The Living section of the Toronto Star, Wednesday, November 28, 2007, pages L1, L5, has a holiday party piece about different kinds of parties different kinds of hosts would have, a party survival guide by David Graham, Living Reporter: What to expect when cubicle mates throw a holiday house party, Watch your flirting, drinking and gossiping when stepping on a co-worker's home turf. This excerpt is about the kind of party an environmentalist would have.
TAKE ORGANIC WINE TO HIPPIE HOSTS
The Hippie Dippie/Environmental/Health/Yoga Nut
Who are they?: A member of the earnest alt crowd.
What kind of host are they?: Conscientious.
What will the party be like?: Quiet. Mostly non-alcoholic. Children will be present. World music if they're younger/James Taylor and Carole King if they're older.
Acceptable behaviour: Take your shoes off at the door and don't leave a footprint. Be open-mindedd about the food - lots of wasabi peas and seaweed snacks. Bring a soy candle or an organic wine. Leave early - mornings are imiportant to these people. They meditate at sunrise.
Dress code: Anything made from bamboo - and not made by children in a developing country.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Monday, November 26, 2007
Habitat Encroachment: See What Happens
From the Wednesday, November 14, 2007, Toronto Star, World section, page AA2, an article about New Delhi, New India, and what has happened because of animal habitat encroachment:
MONKEYS SHOCK NEW DELHI
Marauding simians pushed from forests into cities are on a collision course with humans
Alistair Scrutton
Reuters New Agency
New Delhi - First it was the death of the Indian capital's deputy mayor, who took a fatal fall after fighting with monkeys on the balcony of his home late last month.
Then, 25 residents were bitten, scratched and mauled by a lone monkey that went on the rampage in the capital last weekend.
The monkey reportedly tried to snatch several infants before being beaten back by residents armed with sticks and metal bars.
"Primal Invasion" read the headline in the Hindustan Times.
Authorities are struggling to contain primates that are stubbornly resisting efforts to portray New Delhi as a modern, clean and globalized capital.
The city of 14 million people is growing qickly and experts say monkeys are increasingly being forced out of forests and into urban settings, putting them on a collision course with humans.
It is a pattern seen across India as the economy booms. Elephants, leopards and tigers are also coming out face to face with man as cities sprawl into their former habitats.
Monkeys are a regular sight in New Delhi. They can be seen in groups climbing outside government ministries. Troupes lounge on pavements, oblivious to the chaotic traffic around them.
But culling monkeys has never been an option as mnay Hindus worshop the monkey god Hanuman, seen as a symbol of strength, perserverance and devotion. And when New Delhi tried to shift them out of the city, neighbouring states complained.
Faced with what many saw as a monkey plague on homes, offices and ministries, this year city authorities started to capture and send them to a sanctuary on New Delhi's outskirts.
New Delhi government officials say they have caught and relocated around 1,900 monkeys. While there is no census of monkey numbers, officials say thousands still live on the city's streets.
But a spate of high-profile monkey attacks has made headlines and increased public pressure for the government to act quicker.
"The latest attack was unprecedented," said J.K. Dadoo, environment and forest secretary in the New Delhi government. "Monkeys normally operate in groups."
Experts say there is a growing pattern of lone attacks that may highlight the random way authorities are trying to reduce the monkey population in the city.
"Incidents of lone monkey attacks were almost unknown until recently," said Sonya Ghose, founder of Citizens for the Welfare and Protection of Animals and a member of an enforcement panel overseeing the monkey relocation campaign.
"I fear that monkeys are being trapped in a haphazard manner. Monkey catchers are breaking up troupes of monkey families, leaving some monkeys alone without their families.
"Then they have nothing to lose and turn aggressive."
Last year, the New Delhi Metro train service hired a larger langur monkey to frighten off smaller creatures after a monkey boarded a train and scared passsengers by scowling at them for three stops.
Another langur is on the government payroll to scare off monkeys from New Delhi's top federal government offices.
This year, a monkey sneaked into New Delhi's international airport, forcing the partial closure of the lounge for more than an hour.
Dadoo said the problem was that some people fed monkeys on Tuesday and Saturdays, seen as auspicious days for the animals.
"That is when we have most cases of money attacks, when people try to feed them," he said.
Ghose said she suspected monkey catchers - often villagers from outside New Delhi who are paid 450 rupees ($11) a monkey - sometimes snatched monkeys in nearby forests and claimed they were caught in the city.
The New Delhi residents terrorised last weekend said the monkey attack was a terrifying experience.
"I thought it was a man at first," Manohar, one of the residents, told The Times of India. "It got hold of my son's leg and was carrying him away but I managed to snatch him back."
MONKEYS SHOCK NEW DELHI
Marauding simians pushed from forests into cities are on a collision course with humans
Alistair Scrutton
Reuters New Agency
New Delhi - First it was the death of the Indian capital's deputy mayor, who took a fatal fall after fighting with monkeys on the balcony of his home late last month.
Then, 25 residents were bitten, scratched and mauled by a lone monkey that went on the rampage in the capital last weekend.
The monkey reportedly tried to snatch several infants before being beaten back by residents armed with sticks and metal bars.
"Primal Invasion" read the headline in the Hindustan Times.
Authorities are struggling to contain primates that are stubbornly resisting efforts to portray New Delhi as a modern, clean and globalized capital.
The city of 14 million people is growing qickly and experts say monkeys are increasingly being forced out of forests and into urban settings, putting them on a collision course with humans.
It is a pattern seen across India as the economy booms. Elephants, leopards and tigers are also coming out face to face with man as cities sprawl into their former habitats.
Monkeys are a regular sight in New Delhi. They can be seen in groups climbing outside government ministries. Troupes lounge on pavements, oblivious to the chaotic traffic around them.
But culling monkeys has never been an option as mnay Hindus worshop the monkey god Hanuman, seen as a symbol of strength, perserverance and devotion. And when New Delhi tried to shift them out of the city, neighbouring states complained.
Faced with what many saw as a monkey plague on homes, offices and ministries, this year city authorities started to capture and send them to a sanctuary on New Delhi's outskirts.
New Delhi government officials say they have caught and relocated around 1,900 monkeys. While there is no census of monkey numbers, officials say thousands still live on the city's streets.
But a spate of high-profile monkey attacks has made headlines and increased public pressure for the government to act quicker.
"The latest attack was unprecedented," said J.K. Dadoo, environment and forest secretary in the New Delhi government. "Monkeys normally operate in groups."
Experts say there is a growing pattern of lone attacks that may highlight the random way authorities are trying to reduce the monkey population in the city.
"Incidents of lone monkey attacks were almost unknown until recently," said Sonya Ghose, founder of Citizens for the Welfare and Protection of Animals and a member of an enforcement panel overseeing the monkey relocation campaign.
"I fear that monkeys are being trapped in a haphazard manner. Monkey catchers are breaking up troupes of monkey families, leaving some monkeys alone without their families.
"Then they have nothing to lose and turn aggressive."
Last year, the New Delhi Metro train service hired a larger langur monkey to frighten off smaller creatures after a monkey boarded a train and scared passsengers by scowling at them for three stops.
Another langur is on the government payroll to scare off monkeys from New Delhi's top federal government offices.
This year, a monkey sneaked into New Delhi's international airport, forcing the partial closure of the lounge for more than an hour.
Dadoo said the problem was that some people fed monkeys on Tuesday and Saturdays, seen as auspicious days for the animals.
"That is when we have most cases of money attacks, when people try to feed them," he said.
Ghose said she suspected monkey catchers - often villagers from outside New Delhi who are paid 450 rupees ($11) a monkey - sometimes snatched monkeys in nearby forests and claimed they were caught in the city.
The New Delhi residents terrorised last weekend said the monkey attack was a terrifying experience.
"I thought it was a man at first," Manohar, one of the residents, told The Times of India. "It got hold of my son's leg and was carrying him away but I managed to snatch him back."
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Greener Gas and Cars
From the Spring & Summer 2007, Green Living, pages 45-48, an article on greener gas and cars, here is an excerpt about fuel choices:
FUEL FOR THOUGHT
A Guide to Greener Gas and Greener Cars
By Stuart Foxman
"The fuel of the future is going to come from fruit...weeds...almost anything. There is fuel in every bit of vegetable matter than can be fermented. There's enough alcohol in one year's yield of an acre of potatoes to drive the machinery necessary to cultivate the fields for 100 years."
The speaker? Not an environmental advocate but Henry Ford in 1925, assessing the potential of cellulose and crop-based ethyl alcohol fuel. However, as you stand at the pump, watching the gas prices roll by faster than the reels on a slot machine, it's easy to wonder if drivers will ever see the "fuel of the future." But a convergence of forces - rising cruide-oil costs, the call for energy security and concern over climate change - may be bringing that day closer."
"Our urgent national and international imperatives will require a shift in fuel choices," says Kory Teneycke, executive director of the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association (DRFA), "Ethanol and biodiesel are at the point where you can make the case for commercialization and make them parts of our energy mix."
However, Jose Etcheverry, research and policy analyst, Climate Change Program at the David Suzuki Foundation, cautions that we shouldn't get seduced by the word "'alternative'. Among alternative fuels, there are better and worse options," he says. "If it takes more energy to produce the fuel than the energy you get out of it, it's not a logical idea."
