Starbucks Coffee Company, International Paper and Mississippi River Pulp say they have completed a six-week pilot project that – for the first time – proves Starbucks used paper cups can be recycled into new paper cups. This test brings Starbucks one step closer to its goal of 100 percent of its cups being reusable or recyclable by 2015.

“We still have a lot of work to do to reach our 2015 goal, but we’re now in a much stronger position to build momentum across the recycling industry,” said Jim Hanna, Starbucks director of Environmental Impact. “Our next step is to test this concept in a major city, which we plan to do in collaboration with International Paper and Mississippi River in 2011.”

While some communities already recycle Starbucks paper cups, most do not have the infrastructure in place to handle collection, hauling, and processing due to a lack of demand for cup material by the recycling industry. To date, Mississippi River is the only pulp mill in the U.S. that has successfully recycled used cups into fiber suitable for producing new cups.

“What’s really exciting about the cup-to-cup concept is that it has the potential to benefit not only Starbucks, but the entire foodservice industry,” said Greg Wanta, vice president of International Paper Foodservice, the largest manufacturer of Starbucks paper cups. “If we can continue to prove the value of used cup material generated by Starbucks and other retailers, we can help increase recycling rates in communities across the country.”

Starbucks currently has another recycling pilot project underway in New York. The company is collecting paper cups at 86 of its Manhattan stores to determine whether they can be recycled into bath tissue and paper towels. In early 2011, Starbucks plans to launch a new recycling pilot in Chicago, aiming to transform the company’s discarded paper cups into napkins for use in its stores.

Over the past year, Starbucks has introduced front-of-store cup collection in Toronto and Seattle, where its cups can be recycled, and in San Francisco, where its cups can be composted.

In April, a Starbucks shareholder request to increase recycling was voted down at the company’s annual meeting of shareholders, although 11 percent of shareholders voted in favor, which activists said should get the attention of the coffee house chain.

I feel less guilty today.

What is CSR Communications? Is it cause-marketing? Is it the promotion of corporate philanthropy? Is it distributing a press release when your employees engage in a major volunteer program? Or is it the creation an annual sustainability report that showcases your firm’s environmental footprint, fair labor practices, and energy consumption, among other items? Actually, it is all of these and much, much more.

CSR Communications involves every key department of an organization and its practice is ongoing with significant long-term goals. The agenda must be developed from the top down and bottom up and must continually be reviewed by internal and external stakeholders in order to be credible and reliable.

Some key tips to consider:

• Strive to be authentic – do not try to be a company you are not. Be honest. You will gain much greater respect if you are candid.

• Solicit support from all internal departments and consider creating an employee task-force representing many facets of the business. Employees will want to help and contribute if it’s supported from the top of the organization.

• Consider working with a reputable outside firm to help you weed through all the different processes. You will need to review environmental, labor and safety practices along with the make-up of your supply-chain. There are long-standing, well-known firms such as PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young, and many others including The Taiga Company and SustAinability.

• Working with senior management, create a list of your company’s sustainability commitments. Doing so will enable you to map your strategy going forward. These will be your guiding principles.

• Determine your audience. Who do you want to reach with your messages? Review and prioritize. Your list should include employees, partners, customers, media, financial analysts, donors (if applicable), resellers, and shareholders. How will you communicate with them? Be cognizant that it should be a two-way street.  In today’s world of social media, no communications plan should be “one to many,” but rather an open dialogue between all interested parties.

• Create your means for measurement and reporting. Develop key performance indicators (KPIs) you wish to track and set up a timeline so that you are consistent in your reporting.

• Consider engaging a communications firm that specializes in CSR. There are currently many reputable agencies from which to choose.  A few that come to mind include Edelman, Fleishman Hillard, and Cone, among others.

• Continue to fine-tune and evolve your strategy and consider trying some of the very innovative new CSR communications platforms that exist on the market today.

• Ask, poll and inquire – Engage with your peers and your stakeholders as often as you can. Attend industry events such as CERES, Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship and BSR conferences.

• Join social networks, set up CSR RSS feeds and follow #CSR and #Sustainability on Twitter.  Also, connect and follow key CSR thought-leaders and blog sites such as @elainecohen @fabianpattberg @realizedworth @OKL @justmeans @csrwire @3blmedia @vaultcsr and @davidcoethica and @alicekorngold and many more.

Do allow yourself the necessary time to cover all the points and steps mentioned above. All are vital to make your program successful and sustainable. Continue to fine tune your measurement so that you are actively strengthening your agenda and making adjustments when required or necessary. Let me know your thoughts and what other steps I should add to make this article complete. I look forward to hearing from you at @susanmcp1 or smcpherson@fenton.com.

Great tips in this article.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has proposed several revisions to its ”Green Guides” that help companies avoid making misleading environmental claims.

Some of the biggest proposed changes (PDF) include new guidance on marketers’ use of product certifications and seals of approval, as well as claims for renewable energy, renewable materials, and carbon offsets.

The revised Green Guides advise marketers not to make blanket or general claims that a product is “environmentally friendly” or “eco-friendly,” as well as caution them not to use unqualified certifications or seals of approval and that the certifications or seals should be specific and clear.

“Clearly this means that marketers are going to have to provide more proof and provide it at point of sales for certain common environmental claims that they are making. If something is claimed to be environmentally-friendly, they are going to have to prove the why and find a place on their package or shelf to do it. Doing it on their Website isn’t good enough, according to what the FTC is saying,” said Mike Lawrence, chief reputation officer for Cone LLC in Boston, Mass.

Lawrence also noted that this level of disclosure goes beyond what many environmental marketers have been doing, and perhaps beyond what many of them would like to do.

