are thrilled to be selected for this competitive program. It will be invaluable to have the expertise and outside perspective of IBM’s team as we work to make Knoxville a more sustainable city for everyone.”

Knoxville’s application asks IBM for advice on the most effective way to connect weatherization and energy education services to residents who receive emergency utility bill assistance. This will help reduce the demand each year for emergency assistance with utility bills for low-income ratepayers, particularly those in older, inefficient buildings.

Richmond, Virginia Mayor Dwight C. Jones  - “It is an honor to receive the IBM Smarter Cities Challenge grant as this resource of human capital will prove invaluable in moving Richmond forward as we continue our work of enhancing our economic and workforce development efforts. It is my hope that the IBM Smarter Cities Challenge grant will help us create an economic development tool that will improve the health of our city through the strengthening of our neighborhoods; an instrument that focuses on the community level to support the attraction and retention of neighborhood businesses.”

This is the third and final year for the IBM Smarter Cities Challenge grants. In the first two years, IBM has completed work in more than 60 cities globally.  For more information, visit smartercitieschallenge.org.

World to President Obama – Do More For Sustainable Development

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon congratulated President Barack Obama on his re-election as President of the United States, and expressed hope that the President would help promote sustainable development.

US President Barack Obama and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

US President Barack Obama and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (UN Photo/Mark Garten)

“The Secretary-General looks forward to continuing to work with President Obama and his administration in the spirit of the enduring partnership between the United States and the United Nations,” said Mr. Ban’s spokesperson.

“Many challenges lie ahead – from ending the bloodshed in Syria, to getting the Middle East peace process back on track, to promoting sustainable development and tackling the challenges posed by climate change,” the spokesperson noted. “The Secretary-General and the United Nations will continue to count on the active engagement of the United States on these and other crucial issues as it strives to meet the hopes and expectations of people around the world.”

Meanwhile, Canada’s NDP Leader Tom Mulcair said in Montreal, Quebec that he would prefer to work with someone south of the border who shares the same values as his own party, especially with regards to sustainable development. He added that President Obama was more promising on this subject.

In London, the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Secretary General Taleb Rifai attending the World Travel Market was full of praise for President Obama for supporting tourism when the economy was down. He said that the President understands that one new job is created every time 63 new tourists visit. The UNWTO is responsible for promoting responsible and sustainable tourism.

British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said that with President Obama now reelected, the United States and United Kingdom could work together on climate change policy.

Within the U.S., there are great expectations that the President will be able to do more to save and create green jobs.

“With his reelection, President Obama has the opportunity to fulfill the promise of his campaign and tackle the greatest challenges of our generation,” said Andrew Steer, president of the World Resources Institute (WRI). “At the top of the list should be climate change — which is already taking a serious toll on people, property, resources and the economy.”

“Many leading businesses are looking for greater clarity to stay competitive in the global economy and take advantage of the emerging $2.3 trillion clean-energy market,” added Steer.

One of these industries looking for clarity is the wind energy sector, which is hoping for the renewal of their production tax credits during the fiscal cliff negotiations the President will be initiating now with Congress. If these tax credits are renewed, wind energy companies in the United States might start adding jobs instead of shedding them. 

There’s reason to hope because President Obama did mention global warming in his victory speech – “We want our children to live in an America that isn’t burdened by debt, that isn’t weakened by inequality, that isn’t threatened by the destructive power of a warming planet.”

UN Internet Governance Forum – World Has 2.3 Billion Internet Users

In his address to the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Wu Hongbo said that there were 2.3 billion Internet users worldwide at the end of 2011.

Internet Governance Forum

Internet Governance Forum (photo- intgovforum.org)

In addition, he said that mobile broadband reached more than one billion subscriptions, while the use of fixed broadband was estimated at 590 million subscriptions.

“While this progress is surely significant, we have a long way to go in our collective efforts to bridge the digital divide,” he told participants, noting that only a quarter of inhabitants in the developing world were online by the end of 2011.

“This low number of Internet users in developing countries calls for increased efforts in shaping and implementing appropriate policies to assist everyone to harness the benefits of the Internet, and advance sustainable development,” added Mr. Wu.

The IGF was first convened by the UN Secretary-General in 2006, as a multi-stakeholder forum for policy dialogue related to Internet governance issues. Participants include governments, intergovernmental organizations, business representatives, the tech community, civil society organizations, as well as any individual Internet user interested in Internet governance issues.

The theme for this year’s forum is ‘Internet Governance for Sustainable Human, Economic and Social Development’ and reflects the increasing role of the Internet in the evolution of the various aspects of development, across all countries.

“Clearly, the Internet is an important tool for development,” said Mr. Wu. “It is utilized in multiple sectors, including health, education, agriculture and industry, disaster relief, and environmental protection, among so many others.”

Also speaking at the event was Hamadoun Touré, Secretary-General of the UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which is making headlines these days as the organization trying to wrest control of the Internet from the United States.