That kind of criticism is often levelled at Alberta's oil sands, where the process of separating bitumen from the sands and turning it into fuel uses considerably more energy than conventional oil production. Similarly, says Etcheverry, with ethanol and biodiesel (see sidebars) you have to consider how energy-intensive the entire process is. If your main raw material is corn, for example, when you factor in the energy expended to grow and refine it, Etcheverry says the "return on your energy investment can be quite negative." he believes that ethanol made form cellulose (e.g. forest residue, straw) is far better, from an environmental standpoint, than ethanol made from corn. As for biodiesel, will supplies come from plant oil? Canola? How will crops be grown?
While biodiesel and ethanol are promising alternative fuels, there are more choices. An unusual possibility - and a particularly clean one, says Etcheverry - is "brown energy," That's where animal manure is turned into usuable biomethane through an anaerobic digester, with the gas then used as a transportation fuel or for electricity and residential heating. One Wisconsin dairy farm with a digester is powering 600 homes with 900 cows. In Sweden, meanwhile, over 8,000 vehicles are powered by a combination of natural gas and biomethane.
While Etcheverry calls the interest in alternative fuels "a step in the right direction," he says we should be asking other fundamental questions, such as how we can approach urban and suburban design to be less car-dependent. And how we can encourage wider use of public transit and other modes of transportation. "Even if you could run cars on water, you 'd still need highways and parking lots, and it takes a lot of resouces to make a car," says Etcheverry. "Are you going to live closer to where you work and play? Will you ride a bike? Take the train? That's what's truly revolutionary."
FUEL FOR THOUGHT
A Guide to Greener Gas and Greener Cars
By Stuart Foxman
"The fuel of the future is going to come from fruit...weeds...almost anything. There is fuel in every bit of vegetable matter than can be fermented. There's enough alcohol in one year's yield of an acre of potatoes to drive the machinery necessary to cultivate the fields for 100 years."
The speaker? Not an environmental advocate but Henry Ford in 1925, assessing the potential of cellulose and crop-based ethyl alcohol fuel. However, as you stand at the pump, watching the gas prices roll by faster than the reels on a slot machine, it's easy to wonder if drivers will ever see the "fuel of the future." But a convergence of forces - rising cruide-oil costs, the call for energy security and concern over climate change - may be bringing that day closer."
"Our urgent national and international imperatives will require a shift in fuel choices," says Kory Teneycke, executive director of the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association (DRFA), "Ethanol and biodiesel are at the point where you can make the case for commercialization and make them parts of our energy mix."
However, Jose Etcheverry, research and policy analyst, Climate Change Program at the David Suzuki Foundation, cautions that we shouldn't get seduced by the word "'alternative'. Among alternative fuels, there are better and worse options," he says. "If it takes more energy to produce the fuel than the energy you get out of it, it's not a logical idea."
That kind of criticism is often levelled at Alberta's oil sands, where the process of separating bitumen from the sands and turning it into fuel uses considerably more energy than conventional oil production. Similarly, says Etcheverry, with ethanol and biodiesel (see sidebars) you have to consider how energy-intensive the entire process is. If your main raw material is corn, for example, when you factor in the energy expended to grow and refine it, Etcheverry says the "return on your energy investment can be quite negative." he believes that ethanol made form cellulose (e.g. forest residue, straw) is far better, from an environmental standpoint, than ethanol made from corn. As for biodiesel, will supplies come from plant oil? Canola? How will crops be grown?
While biodiesel and ethanol are promising alternative fuels, there are more choices. An unusual possibility - and a particularly clean one, says Etcheverry - is "brown energy," That's where animal manure is turned into usuable biomethane through an anaerobic digester, with the gas then used as a transportation fuel or for electricity and residential heating. One Wisconsin dairy farm with a digester is powering 600 homes with 900 cows. In Sweden, meanwhile, over 8,000 vehicles are powered by a combination of natural gas and biomethane.
While Etcheverry calls the interest in alternative fuels "a step in the right direction," he says we should be asking other fundamental questions, such as how we can approach urban and suburban design to be less car-dependent. And how we can encourage wider use of public transit and other modes of transportation. "Even if you could run cars on water, you 'd still need highways and parking lots, and it takes a lot of resouces to make a car," says Etcheverry. "Are you going to live closer to where you work and play? Will you ride a bike? Take the train? That's what's truly revolutionary."
Monday, November 19, 2007
Summary of Climate Change Report
From the StopGlobalWarming.org website, http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/sgw_read.asp?id=6385211172007, here is a brief summary of the “Synthesis Report” from the International Panel on Climate Change's Climate Change 2007 report.
The three other sections of the report are available online to read at the IPCC website, http://www.ipcc.ch/, or if you are a scientist or independently wealthy from Amazon.com, etc.; (1) The Physical Science Basis; (2) Impacts, Adaptation & Vulnerability; (3) Mitigation of Climate Change. I imagine copies will also find their way into libraries around the world, as they are available in many languages.
KEY FINDINGS OF UNITED NATIONS' SCIENTIFIC REPORT
by: Associated Press 17 November 2007
The following are some key findings in a report issued Saturday by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change:
The three other sections of the report are available online to read at the IPCC website, http://www.ipcc.ch/, or if you are a scientist or independently wealthy from Amazon.com, etc.; (1) The Physical Science Basis; (2) Impacts, Adaptation & Vulnerability; (3) Mitigation of Climate Change. I imagine copies will also find their way into libraries around the world, as they are available in many languages.
KEY FINDINGS OF UNITED NATIONS' SCIENTIFIC REPORT
by: Associated Press 17 November 2007
The following are some key findings in a report issued Saturday by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change:
- Global warming is “unequivocal.” Temperatures have risen 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit in the last 100 years. Eleven of the last 12 years are among the warmest since 1850. Sea levels have gone up by an average seven-hundredths of an inch per year since 1961.
- About 20 percent to 30 percent of all plant and animal species face the risk of extinction if temperatures increase by 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit. If the thermometer rises by 6.3 degrees Fahrenheit, between 40 to 70 percent of species could disappear.
- Human activity is largely responsible for warming. Global emissions of greenhouse gases grew 70 percent from 1970 to 2004. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is far higher than the natural range over the last 650,000 years.
- Climate change will affect poor countries most, but will be felt everywhere. By 2020, 75 million to 250 million people in Africa will suffer water shortages, residents of Asia's large cities will be at great risk of river and coastal flooding, Europeans can expect extensive species loss, and North Americans will experience longer and hotter heat waves and greater competition for water.
- Extreme weather conditions will be more common. Tropical storms will be more frequent and intense. Heat waves and heavy rains will affect some areas, raising the risk of wildfires and the spread of diseases. Elsewhere, drought will degrade cropland and spoil the quality of water sources. Rising sea levels will increase flooding and salination of fresh water and threaten coastal cities.
- Even if greenhouse gases are stabilized, the Earth will keep warming and sea levels rising. More pollution could bring “abrupt and irreversible” changes, such as the loss of ice sheets in the poles, and a corresponding rise in sea levels by several yards.
- A wide array of tools exist, or will soon be available, to adapt to climate change and reduce its potential effects. One is to put a price on carbon emissions.
- By 2050, stabilizing emissions would slow the average annual global economic growth by less than 0.12 percent. The longer action is delayed, the more it will cost.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Canada, US, Australia - Fiddling While the Planet Burns
Today, the 17th of November, 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change met in Valencia, Spain, to adopt and approve the fourth and final report that makes up Climate Change 2007.
The draft report (without final copy editing) is found at http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/syr/ar4_syr_spm.pdf. The IPCC site is http://www.ipcc.ch/.
Are the governments of the United States, Canada and Australia unaware of the human and environmental and financial consequences of dealing with increasing climate change losses? No.
Each country has scientists and researchers who have been involved for many years in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2007 report, which includes scientific research, andvinformation on adapation and mitigation. The report is easily available online to anyone, even politicians, in full or in a shorter policy version, to anyone who can type IPCC in Google.
So why are the leaders allowing themselves to be led by the nose - by multinationals, their lawyers and lobbyists, trade agreements favouring corporations, corporate contributions to election campaigns, insteading of leading the campaign to slow global warming?
The U.S., Canada, and Australia are three of the largest historic polluters and have a moral obligation, being wealthy, developed nations, to clean up the mess they have caused in the past, without any strings being attached to poorer and less developed nations, who did not create the historic mess.
Forget the next election, gentlemen, your own self-interest or those of your political parties or corporate pals or their lobbyists, needless spending on needless wars instead of the environment, or whatever useless and lame excuse is stopping action. The costs of not doing anything will far outweigh the worth of anything we are spending money on now and they will continue to increase.
The writer of the Global Issues section of the Toronto Star, called the three heads of state the Three Climate Stooges.
Leaders, you have all the information you need to act now. Get out of Iraq (US) and Afghanistan (Canada), don't start a needless war on Iran (US), and the billions saved can be used to solve not only climate change issues, but poverty and other humanitarian issues at home and in the world.
Anything less is not a joke, but a crime against humanity.
The draft report (without final copy editing) is found at http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/syr/ar4_syr_spm.pdf. The IPCC site is http://www.ipcc.ch/.