“FTC is clearly sending a signal to business that they aren’t trying to stop or significantly inhibit this type of marketing communications but rather channel it into a place that solves some of the problems without making advertisers’ and marketers’ lives too much harder,” Lawrence said. “If marketers are upset with this, they shouldn’t be. They got off easy.”

According to the Ecolabel Index, there are currently 349 seals and certifications for marketing green products worldwide, with 88 used in North America alone, reports the New York Times.

Jon Leibowitz, chairman of the FTC told The New York Times, referring to customers, that “in the last five years or so there’s been an explosion of green claims and environmental claims. It’s clear that they don’t always know what they are getting.”

According to Cone’s 2010 Shared Responsibility Study, 92 percent of consumers want companies to tell them what they’re doing to improve their products, services and operations; however, 87 percent of respondents believe that they only share positive data about their efforts and 67 percent are confused by the messages companies use to talk about their social and environmental commitments.

Last year, the 2009 Conscious Consumer Report from BBMG found that that there were so many seals and certifications related to “green” and environmental attributes of products and services that many such marks risk losing their effectiveness.

In August, Christopher Cole, an advertising-law specialist and partner with law firm Manatt Phelps & Phillips in Washington, told Advertising Age that the green guides could influence efforts by retailers such as Walmart to institute a sustainability-rating system for products.

Another proposed change advises marketers how consumers are likely to understand certain environmental claims, including that a product is degradable, compostable, or “free of” a particular substance.

They also will provide advice on claims not currently addressed in current guides including claims about renewable materials, renewable energy and carbon offsets.

The new guides come at a time when the FTC is beefing up its enforcement. So far, the FTC has brought seven environmental advertising enforcement actions under the Obama administration, compared to zero during the eight years of the Bush administration, according to the article.

In June last year, the FTC charged Kmart Corp., Tender Corp., and Dyna-E International with making false and unsubstantiated claims that their paper products were “biodegradable.”

In August 2009, the FTC also charged four companies — Sami Designs LLC, dba Jonäno; CSE Inc., Mad Mod and Pure Bamboo LLC and the M Group – selling clothing marketed as made from bamboo with deceptive advertising and marketing claims.

The FTC isn’t the only organization watching green claims. Last month, The National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus recommended that Seventh Generation either modify or discontinue certain advertising claims for the company’s household cleaning and laundry products. This came after the products were challenged by Procter & Gamble.

NAD also found issues with Chlorox for its Clorox Green Works line.

The FTC is seeking public comments on the proposed changes until December 10, 2010, after which it will decide which changes to make final.

A new survey of CEOs by the United Nations Global Compact and Accenture found that 93 percent see sustainability as crucial to their future success. The report, “A New Era of Sustainability” interviewed more than 750 chief executives from almost 100 countries. Of these, 72 percent said that strengthening their brand, trust and reputation with consumers was the primary driver behind sustainability initiatives. Concerns about climate change were one of the most common voiced by CEOs, with 66 percent saying it was a critical development issue, behind education (72 percent). The results represent a significant shift from a similar survey Accenture  conducted just two years ago which found that most businesses did not consider climate change a significant priority. The shift in priorities has been echoed in other surveys of business leaders as well.

The survey also found widespread agreement that sustainability will cease to be a separate concern from business profitability, and will instead become fully integrated into the business strategy of the company, leading to a broader sense of what value entails that incorporates non-financial metrics. Eighty-one percent of CEOs said their companies have fully imbedded sustainability issues in the strategy and operations of their companies, compared to just 50 percent in 2007.

However, although the vast majority of CEOs agree that sustainability should be embedded throughout their subsidiaries (91 percent) and supply chain (88 percent), far fewer report that their company is already doing so (59 percent and 54 percent, respectively). Forty-nine percent of CEOs cite complexity of implementation across functions as the most significant barrier to implementing an integrated, company-wide approach to sustainability. Competing strategic priorities is second with 48 percent.

A majority of respondents, 54 percent, said that fully integrating sustainability issues across their businesses is less than a decade away, while 80 percent believe reaching that goal is less than 15 years away. Eighty-six percent of CEOs said “accurate valuation by investors of sustainability in long-term investments” is a necessary first step to reaching a tipping point in sustainability.

Meanwhile, 91 percent of CEOs report that their company will employ new technologies (e.g., renewable energy, energy efficiency, information and communication technologies) to address sustainability issues over the next five years.

Despite the broad consensus in the importance in sustainability, variation existed between industries. While every automotive CEO believed sustainability and environmental concerns were important or very important for the future success, that figure dropped to 81 percent of CEOs in the communications industry, with only 22 percent of communications CEOs responding that sustainability issues were “very important.”

click to enlarge

It will take less energy and money to make the IKEA store opening next year in suburban Denver feel pleasant when the sun bakes or when the snow drifts, thanks to 130 holes dug into the Earth, where the temperature remains about 55 degrees all year round.

IKEA, the Swedish home furnishings retailer, has teamed with the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory to showcase and study the advantages of a geothermal heating system currently under construction in Centennial, Colo.

It will be the first IKEA store in the United States to be built with geothermal heating and cooling, said Douglas Wolfe, IKEA project construction manager for the store expected to open south of Denver in the fall of 2011.

The holes, each 500 feet deep, will be directly below the parking garage that will be just below the store.

Geothermal heat pumps use 25% to 50% less electricity than conventional heating or cooling systems, a potential saving of several billion dollars a year if projections for geothermal growth prove true. The Environmental Protection Agency says geothermal heat pumps can reduce energy consumption—and corresponding emissions—up to 72% compared to traditional electric resistance heating and standard air-conditioning equipment. Geothermal cooling and heating also improves humidity control by maintaining about 50% relative indoor humidity, making GHPs very effective in humid areas.

