Green business activity has continued to grow, even during a down economy, but the aggregate environmental progress being made is marginal, according to a new report, titled "State of Green Business 2009," the second annual report of its kind published by GreenBiz.com.
The State of Green Business shows that companies are making progress on only a handful of the 20 measures of performance investigated. In some areas, such as in the case of climate change, company commitments and achievements are failing to stem the overall rise of carbon emissions.
"This year's update is a mixed bag of encouraging and discouraging news," says Joel Makower, executive editor of GreenBiz.com and the report's principal author. "But on balance, despite a growing chorus of corporate commitments and actions, we're less optimistic that these activities, in aggregate, are addressing planetary problems at sufficient scale and speed."
The report found many reasons for optimism, according to the authors. Green building is on the rise, spurring new technologies that save energy and money while creating more healthful workplaces. There is a green race taking place in the automobile industry, with every major manufacturer planning to introduce electric vehicles. The leading consumer product makers and retailers are starting to rigorously assess the environmental impact of their products using sophisticated metrics, sending signals up the supply chain that tomorrow's products will need to hew to higher levels of environmental responsibility.
The report marks the second year of the GreenBiz Index, a set of 20 indicators of U.S. business environmental progress. They include macroeconomic measures, such as carbon emissions, toxic releases, packaging materials, and paper use per unit of gross domestic product, as well as the fuel efficiency of corporate vehicle fleets, construction of green office space, investments in cleantech, and the financial costs of companies' environmental impacts.
Among the findings:
• Greenhouse gas emissions in the United States rose in 2007 by 1.4 percent in absolute terms over 2006, but shrank 0.6 percent in intensity -- that is, when measured as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP). That's the smallest annual decrease since 2002, when intensity improved 0.4 percent.
• U.S. patents for clean-energy technologies -- wind, fuel cells, hydroelectric, tidal, and geothermal -- in 2008 were at their highest level in seven years.
• Americans are continuing their love affair with the car, and appear unwilling to give up their vehicles for the solo commute to work. Since a high of 77.8 percent in 2003, the number of solo commuters has inched down slowly to 76.1 percent in 2007.
• American industry has been doing more with less energy for decades. The amount of energy required -- in the form of electricity and fuel -- per dollar of GDP has dropped more than 75 percent since 1950.
• The growth of certified green buildings, which for years had been growing from 10 to 90 percent, slowed dramatically in 2008.
• Generation of non-hydro renewable energy -- including solar, wind, and biomass -- grew nearly 7 percent in 2007 from the year before, outpacing the 2.3 percent annual growth in all electricity generation during the same period.
• The packaging intensity of the economy -- the aluminum, plastics, cardboard, and other materials used per dollar of GDP -- continued to decline slightly, as it has for the past several years.
• Over the past decade, the amount of paper used per dollar of GDP dropped by 27 percent and the amount of paper recycled rose -- also by 27 percent.
• Over the past 18 years, disposal and release of chemicals by U.S. companies decreased by 1.77 billion pounds, or 59 percent.
The report also includes the top 10 green business trends of 2007. They include the rise of energy efficiency in commercial buildings; the emergence of water as "the new carbon"'; the growth of college curricula on environmental management; growing company efforts to push environmental thinking to the rank and file; the failings of green marketing to captivate consumers; and the increased use by companies of such green design principles as green chemistry and biomimicry.
To download the free report, visit http://greenbiz.com/stateofgreenbusiness.
Moving too quickly
Our federal government does not have a coherent national energy policy.
I really don't see the US moving ahead in a significant way until we complete our national energy policy.
We have to review our energy portfolio in this country, and make some intelligent guesses as to demand, and how this energy will be generated in the next 10, 20 or thirty years looking out.
How will our vehicles be powered? Will we be heavily invested in personal transportation in 30 years time? How will our homes be heated? Will we be living in suburbs?
What role will oil play in our economy 30 years from now?
How will our mix of renewable and non-renewable energy change over the next thirty years?
Until we have a realistic plan, I see only small incremental changes, which may be too little too late.
A possible across the board solution to many issues.
Sometimes there is more to Economy, Environment, Sustainability and Energy than just one idea. Sometimes you need to take the time to realize the problems and recognize possible solutions, wherever they come from.
Sometimes there is more to stimulus than simply handing out money in large sums and hoping for the best. Sometimes you have to take the time to figure out how to save as much as you can.
There is a small start-up company in North Carolina, with the really big name of North American Innovation & Manufacturing Corporation.
The NAIM Corporation, for short, also has some really big ideas on being apart of the solutions across the board.
The idea, or rather project, could save 10’s of billions of dollars in economic loss that occur every year. This project could eliminate 10 million or more tons of refuse being deposited in our landfills every year and could be a stepping stone for the future development of solar technologies which could be implemented into structures more cost effectively and playing a huge role in achieving our Energy Independence and in reducing Global Warming. There are actually quite a lot of things this project could do.
Many experts, officials and the like have viewed material about the project and have agreed the idea may be feasible and it should be looked into.
The NAIM Corporation has been seeking Federal funding for the project for a little over a year. Yet, because of various policies and political red-tape nothing has been done to assist this North Carolina company with the relatively small amount it needs to carry out the proper development, research and testing.
I think you will be surprised by what the project is and how relevant it could be to our Nation. So please if you have time, visit http://naimcorporation.com/. If you feel it is relevant as well, contact your representatives and let them know you support the requested $4 million dollars for the project; or if you feel that your tax dollars are better suited elsewhere, then let them know that as well. Thank you for your valuable time.
Broken Link to Report
The link at the bottom of the article linking to the report is broken. I'm excited to read the report, please fix it!