Are the governments of the United States, Canada and Australia unaware of the human and environmental and financial consequences of dealing with increasing climate change losses? No.
Each country has scientists and researchers who have been involved for many years in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2007 report, which includes scientific research, andvinformation on adapation and mitigation. The report is easily available online to anyone, even politicians, in full or in a shorter policy version, to anyone who can type IPCC in Google.
So why are the leaders allowing themselves to be led by the nose - by multinationals, their lawyers and lobbyists, trade agreements favouring corporations, corporate contributions to election campaigns, insteading of leading the campaign to slow global warming?
The U.S., Canada, and Australia are three of the largest historic polluters and have a moral obligation, being wealthy, developed nations, to clean up the mess they have caused in the past, without any strings being attached to poorer and less developed nations, who did not create the historic mess.
Forget the next election, gentlemen, your own self-interest or those of your political parties or corporate pals or their lobbyists, needless spending on needless wars instead of the environment, or whatever useless and lame excuse is stopping action. The costs of not doing anything will far outweigh the worth of anything we are spending money on now and they will continue to increase.
The writer of the Global Issues section of the Toronto Star, called the three heads of state the Three Climate Stooges.
Leaders, you have all the information you need to act now. Get out of Iraq (US) and Afghanistan (Canada), don't start a needless war on Iran (US), and the billions saved can be used to solve not only climate change issues, but poverty and other humanitarian issues at home and in the world.
Anything less is not a joke, but a crime against humanity.
Potential of Environmentally-Friendly Construction
An article about the potential of environmentally-friendly construction from the Monday, October 1, 2007, Toronto Star, Business section, page B4:
The Bottom Line
WAKING UP TO POTENTIAL OF GREEN CONSTRUCTION
Sonja Persram
Special to the Star
A daily scan shows that media - and readers - don't quite understand how much buildings can help lower our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Many are still looking first to transportation, then to coal-fired plants and then industry as targets to reduce our emissions. Clean technology is seen as a primary approach. And then, believing that there aren't enough GHG reduction measures yet available, people look to carbon offsets.
It's not just the reductions in GHG emissions that green buildings provide - many other benefits are overlooked.
According to Thomas Mueller, president of the Canada Green Building Council, buildings account for as much as 48 per cent of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions - 30 per cent from operations and 18 per cent from activities that embody energy such as extracting, processing, manufacturing and transporting building materials, construction and demolition. Reports on GHG emissions do not often discuss these embodied energy factors.
Greening our buildings to levels certified by the Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED) Canada green building rating system can reduce our energy consumption and GHG emissions by at leats 50 per cent compared to Canada's Model National Energy Code for Buildings, says Mueller. And, using less energy means we'll use less water, because energy conservation measures address the costs of pumping a building's water supply.
But green buildings not only represent higher building performance. Specific building features are associated with higher occupant performances as well. And, corporate tenants of green buildings have found these factors made it easier to attract and retain talent.
Studies of occupants' work performance in green buildings compared to non-green workspace showed people did better on tasks when their workplaces had features like: comfortable temperatures (better clerical performance and logical thinking), higher ventilation rates (productivity increases and reduced absenteeism and illness) and more daylight (better productivity, retail sales and school test scores).
Since people costs amount to 88 per cent of total costs over a commercial building's lifespan, even a 1 per cent increase in productivity can have significant positive effects on corporate performance. Factor in the lower operating costs and reduced risks associated with greener buildings and corporate bottom lines look even better.
Reduced health care costs when fewer people suffer from asthma and sick building syndrome, and lowered infrastructure requirements are also a benefit to our public purse.
Then there are the pressures on corporations to remain competitive. Harvey Bernstein of McGraw Hill stated in a recent presentation to the World Green Building Council's International Congress thatt 47 per cent of leaders in Corporate America believe government will mandate green buildings eventually, and 40 per cent think ignoring green building with result in public relations problems.
So why don't people push more for green buildings? (New green construction as well as building retrofits). There is a mistaken perception that green costs more. On average, however, green buildings costs about 2 2 per cent more than conventional ones.
We can't overlook the potential of green buildings any more. It's too costly.
In a country, a province, a city where we're striving to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and our consumption of energy; where we're seeking greater economic productivity and lower health care and infrastructure costs; where corporations must remain competitive, isn't it time to wake up and smell the green building coffee?
Sonja Persram is CEO of Sustainable Alternatives Consulting Inc.
The Bottom Line
WAKING UP TO POTENTIAL OF GREEN CONSTRUCTION
Sonja Persram
Special to the Star
A daily scan shows that media - and readers - don't quite understand how much buildings can help lower our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Many are still looking first to transportation, then to coal-fired plants and then industry as targets to reduce our emissions. Clean technology is seen as a primary approach. And then, believing that there aren't enough GHG reduction measures yet available, people look to carbon offsets.
It's not just the reductions in GHG emissions that green buildings provide - many other benefits are overlooked.
According to Thomas Mueller, president of the Canada Green Building Council, buildings account for as much as 48 per cent of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions - 30 per cent from operations and 18 per cent from activities that embody energy such as extracting, processing, manufacturing and transporting building materials, construction and demolition. Reports on GHG emissions do not often discuss these embodied energy factors.
Greening our buildings to levels certified by the Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED) Canada green building rating system can reduce our energy consumption and GHG emissions by at leats 50 per cent compared to Canada's Model National Energy Code for Buildings, says Mueller. And, using less energy means we'll use less water, because energy conservation measures address the costs of pumping a building's water supply.
But green buildings not only represent higher building performance. Specific building features are associated with higher occupant performances as well. And, corporate tenants of green buildings have found these factors made it easier to attract and retain talent.
Studies of occupants' work performance in green buildings compared to non-green workspace showed people did better on tasks when their workplaces had features like: comfortable temperatures (better clerical performance and logical thinking), higher ventilation rates (productivity increases and reduced absenteeism and illness) and more daylight (better productivity, retail sales and school test scores).
Since people costs amount to 88 per cent of total costs over a commercial building's lifespan, even a 1 per cent increase in productivity can have significant positive effects on corporate performance. Factor in the lower operating costs and reduced risks associated with greener buildings and corporate bottom lines look even better.
Reduced health care costs when fewer people suffer from asthma and sick building syndrome, and lowered infrastructure requirements are also a benefit to our public purse.
Then there are the pressures on corporations to remain competitive. Harvey Bernstein of McGraw Hill stated in a recent presentation to the World Green Building Council's International Congress thatt 47 per cent of leaders in Corporate America believe government will mandate green buildings eventually, and 40 per cent think ignoring green building with result in public relations problems.
So why don't people push more for green buildings? (New green construction as well as building retrofits). There is a mistaken perception that green costs more. On average, however, green buildings costs about 2 2 per cent more than conventional ones.
We can't overlook the potential of green buildings any more. It's too costly.
In a country, a province, a city where we're striving to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and our consumption of energy; where we're seeking greater economic productivity and lower health care and infrastructure costs; where corporations must remain competitive, isn't it time to wake up and smell the green building coffee?
Sonja Persram is CEO of Sustainable Alternatives Consulting Inc.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Federal Government's "Lip Service" to Going Green
We all know that Prime Minister Harper and his government are less than enthusiastic about making significant changes in order to meet targets set in the Kyoto agreement. So it is hardly surprising that although there are some (I would disagree with the following article calling them "tough") weak measures in place for industry to clean up the environment, apparently they are being called out in an audit for not having greened itself.
From the News section of the Wednesday, October 31, 2007, Toronto Star, page A5:
GOVERNMENT PAYING ONLY LIP SERVICE TO GOING GREEN
Environmental tool 'simply is not working,' commissioner says
Allan Woods
Ottawa Bureau
Ottawa - The federal government has put tough rules in place to make industry and individuals clean up the environment, but it has shirked its own commitment to go green, a new audit has found.
The federal environment commissioner says Ottawa has been promising to put in place a sustainable development strategy to clean up the actions of its departments since 1992 but has little to show for it 15 years later.
"It's one of the many tools that the government introduced ... to manage environmentally sustainable development well," commissioner Ron Thompson said, "It's a matter of great concern to us that that tool simply is not working."
Auditor General Sheila Fraser adds that the government's continued neglect of this plan to factor the environment into departments' decision-making process is a "major disappointment."
The goals that have been laid out by the government provide little in the way of expectations for departments to help clean up the air and water, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make more intelligent use of natural resources.
"Nor does it provide baselines or targets against which departments could monitor or report on their progress," says the report, which puts the blame on the shoulders of Environment Canada, the department responsible for the sustainable development strategy.
"We expected Environment Canada to have managed this issue more consistently and proactively."
Government departments have been producing sustainable development strategies every three years since 1997 and the environment commissioner has written 10 reports so far on the substandard progress that has been made.
But despite consistent promises to take "appropriate action," little improvement has occurred.
Part of the problem, the audit suggests, is the poor attitude of officials who view government plans to go green as a "compliance requirement" rather than a new way of doing business. "It is apparent to us that departments are working to satisfy the statutory requirements set out in the Auditor General Act. We are concerned that they are working to meet the letter of the law rather than the spirit of it."
Environment Canada responded to the audit with a promise to "improve the government's approach" by October 2008.
"There will never be a better time to carry out this review." Thompson said.