Data Could Lead to Better Models

The IKEA/NREL project could be the benchmark for a credible standard for geothermal installation in large-scale retail stores nationwide. NREL's data base will be open to researchers around the world to use for their models, Erin Anderson, a senior geothermal analyst at NREL, said.

"We're trying to collect data on how it actually performs," which could prove invaluable to future projects. "By collecting actual live data on the performance of systems, you have better insight on what needs to be improved.

"We'll be able to say with confidence, 'if you do it this way, it will work this well.'"

The sun could be frying eggs on sidewalks, or the bitter cold could be freezing tongues to flagpoles, but a few feet underground the temperature generally is moderate and pleasant, summer or winter.

Miners know that well. In well-ventilated underground mines, they can wear light jackets all year round, because from about four feet underground to hundreds of feet underground the temperature stays fairly constant at about 55 degrees.

This is because of thermal inertia, the propensity for soil to heat up or cool down much slower than air or water.

The trick is to run a liquid in a loop down to that pleasant temperature and bring it back up to help keep things cool in the summer and warm in the winter. When warm air at the surface is passed over the cool pipes, the air gets cooler. When the air is cooler than the liquid, it is warmed as it passes over the pipes.

Now, It's Just Dirt, Trenches and Holes

At the site of the Colorado IKEA store there are several tracts of dirt at different levels, bulldozed flat; some trenches holding pipe; several earth-movers and a tall drilling rig boring those 500-foot holes.

A counterweight attached to the rig helps drive hose loops through the mud, down the 5 ½-inch diameter holes.

Anderson was at the site recently to take measurements. She sends a sensor attached to hundreds of feet of wire down one of the three holes to be tested. "We're monitoring three points in each hole," Anderson said, "at the very bottom, and at 250 feet on either side of the pipe.

"Imagine two straws," she said. "The fluid is flowing through them, descending down one, rising up the other. We want to see if the supply temperature and the return temperature are different.

"We're trying to determine what the temperature is all the way down as a way to achieve a comfortable temperature in the store," Anderson added. "We have this ground that is pretty steadily cooler in the summer when you want cool air and warmer in the winter when you want warm air."

As the fluid rises to the surface a heat pump compresses the air, increasing the pressure.

"It's the same way your refrigerator works," with a compressor to extract the heat, Anderson said. "You put a hot chicken in the fridge, and three hours later it's cool. But the back of the fridge is hot. The refrigerator is taking the hot from the food and rejecting it to the outside."

"We have a much larger cooling load than we do a heating load," Wolfe said. "Believe it or not, even in the dead of winter we will be cooling on some days more than heating just because of the number of people who will be in the store. All those customers and co-workers generate a lot of heat--that, along with all the lighting, the heat generated by the restaurant and other equipment throughout the building--increases the cooling load," Wolfe said.

In fact, even with 130 holes 500 feet deep and a maze of hose below the building carrying all that cool-but-not-cold water, the store is going to need an extra chiller. An ice-storage system will provide additional cooling during the warmest days of summer.

A concrete driveway on the north side of the store will be another good place to reject heat, Anderson said. "They're taking warm air from the building and rejecting it to the outside to help melt ice on the parking lot during inclement winter days.

Load Determines Depth

The drillers hired by IKEA are making 5 ½-inch diameter holes and going down 500 feet. Why?

"It's based on the amount of fluid we need in the piping system," Wolfe said, noting the 415,000-square-foot, two-level store will be atop two stories of parking. "We'll be transferring that fluid into our pumping system to provide the heating and cooling. We need that much volume of water and glycol to satisfy the heating and cooling load."

The cost of digging 130 holes 500 feet deep and filling them with loops of pipe will be paid back in energy savings within a reasonable time, Wolfe said. "And we expect the system to last as long as the building lasts.

"We looked at soil conditions and thermal conductivity tests to determine how many wells we would need and at what depth they would have to be," Wolfe said. The numbers bore out. "This approach is consistent with our commitment to using sustainable building practices whenever feasible."

The drillers are encountering "a lot of shale, some layers of sandstone, a lot of sand," said Matt Lungerich, drill crew leader for Rocky Mountain GeoDrill of Centennial. "Here and there we hit some gravel, usually at the top." The end result is a huge pile of grayish rock, from baseball-size to mere dust, which is hauled away by a front-loader.

It usually takes about four or five hours to drill a 500-foot hole, but if they encounter some difficult rock or if the rig breaks down, one hole can take all day.

IKEA, NREL Partnership Boosts Both

Once the geothermal system is in place, it only can be tweaked from the surface. "We'll monitor the energy use of the heat pumps, the temperature in and out of the heat pumps and the flow," Anderson said. "We're also going to look at what the temperature is in terms of climate control."

NREL's monitoring and data will help IKEA make decisions about adding different mixtures to the liquid, tempering the flow, adding more pumps or adding an additional cooling system to reject more heat.

"We launched an internal energy-efficiency initiative several years back that included evaluation of geothermal programs for construction of new stores," Wolfe said. "We looked at doing geothermal at a couple of other U.S. projects in the past, but this is the first project where the timing, the economics and the geotechnical aspects all make sense."

The geothermal heating and cooling system "is something that globally IKEA has been considering for a number of years," Wolfe added. "We're very excited about working with NREL. The partnership has turned out to be very beneficial for both of us. It is providing both of us with useful information about operating such programs." Seeing the information in real time "will allow us to determine and manage the efficiency of the geothermal system in Centennial" as well as planning for "future operations at this location as well as at other IKEA stores."

When Anderson heard that IKEA planned to drill holes and install pumps for geothermal energy, she didn't hesitate. "We've been interested in monitoring commercial sites," she said. "I got in touch with the designer and asked if they wanted to be a part of this monitoring system.