Mr. Touré said that stories about the ITU taking control of the Internet were “ridiculous” and misleading. He also set out point by point what they hope to achieve at next month’s World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT-12), which runs from December 3-14, 2012 in Dubai.

Mr. Touré said that WCIT will review the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) dating back to 1988.

“The current ITRs set the stage for the mobile revolution and the information society – and we are confident that the 2012 ITRs will help usher in the knowledge society,” said Mr. Touré. “Simply put, WCIT-12 is about putting ICTs [information and communication technologies] in the hands of all the world’s people.”

Celanese Corp Announces $150M Clean Energy Investment in Giles County, VA

Dallas, TX-based Celanese Corporation (NYSE: CE) announced that it will be investing $150 million in its Giles County operation in Virginia. The investment will be used to replace the plant’s coal-fired boilers with natural gas-fired boilers.

Celanese Corp.

Celanese Corp. global impact (photo – celaneseblog.com)

The new investment by Celanese, in conjunction with other efforts at the Narrows, VA plant, will enable creation of at least 22 full-time jobs and will require approximately 200 construction workers.

“Celanese is one of the largest employers and offers some of the best-paying jobs in the region,” said VA Gov. Bob McDonnell. “Converting the Giles County facility to natural gas demonstrates that the company is really investing in the future of the operation.”

“This project is significant for both Celanese and Giles County,” said Jim Cheng, Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade. “Natural gas is a cleaner energy source, thus reducing the company’s carbon footprint.”

“Celanese is excited about the opportunity this project represents, particularly in the areas of improved reliability and favorable progress against our environmental and sustainability goals,” said Lou Purvis, vice president, general manager, Celanese Acetate. “We appreciate the support from Virginia and Giles County to help make this investment possible.”

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) worked with Giles County and the New River Valley Economic Development Alliance to secure the project for Virginia. They apparently had competition from many other sites across the world.

Virginia offered Celanese incentives in the form of a $500,000 grant from the Governor’s Opportunity Fund, along with a $1.5 million performance-based grant from the Virginia Investment Partnership program, an incentive available to existing Virginia companies.

“The importance of this decision cannot be overstated. For 72 years Celanese has been Giles County’s largest employer and has provided generations of families with employment opportunities,” said Giles County Industrial Development Authority chairman Dr. S. Lee Wheeler. “The scale of this investment will benefit the entire region and we are very appreciative of the Governor’s assistance, and Celanese’s confidence in the County.”

Celanese Corporation produces specialty materials and chemical products that are used in most major industries and consumer applications. The company employs around 7,600 employees worldwide and had 2011 net sales of $6.8 billion.

NRC Report – Algae Biofuels Production Unsustainable

A new report sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOT) and prepared by the National Research Council (NRC) says that scaling up the production of algae biofuels to meet at least 5 percent (39 billion liters)  of U.S. transportation fuel needs would place unsustainable demands on energy, water, and nutrients.

Sustainable development of algal biofuels - NRC report

Sustainable development of algal biofuels – NRC report (photo – nas.edu)

Biofuels derived from algae, which can be cultivated in ponds of freshwater, salt water, or wastewater, have long been touted as feasible and sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels that could help the U.S. meet its energy security needs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Given the huge investments on research and production of algal biofuels being made by oil companies in this field, DOT asked the NRC to identify sustainability issues associated with large-scale development of algal biofuels.

The committee that wrote the report said that concerns related to large-scale algal biofuel development differ depending on the pathways used to produce the fuels. The committee’s sustainability analysis focused on the process of growing selected strains of algae in open ponds or closed photobioreactors using various water sources.

The committee pointed out several high-level concerns for this method, including the relatively large quantity of water required; magnitude of nutrients, such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and CO2 needed for cultivation; and the amount of land area necessary to contain the ponds that grow the algae.

Moreover, the algal biofuel energy return on investment would have to be high, meaning more energy would have to be produced from the biofuels than what is required to cultivate algae and convert them to fuels.

The committee found that to produce the amount of algal biofuel equivalent to one liter of gasoline, between 3.15 liters to 3,650 liters of freshwater is required, depending on the production pathway.

To produce 39 billion liters of algal biofuels, six to 15 million metric tons of nitrogen and one to two million metric tons of phosphorus would be needed each year if the nutrients are not recycled. These requirements represent 44 percent to 107 percent of the total nitrogen use and 20 percent to 51 percent of the total phosphorus use in the U.S.

Even the amount of energy actually produced seems to be suspect. The energy return on investment (EROI) ratios for various algal biofuel production systems actively used range from about 0.13 to 3.33. An EROI of less than one indicates that the amount of energy needed to produce the fuel is greater than the energy contained in the fuel, a situation that is clearly unsustainable.

The committee emphasized that the crucial aspects to sustainable development are positioning algal growth ponds close to water and nutrient resources and recycling essential resources.

As for the land required for the ponds, the report says that a national assessment of land requirements for algae cultivation would have to be done to find out the potential amount of algal biofuels that could be produced economically in the U.S.

Read a summary of the NRC report on sustainable development of algal biofuels at nas.edu.