From the News section of the Wednesday, October 31, 2007, Toronto Star, page A5:
GOVERNMENT PAYING ONLY LIP SERVICE TO GOING GREEN
Environmental tool 'simply is not working,' commissioner says
Allan Woods
Ottawa Bureau
Ottawa - The federal government has put tough rules in place to make industry and individuals clean up the environment, but it has shirked its own commitment to go green, a new audit has found.
The federal environment commissioner says Ottawa has been promising to put in place a sustainable development strategy to clean up the actions of its departments since 1992 but has little to show for it 15 years later.
"It's one of the many tools that the government introduced ... to manage environmentally sustainable development well," commissioner Ron Thompson said, "It's a matter of great concern to us that that tool simply is not working."
Auditor General Sheila Fraser adds that the government's continued neglect of this plan to factor the environment into departments' decision-making process is a "major disappointment."
The goals that have been laid out by the government provide little in the way of expectations for departments to help clean up the air and water, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make more intelligent use of natural resources.
"Nor does it provide baselines or targets against which departments could monitor or report on their progress," says the report, which puts the blame on the shoulders of Environment Canada, the department responsible for the sustainable development strategy.
"We expected Environment Canada to have managed this issue more consistently and proactively."
Government departments have been producing sustainable development strategies every three years since 1997 and the environment commissioner has written 10 reports so far on the substandard progress that has been made.
But despite consistent promises to take "appropriate action," little improvement has occurred.
Part of the problem, the audit suggests, is the poor attitude of officials who view government plans to go green as a "compliance requirement" rather than a new way of doing business. "It is apparent to us that departments are working to satisfy the statutory requirements set out in the Auditor General Act. We are concerned that they are working to meet the letter of the law rather than the spirit of it."
Environment Canada responded to the audit with a promise to "improve the government's approach" by October 2008.
"There will never be a better time to carry out this review." Thompson said.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Innovation: Diapers into Diesel
I am often amazed when I read articles about green companies or entrepreneurs and their innovations to help the environment (and slow global warming). Here is one such article by Tyler Hamilton in the Monday, October 29, 2007, Toronto Star, front page of Business section and page B4. You can find his Clean Break articles online at http://www.thestar.com/comment/columnists/94629.
TURNING DIRTY DIAPERS INTO DIESEL - AND HELPING THE ENVIRONMENT
Tyler Hamilton
Clean Break
If a generation that prides itself on being green is to be defined by its aggressive pursuit of energy efficiency and alternative sources of electricity and fuel, then maybe it's time we ditched the label "waste" and "garbage."
Is a used diaper, for example, just a ball of stink destined for a landfill? Or is it a ball of complex molecules that can be busted apart, reorganized and turned into usable energy?
Is it waste or watts? Feces or fuel?
Luciano Piciacchia, vice-president of Quebec operations for global engineering giant AMEC PLC, is in the diaper-busting camp. He's overseeing the design of a plant in Quebec that, when finished, aims to turn thousands of tonnes of used diapers each year into a synthetic diesel fuel.
Used diapers are difficult to reuse or recycle, and while cloth diapers are an alternative, it's unlikely they'll ever put a dent in disposable diaper sales.
In Quebec alone, 600 million - or 120,000 tonnes - of used diapers are produced each year, and for the most part they end up in landfills where the plastic that lines them can take 100 years to break down, says Piciacchia.
"A baby, from the time it's born to the time it's toilet trained, will gone through a tonne of diapers," he says, adding that the load will increase as aging boomers turn to adult incontinence products.
The technology for turning diapers into diesel, called pyrolysis, is well understood and has been discussed before in this column. Unlike a dirty process such as incineration, by which a substance is just burned, pryolysis chemicallly breaks down organic materials, literally cracking their molecules, by heating them up in an oxygen-starved chamber.
It's a closed process that doesn't involve combustion, so emissions are strictly controlled, and three materials emerge at the end of it: a synthetic methane-like gas, a diesel-like oil and carbon-rich char.
"Environmentalists aren't convinced that it works, but you ahve to put it in place and see the science of it before you condemn it." says Piciacchia. "The science behind it is solid."
So why focus on diapers? It's a combination of logistics and consistency.
For example, the logistics of garbage collection is easy - municipalities already pay for and have established pickup networks. But turning municipal and waste into energy can be tricky because of the inconsistency of materials or "feedstock" that must be handled.
The feedstock can range from old clothes to banana peels to yogurt containers to refrigerator doors, and this batch of unpredictable ingredients makes it difficult to control the molecular breakdown of each so that the good molecules can be separated from the bad.
On the other hand, you know that with diapers you've got a consistent stream of plastics, resins, fibres, excrement and urine. This consistency of feedstock improves the efficiency of the pyrolysis process and results in a predictable output of gas, oil and char.
Another benefit of used diapers is that a large volume is generated daily in hospitals and seniors homes, and a market already exists for the collection and disposal of these diapers. AMEC's client, a Quebec company that Piciacchia won't name yet, plans to tap into that collection network by diverting the flow of diapers from landfills to its own processing plant.
The client will get a tipping fee from the diaper disposal company - one source of revenue - and will generate a second source of revenue by converting the diapers into diesel fuel and selling it to generate electricity or heat.
The synthetic gas portion will be used to directly power the process and the char could be sold for a variety of uses, including as an additive for fertilizer.
If the diaper plant works, AMEC will likely pursue other projects. For example, an Ontario company that salvages car parts wants to turn the plastics and foam from seats and dashboards - a material known as "car fluff" - into usable energy.
Tyler Hamilton's Clean Break appears Mondays. You may email him at thamilt@thestar.ca.
TURNING DIRTY DIAPERS INTO DIESEL - AND HELPING THE ENVIRONMENT
Tyler Hamilton
Clean Break
If a generation that prides itself on being green is to be defined by its aggressive pursuit of energy efficiency and alternative sources of electricity and fuel, then maybe it's time we ditched the label "waste" and "garbage."
Is a used diaper, for example, just a ball of stink destined for a landfill? Or is it a ball of complex molecules that can be busted apart, reorganized and turned into usable energy?
Is it waste or watts? Feces or fuel?
Luciano Piciacchia, vice-president of Quebec operations for global engineering giant AMEC PLC, is in the diaper-busting camp. He's overseeing the design of a plant in Quebec that, when finished, aims to turn thousands of tonnes of used diapers each year into a synthetic diesel fuel.
Used diapers are difficult to reuse or recycle, and while cloth diapers are an alternative, it's unlikely they'll ever put a dent in disposable diaper sales.
In Quebec alone, 600 million - or 120,000 tonnes - of used diapers are produced each year, and for the most part they end up in landfills where the plastic that lines them can take 100 years to break down, says Piciacchia.
"A baby, from the time it's born to the time it's toilet trained, will gone through a tonne of diapers," he says, adding that the load will increase as aging boomers turn to adult incontinence products.
The technology for turning diapers into diesel, called pyrolysis, is well understood and has been discussed before in this column. Unlike a dirty process such as incineration, by which a substance is just burned, pryolysis chemicallly breaks down organic materials, literally cracking their molecules, by heating them up in an oxygen-starved chamber.
It's a closed process that doesn't involve combustion, so emissions are strictly controlled, and three materials emerge at the end of it: a synthetic methane-like gas, a diesel-like oil and carbon-rich char.
"Environmentalists aren't convinced that it works, but you ahve to put it in place and see the science of it before you condemn it." says Piciacchia. "The science behind it is solid."
So why focus on diapers? It's a combination of logistics and consistency.
For example, the logistics of garbage collection is easy - municipalities already pay for and have established pickup networks. But turning municipal and waste into energy can be tricky because of the inconsistency of materials or "feedstock" that must be handled.
The feedstock can range from old clothes to banana peels to yogurt containers to refrigerator doors, and this batch of unpredictable ingredients makes it difficult to control the molecular breakdown of each so that the good molecules can be separated from the bad.
On the other hand, you know that with diapers you've got a consistent stream of plastics, resins, fibres, excrement and urine. This consistency of feedstock improves the efficiency of the pyrolysis process and results in a predictable output of gas, oil and char.
Another benefit of used diapers is that a large volume is generated daily in hospitals and seniors homes, and a market already exists for the collection and disposal of these diapers. AMEC's client, a Quebec company that Piciacchia won't name yet, plans to tap into that collection network by diverting the flow of diapers from landfills to its own processing plant.
The client will get a tipping fee from the diaper disposal company - one source of revenue - and will generate a second source of revenue by converting the diapers into diesel fuel and selling it to generate electricity or heat.
The synthetic gas portion will be used to directly power the process and the char could be sold for a variety of uses, including as an additive for fertilizer.
If the diaper plant works, AMEC will likely pursue other projects. For example, an Ontario company that salvages car parts wants to turn the plastics and foam from seats and dashboards - a material known as "car fluff" - into usable energy.
Tyler Hamilton's Clean Break appears Mondays. You may email him at thamilt@thestar.ca.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Climate Change Warning From the United Nations
From the Friday, October 26, 2007, Toronto Star, World & Comment section, pages AA1, AA4, an urgent call for action on climate change from the United Nations:
Global Environment
HUMANITY'S SURVIVAL AT STAKE: UN
Report sends decision-makers 'urgent call for action' as climate and pollution crises intensify
Peter Gorrie
Environment Reporter
Earth's environment has tumbled downhill to the point where "humanity's very survival" is at stake, a branch of the United Nations said yesterday.