"Geothermal is a technology that has been around forever," Anderson said. There is evidence that Stone Age people tapped the Earth to keep their caves and hovels warmer in winter, cooler in summer.

"It works when it's designed correctly and installed correctly," Anderson said.

Learn more about geothermal technologies research at the link below.

Source: Bill Scanlon, NREL

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Friday filed a lawsuit that challenges EPA’s rejection of its petition for reconsideration of the agency’s 2009 endangerment finding that greenhouse gases threaten humans, E² wire reports.

The finding forms the foundation for upcoming EPA rules limiting emissions from power plants, factories and other sources that are opposed by several business groups.

“The U.S. Chamber, policymakers, numerous trade groups, state governments, and businesses throughout the country have collectively raised strong concerns about the significant negative impact the EPA’s endangerment finding will have on jobs and local economies,” said Robin Conrad, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber’s National Chamber Litigation Center, in a prepared statement.

“The Chamber’s lawsuit challenges the wisdom of regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, which simply was never intended to regulate something as complex as global climate change. (…) The EPA itself has admitted that regulating climate change under the Clean Air Act would create an ‘absurd’ result,” Conrad added.

The chamber filed for judicial review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

EPA in late July rejected petitions from the Chamber, states of Virginia and Texas, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, coal giant Peabody Energy Corp. and others seeking to overturn the finding.

The agency rejected claims that the “climate-gate” controversy and minor errors in a landmark UN report on climate change had undermined scientific conclusions that the earth is warming due to the burning of fossil fuels and other human activities.

“These petitions — based as they are on selectively edited, out-of-context data and a manufactured controversy — provide no evidence to undermine our determination. Excess greenhouse gases are a threat to our health and welfare,” EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said at the time.

Recently, several chambers of commerce throughout the U.S. have broken with the national chapter to support market-based mechanisms to price carbon, much to the dismay of the national chamber, according to oilprice.com.

The Chambers for Innovation & Clean Energy (CICE), led by the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, has  adopted five core principles, including that businesses must be part of the solution to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) and that market-based solutions produce the best results.

Rob Black, vice-president of public policy at the San Francisco Chamber told oilprice.com that the group’s main objective is to work with federal legislators to shape a carbon reduction program that sends clear signals to the market about where to invest R&D dollars.

But their efforts have drawn criticism from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which sent a letter in late July to local chambers that accused CICE of being established by an environmental group, the Natural Resources Defense Council, not an organic movement led by the San Francisco Chamber.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is finalizing rules that require underground coal mines, industrial wastewater treatment systems, industrial waste landfills and magnesium production facilities to report greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under its national GHG reporting program.

Methane is the primary GHG emitted from these four sources and is more than 20 times as potent as carbon dioxide at warming the atmosphere, and the data from these emissions sources will help the agency and businesses develop policies and programs to reduce them, says EPA.

These sectors will begin collecting emissions data on January 1, 2011, with the first annual reports submitted to EPA on March 31, 2012.

The national reporting program requires about 10,000 facilities that emit about 85 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gases to collect emissions data.

Also starting next January, the EPA is requiring power plants, industrial plants and other large stationary greenhouse gas sources to obtain pollution permits. These facilities will be required to include GHGs in their permit if they increase these emissions by at least 75,000 tons per year.

In a separate ruling, the EPA is requesting public comment on which industry related GHG information would be made publicly available and which would remain confidential.

Molex Honored With Environmental Earth Flag Award for Sustainability and Recycling in the Community

Award-winning SCARCE Earth Flag Certification Program recognizes Molex

LISLE, Ill. April 28, 2010 – Molex Incorporated announced that it has received the Earth Flag award from SCARCE (School & Community Assistance for Recycling & Composting Education), a non-profit organization dedicated to educating the DuPage County, Illinois community about conservation and recycling. The award-winning Earth Flag Certification Program was developed by SCARCE to help businesses become more environmentally responsible. On April 27 at 10:00 a.m. the DuPage County Board presented Molex with the Earth Flag at the county's Wheaton facility.

"This recognition underscores the emphasis Molex has placed on being an outstanding corporate citizen," said Mike Lepore, manager, facilities, security and safety, Molex. "In addition to taking part in local activities such as the SCARCE program, Molex has a longstanding global initiative called Ecocare, which is a company-wide commitment to minimize the environmental, occupational health and safety impacts of our business activities, products and services."

SCARCE has selected Molex's Lisle facility to receive the award because of its commitment to the following activities:

• Formation of a recycling committee, which conducted a green audit and is implementing waste recycling and paper-use reduction programs throughout Molex.
• Initiation of a collection program for employees to bring items from home such as gym shoes, batteries, electronics and cell phones to Molex for recycling.
• Ongoing Adopt-A-Road clean-up along a one mile segment of Ogden Avenue. Since 2007 Molex has been cleaning the stretch of roadway four times a year between April and October.
• Installation of biodegradable hand towels and cleaning products in all Molex office facilities in DuPage County.
• Online training of 75% of the employees to educate them about Molex's sustainability practices. In addition, new employees are made aware of the program during new employee orientation.
• Earth Day activities with a week-long, company-wide focus on education and awareness, including daily e-mails to all employees with suggestions on how to reduce, reuse and recycle both at home and at work.

For more information visit about Molex's environmental practices please visit http://www.molex.com/ecocare.html. For more details on SCARCE please visit http://www.bookrescue.org.

About Molex

Providing more than connectors, Molex delivers complete interconnect solutions for a number of markets including data communications, telecommunications, consumer electronics, industrial, automotive, medical, military, lighting and solar. Established in 1938, the company operates 41 manufacturing locations in 17 countries. The Molex website is www.molex.com. Follow us at www.twitter.com/molexconnectors and watch our videos at www.youtube.com/molexconnectors.

The eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjoell volcano is spewing a substantial amount of CO2 into the atmosphere every day, but the grounding of most airplanes in Europe is offsetting the volcano’s carbon emissions.

Scientists estimate that the volcano is emitting 150,000 to 300,000 tons of CO2 per day, an amount equal to the daily emissions of a small- to medium-sized European country.

But according to estimates from the European Environment Agency and other groups, daily CO2 emissions from the aviation industry in the 27 nations of the European Union are 344,000 to 440,000 tons per day.

Not all planes in Europe are grounded, but the travel gridlock over the continent has grounded thousands of flights from other continents, all of which cancels out any emissions impact from the volcano.

Scientists estimate that Eyjafjoell’s ongoing daily emissions are less than a third of one percent of total global greenhouse gas emissions.

Article appearing courtesy Yale Environment 360.

photo: NASA

Ah yes, the law of unintended consequences. I'm sure the grounded travellers are relieved by this news.

By Patricia-Anne Tom
March 30, 2010

An idyllic, pasture-like setting is not the only green image agribusiness owners would like the public to imagine when they picture their operations — they increasingly want to be known for their "green" environment-friendly buildings, too, according to Scott A. Ellis, assistant vice president for The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Co. (HSB). The cachet of being green adds value to a business, he explained.

Consequently, although green insurance endorsements currently are focused on commercial buildings, coverage will soon need to expand to personal dwellings, as well as farms and farm buildings. "It's going to happen quickly and cascade into other farm areas, too," he said.

What It Means to Be Green

A "green" building employs technologies and practices to promote resource efficiency, reduce its environmental impact and increase occupant health, Ellis explained. There are three major certifications for being green:

• The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System, which has LEED-certified, silver, gold and platinum levels;
• The Green Building Initiative (GBI) Green Globes Rating System, which gives a rating of one to four; and
• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency/Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Star program.

About 1,500 buildings nationwide are currently certified as green, and that number is growing exponentially every year. Building owners often may choose to build green buildings because they can enhance the occupants' health and well-being; have higher occupant productivity; increase sales and leasing potential; and provide a higher return on investment, with lower utility bills and reduced operating and maintenance costs. Additionally, green buildings enhance the community and local economy; provide public health benefits; and often help to protect threatened and endangered species, support sustainable resources and have an enhanced public perception.

"If a region has multiple homes and one is green and one is not, I believe there is a 10 percent to 20 percent incremental increase on the home's value if it is designed to be green, because the benefits are magnified down the road," Ellis said.

Furthermore, the Obama administration provides several incentives to go green; there are tax credits for those who implement green technology, and there are new federal standards establishing national energy efficient code and enforcement mechanisms, such as for heat pumps. Some states also are looking at writing green standards into their building codes, much like earthquake reinforcements are required by California building codes.

This means that by 2013, green building starts are estimated to be valued at more than $100 billion, Ellis said.

"Ten years ago, not very many farm owners would be talking about green buildings. But today, a lot of wineries and dairies, or operations that are vertically oriented and have a retail store, may be working hard to get a LEED certification symbol on the front of the store so that it is visible and they can benefit from the positive public perception," he said.

With so many incentives to implement green features into buildings, it's no wonder that a lot of insurers are coming up with green insurance coverage options for their policyholders.

Green Coverages

By HSB's account, there are at least 22 companies that have collectively offered 39 specific policies, endorsements, coverage extensions or services for green buildings and/or equipment.

ISO offers a green endorsement for commercial package policies (CP 04 02), and companies were allowed to begin adopting them in March of this year. A business owners policy green endorsement (BP 14 75) will become effective on Aug. 1, 2010.

According to ISO's forms, coverages provided include:

• Green upgrade coverage: A percentage of the amount of loss from 10 percent to 50 percent and a sublimit applies;
• Related expenses: includes waste reduction and recycling costs, design and engineering professional fees, certification fees and building air out, with sublimits selected;
• Extension for period of restoration: 30 to 180 additional days for green upgrades during restoration; and
• Rating (i.e. LEED-certified, Green Globes rated, or Energy Star).

Yet the ISO forms are just the tip of the iceberg. "The ISO BOP form is coming out, and will be used as a base standard. But a lot of companies are not waiting for ISO," Ellis said of the August release date.

Furthermore, there are a lot of issues to address associated with being green. For instance, in providing green coverages, some policies define green certification according to LEED standards, while others use the Green Globes standard. "If your carrier uses LEED throughout but state building codes specify Green Globes standards, you'd have a conflict," Ellis said.

As additional examples, some policies have a flat limit in compensating for loss, while others provide coverage on a percentage of loss. Some carriers might allow an insured to upgrade to a higher level of green certification, or allow for extra time to rebuild green in the business income calculation.

Evaluating the Risks

Just because a building is green, does not make it a better risk either, Ellis cautioned. For instance, a lot of municipalities are proponents of vegetative roofs because it reduces a building's carbon footprint and provides better insulation. Yet the building design needs to be sturdy enough to hold additional water if the sod roof soaks up a lot of water after a rain.

"Are vegetative roofs a better risk in terms of roof collapse?" he questioned.

Similarly, many communities are providing tax credits for installing solar water heating systems. But "when you're talking about bolting panels to a roof, did the architect put thought into water drainage and the impact of snow pileups on the panels (when designing the roof)? There are pros and cons to everything," Ellis added.

There clearly are many issues to address when talking about green risks, and it's a constantly evolving issue, Ellis said. "If green buildings are improving occupant health, what does that mean for workers' compensation insurance?" he said.