IBM Tops Newsweek List of America’s Greenest Companies

Newsweek magazine has published its fourth annual list of America’s greenest companies. This year’s list is completely dominated by the tech sector, with IBM leading the way as America’s greenest company.

Newsweek compiled the list after analyzing data for the 500 largest U.S. companies and comparing their environmental footprint, corporate management and transparency.

Here’s the top 10 list of the greenest companies in America and their Newsweek “Green Scores.”

  1. IBM Smarter Planet

    IBM Smarter Planet (Photo – ibm.com)

    IBM – 82.9

  2. Hewlett-Packard – 78.5
  3. Sprint Nextel – 77.5
  4. Dell – 77.1
  5. CA Technologies – 77.1
  6. NVIDIA – 76.3
  7. Intel – 75.2
  8. Accenture – 74.7
  9. Office Depot – 74.4
  10. Staples – 74.4

Eleven out of the top 15 green companies listed by Newsweek happen to be in the tech sector. That’s too much to be a coincidence, but let’s just focus on exactly what makes these companies greener than the rest of corporate America.

IBM scored very high on environmental management (87) and transparency (82.9). Newsweek specifically cited IBM’s “Smarter Planet” products which help clients measure and reduce their resource consumption, and save money. The water used to cool a supercomputer at their Zurich lab helps keep nearby buildings warm.

HP scored low in other categories, but made up for it with 91.9 score for environmental management. HP has lowered its emissions by 50 percent since 2005 and urged suppliers to go green.

Sprint made it into the top three based on their extreme success at getting customers to recycle old phones. Sprint gives online buyers credits when they return old phones back to the company. Sprint has a 2017 target of recycling nine out every 10 devices sold.

To see the full list of all 15 companies and their individual scores in each category, visit Newsweek.

Financial Institutions To Invest In A Myriad Of Green Initiatives

http://vimeo.com/

Many financial institutions are preparing to invest in a variety of green initiatives.

Many equity firms, banks and pension funds are getting ready to invest in a myriad of initiatives such as sustainable development and biodiversity conservation. The Vice President of sustainable development at the World Bank elaborates on how across a variety industries, many in class companies understand how future profitability is linked to sustainable development and safeguarding the environment. Much of the leadership in regards to biological diversity was coming from many middle income families. Fossil carbon would ultimately be generated at some point. Vice President Kyte pinpoints that companies which are exposed to carbon emissions are not considered to be competitive. There are now many financial institutions which demonstrate concern for the environment.

The main reason why the World Bank increased investments was because of the success of India. The success of India was used as a guide to the rest of the world. The World Bank currently has an investment of approximately $23 billion dollars which also includes $23 million dollars in a variety of biodiversity projects.  The bank is distributing money to nearly 76 projects which are expected to be completed in a time frame of 5 years. Nearly 70 percent of the projects that the World Bank undertakes include sustainable development.

The urban population was starting to grow at a rapid pace which emphasized the need for investments in the urban infrastructure and expanding social safety measures for many poor individuals. Vice President Kyte finally pinpoints the global slowdown as the World Bank was cautious in managing many of the resources as the banks income was not as much as it was for the past year. It is positive news that many financial companies are deciding to invest in a myriad of green initiatives.

Many sustainable development projects will benefit from the newly allocated capital.

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De-Growth Can Lead To An Improvement In Sustainable Development

wecanada.org/

A World Watch senior fellow named Erik Assadourian has introduced a brand new concept in which economic de-growth can lead to an improvement in sustainable development.

Erik pinpointed the benefits of “economic de-growth” as overdeveloped economies redirect themselves from pursuing growth.

The Global Footprint Network elaborates on how the earth can only sustain about 1.7 billion people which ultimately undermines the biological and physical systems.

Erik states that over consumption in developing countries leads to negative human and environmental impacts.

The first concept that Erik pinpoints is that economic growth has a variety of ills that are attached. Erik states that economic growth and focusing on consumption leads to:

  1. Debt Burdens
  2. Long Working Hours
  3. An increase in Obesity
  4. Depending on Pharmaceuticals
  5. Social Isolation

Preventing climate change is becoming increasingly difficult and it will become impossible unless there are reductions in fossil fuel and consumption.

If warming does occur than it will lead to:

  1. Population Shifts
  2. Coastal Flooding
  3. Prolonged drought and the introduction of brand new diseases

The de-growth concept has gained traction over the past couple of years as new economic strategies are adopted. In countries such as France and Italy, de-growth parties have already been created.

There have already been efforts to promote de-growth such as shifting taxes, utilizing public goods, building transition towns and promoting healthier habits. Erik states that prosperity has to be redefined in regards to social connectedness, health and earning a wage which is livable. The ultimate goal is to establish an economic system which is stable and does not transcend the limits of earth. Equitable distribution is also proposed as industrialized countries need to ultimately curb over consumption. Poor countries also need to increase resource consumption to improve the quality of life.

Overall, economic de-growth is a strategy that can benefit the world as Erik pinpoints the benefits.

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