The response by governments, industries and individuals has been "woefully inadequate," states the latest Global Environment Outlook from the UN Environment Program.
World leaders must push the environment "to the core of decision-making" to tackle the worsening crisis, the outlook states.
"The need couldn't be more urgent and the time couldn't be more opportune, with our enhanced understanding of the challenges we face, to act now to safeguard our own survival and that of future generations."
The 572-page report was issued yesterday, 20 years after a commission headed by former Norwegian prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland published Our Common Culture, which urged a shift to "sustainable development."
During those two decades, progress has been achieved on a few "straightforward" problems such as local air and water pollution, the new outlook says.
But, "there are no major issues raised (in the 1987 document) for which the foreseeable trends are favourable. Failures include climate change, extinction of species, water shortages and destruction of ocean fish stocks."
Brundtland's commission recommended that, since they are so closely linked, the environment, economic and social issues must be integrated into any decisions about development, so it occurs in a way that protects the environment.
That hasn't happened, states the outlook, compiled by 390 experts from observations, studies and data gathered since 1987.
The result is not only that "in too many countries, environmental policy remains secondary to economic growth," but also that environmental degradation is undermining economic development and "threatens all aspects of human well-being."
"There have been enough wake-up calls since Brundtland. I sincerely hope (this) is the final one," UNEP executive director Achim Steiner said in London.
"The systematic destruction of the Earth's natural and nature-based resources has reached a point where the ... viability of economies is being challenged -- and where the bill we hand on to our children may prove impossible to pay."
The new report's authors state that their aim "is not to present a dark and gloomy scenario, but an urgent call for action."
But because the main environmental concerns are complex and there's little appetite for anything that upsets the status quo, solutions will be hard to come by, they say.
"The scale of the challenge is huge."
The report also calls for environmental justice -- "perhaps the greatest moral question emerging in relation to environmental change and sustainable development.
"Growing evidence indicates that the burden of environmental change is falling far from the greatest consumers of environmental resources, who experience the benefits of development."
Meanwhile, "people living in poverty in the developing world, suffer the negative effects of environmental degradation."
As well: "Costs of environmental degradation will be experienced by ... future generations."
Action is urgently required on all these issues, the report states. "Determined action now is cheaper than waiting for better solutions to emerge."
A major obstacle is resistance by governments and polluting industries, the outlook states.
"We appear to be living in an era in which the severity of environmental problems is increasing faster than our policy responses. To avoid the threat of catastrophic consequences in the future, we need new policy approaches."
It's crucial to move environmental concerns to the centre of decision-making. Instead of trying to clean up environmental damage, the focus should be on reducing the causes, including economic and population growth, ravenous resource consumption and social values, the report says.
That can be done through measures such as "green" taxes and economic measures that, unlike now, assign values to Earth's resources and the costs of pollution and other damage.
Environment Minister John Baird was not available for comment, but said in a statement that the report "confirms that Canada's government is on the right track as it identifies that climate change, energy usage and clean accessible water ware some of the key challenges facing North America."
With files from the Star's wire services
Global Environment
HUMANITY'S SURVIVAL AT STAKE: UN
Report sends decision-makers 'urgent call for action' as climate and pollution crises intensify
Peter Gorrie
Environment Reporter
Earth's environment has tumbled downhill to the point where "humanity's very survival" is at stake, a branch of the United Nations said yesterday.
The response by governments, industries and individuals has been "woefully inadequate," states the latest Global Environment Outlook from the UN Environment Program.
World leaders must push the environment "to the core of decision-making" to tackle the worsening crisis, the outlook states.
"The need couldn't be more urgent and the time couldn't be more opportune, with our enhanced understanding of the challenges we face, to act now to safeguard our own survival and that of future generations."
The 572-page report was issued yesterday, 20 years after a commission headed by former Norwegian prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland published Our Common Culture, which urged a shift to "sustainable development."
During those two decades, progress has been achieved on a few "straightforward" problems such as local air and water pollution, the new outlook says.
But, "there are no major issues raised (in the 1987 document) for which the foreseeable trends are favourable. Failures include climate change, extinction of species, water shortages and destruction of ocean fish stocks."
Brundtland's commission recommended that, since they are so closely linked, the environment, economic and social issues must be integrated into any decisions about development, so it occurs in a way that protects the environment.
That hasn't happened, states the outlook, compiled by 390 experts from observations, studies and data gathered since 1987.
The result is not only that "in too many countries, environmental policy remains secondary to economic growth," but also that environmental degradation is undermining economic development and "threatens all aspects of human well-being."
"There have been enough wake-up calls since Brundtland. I sincerely hope (this) is the final one," UNEP executive director Achim Steiner said in London.
"The systematic destruction of the Earth's natural and nature-based resources has reached a point where the ... viability of economies is being challenged -- and where the bill we hand on to our children may prove impossible to pay."
The new report's authors state that their aim "is not to present a dark and gloomy scenario, but an urgent call for action."
But because the main environmental concerns are complex and there's little appetite for anything that upsets the status quo, solutions will be hard to come by, they say.
"The scale of the challenge is huge."
The report also calls for environmental justice -- "perhaps the greatest moral question emerging in relation to environmental change and sustainable development.
"Growing evidence indicates that the burden of environmental change is falling far from the greatest consumers of environmental resources, who experience the benefits of development."
Meanwhile, "people living in poverty in the developing world, suffer the negative effects of environmental degradation."
As well: "Costs of environmental degradation will be experienced by ... future generations."
Action is urgently required on all these issues, the report states. "Determined action now is cheaper than waiting for better solutions to emerge."
A major obstacle is resistance by governments and polluting industries, the outlook states.
"We appear to be living in an era in which the severity of environmental problems is increasing faster than our policy responses. To avoid the threat of catastrophic consequences in the future, we need new policy approaches."
It's crucial to move environmental concerns to the centre of decision-making. Instead of trying to clean up environmental damage, the focus should be on reducing the causes, including economic and population growth, ravenous resource consumption and social values, the report says.
That can be done through measures such as "green" taxes and economic measures that, unlike now, assign values to Earth's resources and the costs of pollution and other damage.
Environment Minister John Baird was not available for comment, but said in a statement that the report "confirms that Canada's government is on the right track as it identifies that climate change, energy usage and clean accessible water ware some of the key challenges facing North America."
With files from the Star's wire services
Biofuels
From the Monday, August 13, 2007, Metro, the Growing Green section, page 14:
Earth tones
These are dizzying times for biofuels
Sophia Dore & Andrew Laursen
earthtones.metrogmail.com
We have been following the discussions of alternative fuels with rapt attention for the past several years.
With terms like "carbon neutral" in connection to fuels swirling around our heads, these are dizzying times.
It seems like everyone in buying into the idea of biofuels, freeing us from the grasp of fossil fuels. Many governments are investing heavily, even those that so recently invested in denying carbon emissions were a problem. The domestic air travel industry, a disproportionately high emitter of carbon, is considering (among other strategies) a move to biofuels. Richard Branson of Virgin Airlines has even announced plans to fly an aircraft on biofuel by 2008.
Ethanol is made from a wide variety of plants, particularly corn and soybeans (Ontario's two biggest crops), and new ethanol plants are popping up each year. In Europe, ethanol is even distilled from less drinkable wines. Biodiesel can be made from any vegetable or animal oils, with the most promising sources, in terms of yield, being algae. If biofuels can be produced so readily, why hasn't anyone ever thought of this before? Oh, wait ...
The expression everything old is new again applies well to biofuels. Remember "gasohol" in the '80s? It is back, this time with much less fanfare, which I find surprising considering public interest in renewable fuels. Perhaps the marketing arms of petroleum companies think consumers will also remember gasohol, which was not a big hit the last time around. At most gas stations today, you will get a blend of ethanol (often 10 per cent) and gasoline.
The diesel engine was originally designed to run on vegetable oil. It still does. There are websites with recipes for homemade diesel. Occasionally, I am on the road and smell french fries. Suddenly hungry and searching for the source, I am dismayed to find it's only a diesel running on spent oil from a restaurant's fryer.
Although some newer gasoline engines will run on E85 ethanol (85 per cent ethanol by volume), and diesels can run on vegetable oil, the bulk of most commercially available fuels is still petroleum. That's worth remembering, as even the more environmentally friendly fuels available at filling stations (if you are able to find them) are not currently carbon neutral.
Can we achieve carbon neutrality using biofuels? It would be difficult. While you might want to kick the gas habit, do you want to buy a vehicle before the infrastructure exists to get fuel? And what incentive is there for a filling station to invest in infrastructure before there is a customer base? Biodiesel offers the greatest promise since current engines are already compatible with the fuel.
Should we try to achieve carbon neutrality using biofuels? How much land can be given over to producing crops for biofuels? This calculus will impact not only land available for growing food, but also land currently in non-agricultural use (such as forest). It would also impact nutrient management strategies. Growing crops for biofuels (like growing food crops) is fertilizer intensive. It often flies under the radar, but fertilizers (particularly nitrogen and phosphorus) can be major pollutants when they run off agricultural soil into aquatic ecosystems.