Keeping these issues in mind, however, it's incumbent upon independent insurance agents to help their clients — whether a single homeowner or someone with an agribusiness — to evaluate their risks and make sure they have adequate limits.

"One to two clients may be talking about green endorsements on forms, and agents may be trying to figure out what that means. … From an agent's perspective looking at limits, it might be valuable to realize that while clients may not be getting hit today, in two years they might be in a claims situation," Ellis said. Carriers and independent insurance agents need to stay on top of changes in the marketplace, he advised, adding this may be difficult to do given the changing marketplace.

"A lot of carriers are implementing their green policy options now, but it'll look totally different in six months," Ellis said. Green building is such a new thing that claims precedence is still being set. Nevertheless, given the green building growth in commercial properties, personal lines, and even farms and farm buildings, "it behooves insurance agents to understand the exposures and properly explain them to their insureds," he said.

Ellis was a speaker at the Insurance Skills Center/Insurance Brokers and Agents of the West (IBA West) Agribusiness Conference held in March in Sacramento, Calif.

For Release: 2/24/2010

FTC Issues Report of 2009 Top Consumer Complaints

New Video Details How to File a Complaint

The Federal Trade Commission today released a report listing top complaints consumers filed with the agency in 2009. It shows that while identity theft remains the top complaint category, identity theft complaints declined 5 percentage points from 2008.

The FTC is releasing a new animated video showing how people can file a complaint, and offers examples of what complaints the FTC handles. To watch the video, visit http://ftc.gov/multimedia/video/scam-watch/file-a-complaint.shtm (also available in Spanish at http://ftc.gov/multimedia/video/scam-watch/file-a-complaint_es.shtm).

The report breaks out complaint data on a state-by-state basis and also contains data about the 50 metropolitan areas reporting the highest per capita incidence of fraud and other complaints. In addition, the 50 metropolitan areas reporting the highest incidence of identity theft are noted.

The top complaints were:

Rank	Category	No. of Complaints	Percentages
	Identity Theft	278,078	21%
	Third Party and Creditor Debt Collection	119,549	9%
	Internet Services	83,067	6%
	Shop-at-Home and Catalog Sales	74,581	6%
	Foreign Money Offers and Counterfeit Check Scams	61,736	5%
	Internet Auction	57,821	4%
	Credit Cards	45,203	3%
	Prizes, Sweepstakes and Lotteries	41,763	3%
	Advance-Fee Loans and Credit Protection/Repair	41,448	3%
	Banks and Lenders	32,443	2%
	Credit Bureaus, Information Furnishers and Report Users	31,629	2%
	Television and Electronic Media	26,568	2%
	Health Care	25,414	2%
	Business Opportunities, Employment Agencies and Work-at-Home Plans	22,896	2%
	Computer Equipment and Software	22,621	2%

A complete list of complaints can be found at: http://www.ftc.gov/sentinel/reports/sentinel-annual-reports/sentinel-cy2009.pdf.

The Federal Trade Commission works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, click http://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov or call 1-877-382-4357. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 1,700 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. For free information on a variety of consumer topics, click http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/consumer.shtm.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Claudia Bourne Farrell,
Office of Public Affairs
202-326-2181

STAFF CONTACT:

John Krebs,
Bureau of Consumer Protection
202-326-2692

(2009 fraud)

 

BrightSource BrightSource Energy%u2019s proposed Ivanpah Solar Complex, illustrated here, is among several renewable energy projects that have been fast-tracked for approval by the Bureau of Land Management.

Thirty%u2013one proposed renewable energy and power transmission projects have been put on the fast track for approval by the Bureau of Land Management, with the aim of getting them paid for with stimulus funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

%u201CThe B.L.M. is committed to helping diversify this country%u2019s energy portfolio in an environmentally responsible manner,%u201D the director of the bureau, Bon Abbey, said in a statement announcing the 14 solar, seven wind, three geothermal and seven transmission projects.

All the projects %u201Ccould potentially be cleared for approval by December 2010,%u201D according to the bureau%u2019s Web site, and all are proposed for bureau-managed land.

The projects, which range in size from 24 megawatts to 986 megawatts, were picked because the bureau said it believed that the projects were far enough along that they could receive approval by the end of the year %u2014 the deadline for projects to be eligible for the stimulus funding.

The fast-track designation stems from a decision by Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar to establish a streamlined process for getting applicants the reviews they need.

%u201CThe fast-track process is about focusing our staff and resources on the most promising renewable energy projects,%u201D said Mr. Abbey, %u201Cnot about cutting corners, especially when it comes to environmental analyses or opportunities for public participation.%u201D

The list includes some high-profile projects like BrightSource Energy%u2019s Ivanpah Solar Complex and Duke Energy%u2019s contentious plan to build a wind farm in Nevada.

In Their Own Words:

Mission: Our mission is to grow a healthier world.
Vision: Our vision is to have healthy forest ecosystems for every community.

Strategy: Our strategy for achieving the mission is to provide action opportunities to targeted audiences to enable them to improve their environment with trees. We do this by using the best science to identify conservation issues, then develop and market practical solutions that individuals and groups can apply. American Forests' targeted audiences are individuals, community groups, government at all levels, educators, and businesses.

American Forests is a world leader in planting trees for environmental restoration, a pioneer in the science and practice of urban forestry, and a primary communicator of the benefits of trees and forests.

