Dow Chemical Receives 2008 Energy Star Award

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has named The Dow Chemical Co. as a 2008 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year for excellence in energy management and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Dow's accomplishments will be recognized at an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C. on April 1.

Dow will be honored for demonstrating outstanding achievements in energy efficiency and management within the past year. Dow's commitment and leadership in energy efficiency over the past 12 years has resulted in significant energy, financial and greenhouse gas savings -- more than 900 trillion Btu, over $4 billion and approximately 51 million metric tons of CO2.

Boosting Energy Efficiency Of Electric Delivery Systems

Public Service Electric and Gas Co. (PSE&G) has announced that it will play a leading role in the research and development of "green circuits," an initiative aimed at improving energy efficiency in the electric distribution system. New Jersey's largest utility has informed the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) that it will support its Green Circuit Initiative, an 18-month research and development project.

"PSE&G is pleased to play a leading role in research and development of technologies that meet the challenges of how we produce and efficiently distribute electricity while enabling our customers to better manage energy," said Ralph LaRossa, president and COO of PSE&G. "This initiative is an important contribution to reducing the sector's carbon footprint, and, at the same time, ensuring that we continue to meet the growing demand for electricity."

ADB To Help Pakistan's Energy Efficiency Program

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it will grant 600,000 usd to help Pakistan create a comprehensive energy efficiency policy and investment program to meet its growing energy demands.

Pakistan will contribute 100,000 usd to complete the funding requirement.

China Reshapes Govt. With Energy Push

China announced Tuesday that it would reorganize the central government by creating five so-called superministries, including one responsible for improving environmental protection. But the plan stopped short of creating a single agency to oversee the contentious issue of energy policy.

The new plan divides authority over energy. A new “high level” energy commission would develop national energy strategies. But an energy bureau under the central planning agency would control administration and oversight of the energy sector.

Yang Fuqiang, director of the Beijing office of the nonprofit Energy Foundation, said the creation of the two energy agencies represented a political compromise. He predicted that they would eventually be merged into a full ministry, but not for a few more years.

Energy Efficient Strategy For Network Equipment Vendors

Green IT will eventually shift its focus to the LAN switch, one of the biggest energy guzzlers of devices, according to a new trends report.

In-Stat released market research Monday that found that switch vendors who adapt to energy efficiency soonest will develop a competitive edge. The researcher found that shipments of power across Ethernet ports have tripled since 2005; the ports can consume more than 10 times more energy than standard ports.

Wales Commit To Tacklig Climate Change

The Welsh Assembly Government has made a commitment to tackling climate change by launching a route map which sets out ambitious plans to make Wales self-sufficient in renewable energy within 20 years.

The document suggests Wales could create far more electricity than it consumes but that is only going to be the case if they really maximize the big resources like wind, wave and tidal. However, to really maximize these opportunities, a huge financial commitment is needed from the Government.

Solar, wind, wave and tidal resources have an enormous reserve of energy that could be exploited. In fact, according to research published in the Scientific American, the energy in sunlight striking the earth for 40 minutes is equivalent to global energy consumption for a year. This shows that the potential is out there.

Builders "Go Green" To Sell Homes

The push for environmentally friendly construction comes as the housing industry remains mired in a deep and protracted slump, with single-family housing starts off more than a third from 2005 and widely expected to keep sliding this year.

To stand out from the crowd, big home builders are going green for the first time or are expanding their existing programs — a departure from previous practice, when environmentally friendly building was mainly limited to a niche of smaller builders.

But results so far are mixed: some developments report increased traffic but no pickup in sales. Other builders say sales are on the upswing but it is too early to tell whether it is at a faster pace than their comparable, non-green developments. And the higher cost of green construction is proving a hurdle for some companies.