The potential benefits of biofuels are exciting. However, we should not be thinking of them as a straight-up replacement for fossil fuels. They could help us reduce carbon emissions, but conservation of fuels must stay in focus as we balance the need to reduce carbon emissions with the need to protect natural resources.
Andrew Laursen is an assistant professor in the department of chemistry and biology at Ryerson University and is a member of the environmental applied science and management program in graduate studies. His research is in the area of ecosystem ecology. Sophia Dore is an environmental scientist with Conestoga-Rovers & Associates, an environmental consulting company. Contact Andrew Laursen at earthtones.metro@g.mail.com .
Earth tones
These are dizzying times for biofuels
Sophia Dore & Andrew Laursen
earthtones.metrogmail.com
We have been following the discussions of alternative fuels with rapt attention for the past several years.
With terms like "carbon neutral" in connection to fuels swirling around our heads, these are dizzying times.
It seems like everyone in buying into the idea of biofuels, freeing us from the grasp of fossil fuels. Many governments are investing heavily, even those that so recently invested in denying carbon emissions were a problem. The domestic air travel industry, a disproportionately high emitter of carbon, is considering (among other strategies) a move to biofuels. Richard Branson of Virgin Airlines has even announced plans to fly an aircraft on biofuel by 2008.
Ethanol is made from a wide variety of plants, particularly corn and soybeans (Ontario's two biggest crops), and new ethanol plants are popping up each year. In Europe, ethanol is even distilled from less drinkable wines. Biodiesel can be made from any vegetable or animal oils, with the most promising sources, in terms of yield, being algae. If biofuels can be produced so readily, why hasn't anyone ever thought of this before? Oh, wait ...
The expression everything old is new again applies well to biofuels. Remember "gasohol" in the '80s? It is back, this time with much less fanfare, which I find surprising considering public interest in renewable fuels. Perhaps the marketing arms of petroleum companies think consumers will also remember gasohol, which was not a big hit the last time around. At most gas stations today, you will get a blend of ethanol (often 10 per cent) and gasoline.
The diesel engine was originally designed to run on vegetable oil. It still does. There are websites with recipes for homemade diesel. Occasionally, I am on the road and smell french fries. Suddenly hungry and searching for the source, I am dismayed to find it's only a diesel running on spent oil from a restaurant's fryer.
Although some newer gasoline engines will run on E85 ethanol (85 per cent ethanol by volume), and diesels can run on vegetable oil, the bulk of most commercially available fuels is still petroleum. That's worth remembering, as even the more environmentally friendly fuels available at filling stations (if you are able to find them) are not currently carbon neutral.
Can we achieve carbon neutrality using biofuels? It would be difficult. While you might want to kick the gas habit, do you want to buy a vehicle before the infrastructure exists to get fuel? And what incentive is there for a filling station to invest in infrastructure before there is a customer base? Biodiesel offers the greatest promise since current engines are already compatible with the fuel.
Should we try to achieve carbon neutrality using biofuels? How much land can be given over to producing crops for biofuels? This calculus will impact not only land available for growing food, but also land currently in non-agricultural use (such as forest). It would also impact nutrient management strategies. Growing crops for biofuels (like growing food crops) is fertilizer intensive. It often flies under the radar, but fertilizers (particularly nitrogen and phosphorus) can be major pollutants when they run off agricultural soil into aquatic ecosystems.
The potential benefits of biofuels are exciting. However, we should not be thinking of them as a straight-up replacement for fossil fuels. They could help us reduce carbon emissions, but conservation of fuels must stay in focus as we balance the need to reduce carbon emissions with the need to protect natural resources.
Andrew Laursen is an assistant professor in the department of chemistry and biology at Ryerson University and is a member of the environmental applied science and management program in graduate studies. His research is in the area of ecosystem ecology. Sophia Dore is an environmental scientist with Conestoga-Rovers & Associates, an environmental consulting company. Contact Andrew Laursen at earthtones.metro@g.mail.com .
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Don't Wash Car in Your Driveway: Use Car Wash or Rain
Now I thought leaving the rain to wash your car was the most eco-friendly thing to do, but if you must have a shiny car, the following article encourages you to go to a car wash, as it is an environmentally more friendly thing to do. This is from the Saturday, September 15, 2007, Living Section of the Toronto Star, page L13:
Enlightened Shopper
GO GREEN -- PAY FOR YOUR CAR WASH
Driveway hosing contaminates waterways, experts say
David Rider
Toronto Star
In the coming season, aptly named because half of nature suddenly falls down upon us, a car parked outside can quickly take on the appearance of a giant rolling chia pet.
The options are either clear leaves off the windows and pretend you're driving one of those vegetation-sprouting "art cars" or get the thing washed.
With nature literally staring you in the face, you're doing it a favour by running a hose on the driveway instead of putting your vehicle through one of those big commercial car washes, right?
Not so, say the Canadian Car Wash Association, environmental groups and the City of Toronto. While driveway washing may be cheap and, for many, a relaxing weekend ritual, it can unleash a nasty brew of gasoline, oil, exhaust residue and traces of heavy metals into storm sewers that discharge directly into Lake Ontario and other waterways.
Also, car wash equipment is carefully designed to use as little water as possible, typically about a quarter of the amount used in a driveway wash, experts say.
"There's no comparison -- washing a car at home is terrible for the environment, especially if you're doing it on a hard surface like a driveway where significant discharge runs right into storm sewers," says Kevin Mercer, a volunteer with Riversides Stewardship Alliance (riversides, org, 4116-868-1983), a Toronto-based group that fights water pollution.
Detritus from cars, including engine fluids and bits of brake pad, pollute water bodies and pose a risk to aquatic life, as do soapy detergents, Mercer says.
If commercial car washes got rid of their waste water the same way, they'be charged under city and provincial regulations. They must separate out solids, as well as grease and oil, for proper landfill disposal. The water left over goes down sanitation sewers that flow, like the ones in your home, to a city facility for treatment.
Mercer says community groups should find ways to raise funds other than holding charity car washes, unless they enlist the help of a commercial car wash or get use of a Latimat system (http://www.latimat.com/) that puts a pad under the vehicle to contain and collect the runoff.
Michael D'Andrea, the city's director of infrastructure management, says a multi-year plan to clean up waterways and the waterfront includes educating people not to put dirt and chemicals down storm drains -- so don't wash your car on a driveway.
If for some reason you have to wash it at home, he says, do it on a porous surface, such as your lawn, so runoff doesn't go into a storm sewer. When you're done, put the soapy water down your basement or laundry drain so it gets treated.
While homeowners who let soap and other runoff go down storm sewers could technically be fined under a city bylaw, officials opt for education, D'Andrea says.
He advises consumers to ask at their car wash if they recycle their water, reducing the amount they use while also decreasing the level of contaminants.
One self-serve car wash in Etobicoke, Wash N' Go (4000 Dundas St. W.), uses solar power to heat its water, though it is augmented by a boiler in winter.
"The biggest trend in our industry is really a green trend," says owner Vito Cosentino, who is also president of the industry's national association.
"Solar is great for us -- we reduce utility costs and use it as a tool to market the business."
Asked about other industry trends, Cosentino mentions one that's about cleaning up another type of environment.
"We have a fragrance machine to get smells out of cars and we get an incredible amount of traffic from teenagers at 1 a.m. trying to mask the smell of cigarette or pot smoke from dad's car."
David Rider is an editor at the Star. Reach him at drider@thestar.ca .
Enlightened Shopper
GO GREEN -- PAY FOR YOUR CAR WASH
Driveway hosing contaminates waterways, experts say
David Rider
Toronto Star
In the coming season, aptly named because half of nature suddenly falls down upon us, a car parked outside can quickly take on the appearance of a giant rolling chia pet.
The options are either clear leaves off the windows and pretend you're driving one of those vegetation-sprouting "art cars" or get the thing washed.
With nature literally staring you in the face, you're doing it a favour by running a hose on the driveway instead of putting your vehicle through one of those big commercial car washes, right?
Not so, say the Canadian Car Wash Association, environmental groups and the City of Toronto. While driveway washing may be cheap and, for many, a relaxing weekend ritual, it can unleash a nasty brew of gasoline, oil, exhaust residue and traces of heavy metals into storm sewers that discharge directly into Lake Ontario and other waterways.
Also, car wash equipment is carefully designed to use as little water as possible, typically about a quarter of the amount used in a driveway wash, experts say.
"There's no comparison -- washing a car at home is terrible for the environment, especially if you're doing it on a hard surface like a driveway where significant discharge runs right into storm sewers," says Kevin Mercer, a volunteer with Riversides Stewardship Alliance (riversides, org, 4116-868-1983), a Toronto-based group that fights water pollution.
Detritus from cars, including engine fluids and bits of brake pad, pollute water bodies and pose a risk to aquatic life, as do soapy detergents, Mercer says.
If commercial car washes got rid of their waste water the same way, they'be charged under city and provincial regulations. They must separate out solids, as well as grease and oil, for proper landfill disposal. The water left over goes down sanitation sewers that flow, like the ones in your home, to a city facility for treatment.