American Forests (americanforests.org) is the nation’s oldest nonprofit citizens’ conservation organization. Citizens concerned about the waste and abuse of the nation’s forests founded American Forests in 1875. The organization is proud of its historic roots in the development of America’s conservation movement and proud of the new approaches the organization has developed to help people improve the environment in the 21st Century. American Forests’ Ecosystem Restoration and Maintenance Agenda presents our core values and seeks to build support for our policy goals. These goals focus on assisting communities in planning and implementing tree and forest actions to restore and maintain healthy ecosystems and communities. We also work with community-based forestry partners in both urban and rural areas to help them participate in national forest policy discussions. American Forests seeks to broaden awareness of the interdependence of communities and forests through our policy and communication activities with local partners.
The roots of our work at American Forest are deep in the communities we serve all over America. Whether it is planting trees to restore ecosystems damaged by wildfire, working with cities to reverse the decline in urban tree cover or instituting a Living Classroom project at a local school everything we do is community based. American Forests is a leading proponent of community-based forestry in the United States, providing workshops; publications and other resources to help people in communities use their resources in exciting new ways.

American Forests is about action and that is the focus of our major campaigns. Today, the organization's primary campaigns are "Tree-Planting for Environmental Restoration" and "Reversing the National Urban Tree Deficit," which encourage people to improve rural, suburban, and urban ecosystems by planting and caring for trees that provide important environmental and economic benefits including pure water, clean air, and wildlife habitat.

In Their Own Words:

Northwest Immigrant Rights Project promotes justice for low-income immigrants by pursuing and defending their legal status. They focus on providing direct legal services, supported by education and public policy work.

Through its legal services, NWIRP helps:
•Uphold Basic Human Rights
•Preserve Family Unity
•Prevent Persecution
•Protect Children
•Provide Hope for Justice

A Success Story:
Young Man from Malawi Becomes a Permanent Resident
At the age of nine, Otis left Malawi in southeastern Africa to live with his mother in Washington State. Shortly after he arrived, his mother was diagnosed with cancer and for the next six years of his young life, Otis assumed the role of her caretaker. When symptoms were too severe, Otis arranged for her to get to the hospital and stayed home alone for days at a time. Otis often went hungry, sometimes living on Kool-Aid and Top Ramen.

Otis' future looked bleak and uncertain as his mother's cancer progressed. Risking deportation as his 18th birthday approached when it's more difficult to obtain documentation, Otis was referred to NWIRP. A NWIRP staff attorney was able to expedite a Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) Visa application for Otis, and it was approved just two weeks before he turned 18.

Now a Permanent Resident, Otis is flourishing. He obtained a driver's license, a job, and even bought himself a car – none of which he would have been able to do without permanent status. Otis will graduate from high school soon, and looks forward to a future filled with opportunities thanks to the help he received from NWIRP.

What You Can Do:
Donate, volunteer, join their mailing list or more at http://www.nwirp.org/GetInvolved/Overview.aspx

FTC Warns 78 Retailers, Including Wal-Mart, Target, and Kmart, to Stop Labeling and Advertising Rayon Textile Products as "Bamboo"

Seventy-eight companies nationwide have received Federal Trade Commission letters warning that they may be breaking the law by selling clothing and other textile products that are labeled and advertised as �bamboo,� but actually are made of manufactured rayon fiber. The letters, which the agency�s staff sent last week, make the retailers aware of the FTC�s concerns about possible mislabeling of rayon products as �bamboo,� so the companies can take corrective steps to avoid Commission action.

�We need to make sure companies use proper labeling and advertising in their efforts to appeal to environmentally conscious consumers,� said David C. Vladeck, Director of the agency�s Bureau of Consumer Protection. �Rayon is rayon, even if bamboo has been used somewhere along the line in the manufacturing process.�

The FTC sued several companies last year for allegedly selling products labeled or advertised as �bamboo� that in reality were made of rayon. Rayon is a man-made fiber created from the cellulose found in plants and trees and processed with harsh chemicals that release hazardous air pollution. Any plant or tree � including bamboo � could be used as the cellulose source, but the fiber that is created is rayon.

�While we have seen action by some retailers to correct mislabeled clothing and textile products, our hope is that these warning letters will serve as a wake-up call to all companies, regardless of their size,� Vladeck said.

The FTC staff letter outlines the requirements for proper labeling and advertising of textile products derived from bamboo. The letter states, �Rayon, even if manufactured using cellulose from bamboo, must be described using an appropriate term recognized under the FTC�s Textile Rules. . . . Failing to properly label and advertise textiles misleads consumers and runs afoul of both the Textile Rules and the FTC Act.�

In the letter, the FTC tells the companies they should review the labeling and advertising for the textile products they are selling and remove or correct any misleading bamboo references.

Along with the warning letters, the agency sent each company a synopsis of FTC decisions finding that the failure to use proper fiber names in textile labeling and advertising was deceptive and violated the FTC Act. Under the Act, the FTC can seek civil penalties of up to $16,000 per violation against any company that receives this information but fails to correct its advertising and labeling.

A complete list of the companies sent warning letters can be found on the FTC�s Web site and as a link to this press release. They include small and large retailers, with both online and brick-and-mortar stores, and firms selling textile products labeled or advertised as �bamboo� that may be made of rayon. The more commonly known retailers include:

Amazon.com, Barney�s New York, Bed Bath & Beyond, BJ�s Wholesale Club, Bloomingdale�s, Costco Wholesale, Garnet Hill, Gold Toe, Hanes, Isotoner, JC Penney, Jockey,
Kmart, Kohl�s, Land�s End, Macy�s, Maidenform, Nordstrom, Overstock.com, QVC, REI, Saks Fifth Avenue, Sears, Shop NBC, Spiegel, Sports Authority, Target, The Gap, The Great Indoors, Tommy Bahama, Toys R� Us, Wal-Mart, and Zappos.com.

Recent Enforcement Actions. Today�s announcement comes on the heels of four FTC enforcement actions brought against companies selling rayon products that were misleadingly labeled and advertised. According to the Commission�s complaints, filed in August 2009, the companies falsely claimed that their rayon clothing and other textile products were �bamboo fiber,� marketing them using names such as �ecoKashmere,� �Pure Bamboo,� �Bamboo Comfort,� and �BambooBaby.� The complaints also challenged a number of other deceptive �green� claims, including that the products retained the bamboo plant�s antimicrobial properties, were made using environmentally friendly manufacturing processes, and are biodegradable.

The four companies have settled the FTC�s charges and agreed to modify their labels to ensure their claims are not misleading or deceptive. (One of the cases still needs final FTC approval.) Press releases announcing the complaints and related settlements can be found at: http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/12/dynabamboo.shtm and http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/bamboosa.shtm, respectively.

Business and Consumer Information. The FTC has a publication designed to help businesses that sell clothing and textile products that are labeled as bamboo to market their products in ways that are truthful, non-deceptive, and in compliance with the law. �Avoid Bamboo-zling Your Customers� can be found at http://www.ftc.gov/bamboo. The FTC also has an alert entitled �Have You Been Bamboozled by Bamboo Fabrics?� that provides useful information for consumers shopping for bamboo-based fabrics. It also can be found at http://www.ftc.gov/bamboo.

The Commission vote to publicly disclose the warning letters was 4-0. Copies of the letters and a complete list of companies that received them can be found on the FTC�s Web site at http://www.ftc.gov/bamboo and as a link to this press release.

The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, click: http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/complaint.shtm or call 1-877-382-4357. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 1,700 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. For free information on a variety of consumer topics, click http://ftc.gov/bcp/consumer.shtm.

This issue has come up before (Bamboozled Green Claims) and we'll keep an eye on this for future developments.  In the meantime, be certain your company's green claims are true, not misleading and are substantiated by competent and reliable scientific evidence.  Let us know if we can help. 

The National MS Society is a collective of passionate individuals who want to do something about MS now—to move together toward a world free of multiple sclerosis. MS stops people from moving. We exist to make sure it doesn't.

We help each person address the challenges of living with MS through our 50-state network of chapters. The Society helps people affected by MS by funding cutting-edge research, driving change through advocacy, facilitating professional education, and providing programs and services that help people with MS and their families move their lives forward.

• We are moving research forward by relentlessly pursuing prevention, treatment and cure.
• We are moving to reach out and respond to individuals, families and communities living with multiple sclerosis.
• We are moving politicians and legislation to champion the needs of people with MS through activism, advocacy and influence.
• We are moving to mobilize the millions of people who want to do something about MS now.

JOIN THE MOVEMENT^® 

Volunteer or donate at http://www.nationalmssociety.org/get-involved/index.aspx

Thanks to Pete Conroy at www.WRScompass.com for highlighting this cause.

Triad Manufacturing is a manufacturer of retail store fixtures used for displaying products. Triad's customers include Best Buy, Target, Banana Republic, Home Depot, and Pacific Sunwear.

The Situation:

Missouri Enterprise, a NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership, approached Triad about participating in the Green Suppliers Network since they were aware that Triad routinely looked for opportunities to improve its operations.

David Goebel and Nick Hennen of Missouri Enterprise completed Triad's review in September 2008. Instead of focusing on one product or process line, Triad wanted to examine inefficiencies across its whole facility. The review team prepared high-level value stream maps that captured the entire system, from raw materials entering the facility to finished products exiting. The review process identified two primary opportunities: improved energy efficiency and increased recycling of byproducts.

The Solution:

Following the Green Suppliers Network review, Triad has succeeded in reducing its energy consumption by making four changes. The first two, capturing waste heat off its drying ovens and compressed air system for heating the facility during the winter months and installing infrared heaters to reduce the use of forced air heat, have saved the company an estimated $80,000 annually. The third, installing a new powder coating line, has decreased energy use for the powder coating process line by 40 percent and also reduced hazardous effluent by 10,000 gallons annually. Fourth, Triad implemented a leak detection program for its compressed air system that could potentially save an additional $25,000 annually.

Triad is also interested in recycling its sawdust and scrap wood pallets. The company is currently investigating the feasibility of sending its broken wood pallets to a company that manufactures wood pellets for heat. Recycling these wood pallets would eliminate a waste stream of 30,000 pounds annually.

Return to Success Stories

Triad incorporated Simple Ways to Reduce Waste and Save Money With Green Suppliers Network. Could your company do the same?

In Their Own Words:
Great Rivers Environmental Law Center is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to providing free and reduced-fee public interest legal services to individuals and organizations working to protect and preserve Missouri's environment.

What They Do:
The primary purpose of Great Rivers Environmental Law Center is to provide public interest legal services to organizations, citizens groups and individuals who seek to protect the environment.

Great Rivers Environmental Law Center works through the courts and administrative agencies to safeguard the environment by enforcing environmental laws, especially air and water pollution laws, and laws intended to protect wetlands, floodplains, open space, and endangered species.

The issues which Great Rivers Environmental Law Center will raise will often have national significance, although Great Rivers Environmental Law Center will initially emphasize Missouri and Illinois.

What You Can Do:
Information on donations is available at http://www.greatriverslaw.org/Donate.pdf

International Response Fund

You can help the victims of countless crises, like the recent earthquake in Haiti, around the world each year by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross International Response Fund, which will provide immediate relief and long-term support through supplies, technical assistance and other support to help those in need. The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If you wish to designate your donation to a specific disaster, please do so at the time of your donation by mailing your donation with the designation to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013 or to your local American Red Cross chapter. Donations to the International Response Fund can be made by phone at 1-800-REDCROSS or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish) or online at www.redcross.org.