Mercer says community groups should find ways to raise funds other than holding charity car washes, unless they enlist the help of a commercial car wash or get use of a Latimat system (http://www.latimat.com/) that puts a pad under the vehicle to contain and collect the runoff.
Michael D'Andrea, the city's director of infrastructure management, says a multi-year plan to clean up waterways and the waterfront includes educating people not to put dirt and chemicals down storm drains -- so don't wash your car on a driveway.
If for some reason you have to wash it at home, he says, do it on a porous surface, such as your lawn, so runoff doesn't go into a storm sewer. When you're done, put the soapy water down your basement or laundry drain so it gets treated.
While homeowners who let soap and other runoff go down storm sewers could technically be fined under a city bylaw, officials opt for education, D'Andrea says.
He advises consumers to ask at their car wash if they recycle their water, reducing the amount they use while also decreasing the level of contaminants.
One self-serve car wash in Etobicoke, Wash N' Go (4000 Dundas St. W.), uses solar power to heat its water, though it is augmented by a boiler in winter.
"The biggest trend in our industry is really a green trend," says owner Vito Cosentino, who is also president of the industry's national association.
"Solar is great for us -- we reduce utility costs and use it as a tool to market the business."
Asked about other industry trends, Cosentino mentions one that's about cleaning up another type of environment.
"We have a fragrance machine to get smells out of cars and we get an incredible amount of traffic from teenagers at 1 a.m. trying to mask the smell of cigarette or pot smoke from dad's car."
David Rider is an editor at the Star. Reach him at drider@thestar.ca .
Looking for a green event to participate in? Then check the calendar on ZeroFootPrint: http://www.zerofootprint.net/events . Events for November 10th, 2007, are listed below as an example of the worldwide listings.
2007-11-10
Beyond Green: Toward a Sustainable Art
Greencastle, Indiana, United States
Beyond Green: Toward a Sustainable Art explores how this design philosophy resonates with an emerging generation of international artists who combine a fresh aesthetic sensibility with a constructively critical approach to the production, dissemination, and display of art.
Organizer: Richard E. Peeler Art Center at DePauw University
Venue: Richard E. Peeler Art Center at DePauw University
2007-11-10
Wind Power Systems
Machynlleth, Powys, United Kingdom
This course is suitable for those interested in buying and installing an aerogenerator as well as for those with a general interest in the subject.
Organizer: Centre for Alternative Technology
Venue: Centre for Alternative Technology
2007-11-10
Les Respirations
Enghien-les-Bains, France
Speakers will debate around the theme of air quality, both indoor and outdoor at this event.
2007-11-10
Landscape Functions and People: Applying Strategic Planning Approaches for Good Natural Resource Governance
Bangkok, Thailand
The course offers participants an opportunity to familiarise themselves with current practices for landscape-level planning approaches.
Organizer: Wageningen International and Recoft
2007-11-10
PV Design Online
United States
This course is for the person who is interested in learning how to produce their own electricity from the sun.
Organizer: Solar Energy International
Venue: Online
2007-11-10
Forty-third Session of the International Tropical Timber Council and Associated Sessions of the Committees
Yokohama, Japan
Come and join the Forty-third Session of the International Tropical Timber Council and Associated Sessions of the Committees.
Organizer: International Tropical Timber Organization
2007-11-10
Advanced PV Online
United States
This course is designed to follow the PV Design & Installation workshop or the PV Design Online course with the next level of design criteria and maintenance issues.
Organizer: Solar Energy International
Venue: Online
2007-11-10
Celebrating Women & the Spirit of the Cranes
Delta, British Columbia, Canada
Nominate a women who represents the qualities associated with women and cranes-industriousness, loyalty, longevity, good fortune and gifted in handiwork. Nominations open in the Arts, Business, Community Spirit, Education, Science & Technology, and Fledgling Chick (women 30 or younger).
Organizer: Burns Bog Conservation Society
2007-11-10
Third International Conference on Rural Development
Kaunas City, Lithuania
Third international scientific conference on RURAL DEVELOPMENT 2007 This Conference is dedicated to the presentation of results in research of economical, managerial, social,technological, ecological, environmental aspects.
Organizer: Lithuanian University of Agriculture
2007-11-10
Ecomondo 2007
Rimini, Italy
Ecomondo has strengthened the original project - Ricicla - by in-depth coverage of the numerous issues linked with the concept of ‘environmental sustainability'.
Organizer: RiminiFiera
Venue: Expo Centre
2007-11-10
Euromoney and Ernst & Young Global Renewable Energy Awards
London, England
Now in its fourth year, the awards were established to recognise the projects, companies and individuals who contributed the most to take the industry forward and demonstrated best practice in renewable energy finance and development.
Organizer: Euromoney Energy Events
Venue: Riverbank Plaza
2007-11-10
San Francisco Green Festival
San Francisco, California, United States
What will you find at the Green Festival? Tasty food, great music, and 300 green businesses as well as films, workshops, yoga and other types of movement classes.
Organizer: Global Exchange and Co-op America
Venue: San Francisco Concourse Exhibition Center
2007-11-10
Sustainable Innovation Summit
Glendale, Arizona, United States
The Thunderbird Sustainable Innovation Summit is pleased to host global thought leaders from academia, Fortune 500 companies, and sustainable development organizations to shape the future of sustainable innovation.
Organizer: Thunderbird School of Global Management
2007-11-10
Califia Sketchbook Design Competition
United States
The purpose of developing the Califia Sketchbook Design Competition is to express to a wide variety of people what life will be like in Califia, a proposed next generation eco-city.
Organizer: Green Century Institute
2007-11-10
Off-Grid Systems for Professionals
Hopland, California, United States
This two-day advanced class in off-grid PV covers the complex world of hybrid power systems, which integrate multiple energy sources (PV, wind power, small hydro, and generators) to satisfy the electrical demand of off-grid sites.
Organizer: Solar Living Institute
Venue: Solar Living Center
2007-11-10
Black Creek Pioneer Village is Open
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Activities and events take place all year long at the historic village.
Organizer: Black Creek Pioneer Village
Venue: Black Creek Pioneer Village
2007-11-10
University District Farmers Market
Seattle, Washington, United States
The University District Farmers Market is Seattle's oldest and largest "farmers-only" neighborhood market. Founded in 1993, this Saturday market offers a place for more than 50 Washington State farmers to sell their fresh produce and quality products each week.
Organizer: Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance
Venue: University District Farmers Market
2007-11-10
HomeStreet Bank Tree Challenge
Puget Sound, WA, US
The HomeStreet Bank Tree Challenge is a program to plant trees in the Puget Sound region.
Organizer: HomeStreet Bank, Cascade Land Conservancy, Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust, Capitol Land Trust and Friends of the Hylebos
2007-11-10
Launch of Kerr Village Organic Farmer's Market
Oakville, ON, CA
Launch of new Oakville market! An open-air market featuring fresh in-season produce from sustainable farms, all within 150 km, prepared artisanal meats, & cheeses,holitics, arts & crafts, speakers and info tables on sustainable living, food preparation, preservation & nutrition, social issues and plety of children's activities.
Organizer: Canadian Organic Growers, Slow Food Canada
Venue: Kerr Village Organic Farmer's Market
2007-11-10
Laughter Gone Wild!
Banff, Alberta, Canada
Laughter Gone Wild! is Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative's signature comedy night.
Organizer: Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative
Venue: Eric Harvie Theatre and Banff Centre
2007-11-10
Whole Village Ecovillage Workbee
Caledon, Ontario, Canada
Work Bees are held monthly. All members, friends, guests and anyone interested in spending a day doing a variety of hands on work with genial forks in a gorgeous country setting are welcome to attend.
Organizer: Whole Village
Venue: Whole Village
2007-11-10
Beyond Green: Toward a Sustainable Art
Greencastle, Indiana, United States
Beyond Green: Toward a Sustainable Art explores how this design philosophy resonates with an emerging generation of international artists who combine a fresh aesthetic sensibility with a constructively critical approach to the production, dissemination, and display of art.
Organizer: Richard E. Peeler Art Center at DePauw University
Venue: Richard E. Peeler Art Center at DePauw University
2007-11-10
Wind Power Systems
Machynlleth, Powys, United Kingdom
This course is suitable for those interested in buying and installing an aerogenerator as well as for those with a general interest in the subject.
Organizer: Centre for Alternative Technology
Venue: Centre for Alternative Technology
2007-11-10
Les Respirations
Enghien-les-Bains, France
Speakers will debate around the theme of air quality, both indoor and outdoor at this event.
2007-11-10
Landscape Functions and People: Applying Strategic Planning Approaches for Good Natural Resource Governance
Bangkok, Thailand
The course offers participants an opportunity to familiarise themselves with current practices for landscape-level planning approaches.
Organizer: Wageningen International and Recoft
2007-11-10
PV Design Online
United States
This course is for the person who is interested in learning how to produce their own electricity from the sun.
Organizer: Solar Energy International
Venue: Online
2007-11-10
Forty-third Session of the International Tropical Timber Council and Associated Sessions of the Committees
Yokohama, Japan
Come and join the Forty-third Session of the International Tropical Timber Council and Associated Sessions of the Committees.
Organizer: International Tropical Timber Organization
2007-11-10
Advanced PV Online
United States
This course is designed to follow the PV Design & Installation workshop or the PV Design Online course with the next level of design criteria and maintenance issues.
Organizer: Solar Energy International
Venue: Online
2007-11-10
Celebrating Women & the Spirit of the Cranes
Delta, British Columbia, Canada
Nominate a women who represents the qualities associated with women and cranes-industriousness, loyalty, longevity, good fortune and gifted in handiwork. Nominations open in the Arts, Business, Community Spirit, Education, Science & Technology, and Fledgling Chick (women 30 or younger).
Organizer: Burns Bog Conservation Society
2007-11-10
Third International Conference on Rural Development
Kaunas City, Lithuania
Third international scientific conference on RURAL DEVELOPMENT 2007 This Conference is dedicated to the presentation of results in research of economical, managerial, social,technological, ecological, environmental aspects.
Organizer: Lithuanian University of Agriculture
2007-11-10
Ecomondo 2007
Rimini, Italy
Ecomondo has strengthened the original project - Ricicla - by in-depth coverage of the numerous issues linked with the concept of ‘environmental sustainability'.
Organizer: RiminiFiera
Venue: Expo Centre
2007-11-10
Euromoney and Ernst & Young Global Renewable Energy Awards
London, England
Now in its fourth year, the awards were established to recognise the projects, companies and individuals who contributed the most to take the industry forward and demonstrated best practice in renewable energy finance and development.
Organizer: Euromoney Energy Events
Venue: Riverbank Plaza
2007-11-10
San Francisco Green Festival
San Francisco, California, United States
What will you find at the Green Festival? Tasty food, great music, and 300 green businesses as well as films, workshops, yoga and other types of movement classes.
Organizer: Global Exchange and Co-op America
Venue: San Francisco Concourse Exhibition Center
2007-11-10
Sustainable Innovation Summit
Glendale, Arizona, United States
The Thunderbird Sustainable Innovation Summit is pleased to host global thought leaders from academia, Fortune 500 companies, and sustainable development organizations to shape the future of sustainable innovation.
Organizer: Thunderbird School of Global Management
2007-11-10
Califia Sketchbook Design Competition
United States
The purpose of developing the Califia Sketchbook Design Competition is to express to a wide variety of people what life will be like in Califia, a proposed next generation eco-city.
Organizer: Green Century Institute
2007-11-10
Off-Grid Systems for Professionals
Hopland, California, United States
This two-day advanced class in off-grid PV covers the complex world of hybrid power systems, which integrate multiple energy sources (PV, wind power, small hydro, and generators) to satisfy the electrical demand of off-grid sites.
Organizer: Solar Living Institute
Venue: Solar Living Center
2007-11-10
Black Creek Pioneer Village is Open
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Activities and events take place all year long at the historic village.
Organizer: Black Creek Pioneer Village
Venue: Black Creek Pioneer Village
2007-11-10
University District Farmers Market
Seattle, Washington, United States
The University District Farmers Market is Seattle's oldest and largest "farmers-only" neighborhood market. Founded in 1993, this Saturday market offers a place for more than 50 Washington State farmers to sell their fresh produce and quality products each week.
Organizer: Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance
Venue: University District Farmers Market
2007-11-10
HomeStreet Bank Tree Challenge
Puget Sound, WA, US
The HomeStreet Bank Tree Challenge is a program to plant trees in the Puget Sound region.
Organizer: HomeStreet Bank, Cascade Land Conservancy, Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust, Capitol Land Trust and Friends of the Hylebos
2007-11-10
Launch of Kerr Village Organic Farmer's Market
Oakville, ON, CA
Launch of new Oakville market! An open-air market featuring fresh in-season produce from sustainable farms, all within 150 km, prepared artisanal meats, & cheeses,holitics, arts & crafts, speakers and info tables on sustainable living, food preparation, preservation & nutrition, social issues and plety of children's activities.
Organizer: Canadian Organic Growers, Slow Food Canada
Venue: Kerr Village Organic Farmer's Market
2007-11-10
Laughter Gone Wild!
Banff, Alberta, Canada
Laughter Gone Wild! is Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative's signature comedy night.
Organizer: Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative
Venue: Eric Harvie Theatre and Banff Centre
2007-11-10
Whole Village Ecovillage Workbee
Caledon, Ontario, Canada
Work Bees are held monthly. All members, friends, guests and anyone interested in spending a day doing a variety of hands on work with genial forks in a gorgeous country setting are welcome to attend.
Organizer: Whole Village
Venue: Whole Village
Friday, November 2, 2007
High Level of Investment in Clean Technologies
Here is a green technology investment article from the Business section of the Friday, October 26, 2007, Toronto Star:
Investment in 'clean' technologies at record high
Tyler Hamilton
Energy Reporter
Canadian companies with technologies that reduce waste, lower energy consumption, and keep greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere received a record amount of venture capital investment in the third quarter of 2007.
But some industry experts are calling it a one-off blip, rather than the start of a trend.
About $109 million was invested in Canadian clean technology companies in the third quarter, about 85 per cent higher than the first two quarters of 2007, according to figures released yesterday by the Cleantech Network at the opening of its two-day venture campital conference in Toronto.
Robin Louis, chair of the Canadian Venture Capital Association, said the positive quarter hids the fact that investment in Canadian clean technology companies as an overall share of venture capital is shrinking, while in the United States the share is growing -- now representing one out of every five venture capital deals.
"I'd say the industry in Canada is not healthy," Louis said. "It's a typical Canadian approach, not jumping on a great opportunity, when we should."
Overall, venture capital investments in North American and European clean technology companies hit $1.74 billion in the recent quarter, bringing the year-to-date investment to $3.64 billion -- 13 per cent higher than last year.
Most of the money went to energy generation technologies such as solar and biofuels, though there was also a big jump in water technologies.
There is demand for clean technology. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which has a goal of operating with 100 per cent renewable energy and zero waste, co-launched a new Web portal yesterday that clean technology compaies can use to pitch their products to the world's largest retailer. While interested in saving itself money, Wal-Mart also wants to become a global showcase for technologies that work.
Investment in 'clean' technologies at record high
Tyler Hamilton
Energy Reporter
Canadian companies with technologies that reduce waste, lower energy consumption, and keep greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere received a record amount of venture capital investment in the third quarter of 2007.
But some industry experts are calling it a one-off blip, rather than the start of a trend.
About $109 million was invested in Canadian clean technology companies in the third quarter, about 85 per cent higher than the first two quarters of 2007, according to figures released yesterday by the Cleantech Network at the opening of its two-day venture campital conference in Toronto.
Robin Louis, chair of the Canadian Venture Capital Association, said the positive quarter hids the fact that investment in Canadian clean technology companies as an overall share of venture capital is shrinking, while in the United States the share is growing -- now representing one out of every five venture capital deals.
"I'd say the industry in Canada is not healthy," Louis said. "It's a typical Canadian approach, not jumping on a great opportunity, when we should."
Overall, venture capital investments in North American and European clean technology companies hit $1.74 billion in the recent quarter, bringing the year-to-date investment to $3.64 billion -- 13 per cent higher than last year.
Most of the money went to energy generation technologies such as solar and biofuels, though there was also a big jump in water technologies.
There is demand for clean technology. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which has a goal of operating with 100 per cent renewable energy and zero waste, co-launched a new Web portal yesterday that clean technology compaies can use to pitch their products to the world's largest retailer. While interested in saving itself money, Wal-Mart also wants to become a global showcase for technologies that work.
Gas Prices Falling Equals Obesity Rates Higher
This article is in the Business section of the Friday, September 14, 2007, Toronto Star, page B3. It shows a correlation between obesity rates and falling gas prices. Though it may do nothing for our finances, higher gas prices may be better for our health and the health of the environment.
RESEARCHER LINKS GAS PRICE, OBESITY
Commuters more likely to walk, bike or take transit when costs rice
Michael Babad
Business Reporter
High gasoline prices may prompt people to tighten their belts in more ways than one, a U.S. economics researcher has found.
Studying average U.S. state fuel prices and U.S. government-reported health trends, Charles Courtemanche, a PhD student in health economics in his final year at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., found high pump prices can bring lower obesity rates.
"My finding is that when gas prices rise, there does seem to be some reduction in body weight and in obesity as a result," Courtemanche, 27, said from St. Louis. "Everyone's miserable about the high gas prices, so here's kind of a little silver lining in the story."
Courtemanche wrote in his study "that a $1 (U.S.) increase in gas prices would, after three years, reduce U.S. obesity by approximately 15 per cent, saving 16,000 lives and $17 billion per year."
The study, A Silver Living? The Connection Between Gasoline Prices and Obesity, also estimated that 13 per cent of the jump in obesity in the United States between 1979 and 2004 was attributable to a drop in real gas prices.
High gas prices, he said, may prompt people to switch from driving vehicles to walking, biking or using public transit, which involves walking to and from a bus or rail stop.
As well, higher gas prices may prompt more people to eat at home more, rather than at restaurants, and home meals tend to be healthier, his study said.
Courtemanche's findings were based on U.S. research. He has never been to Canada, but he would expect his results to be about the same.
"I would think generally, the magnitudes, might be slightly different," he said. "For example, if it's colder and snowier up there, walking might be a little less feasible, that sort of thing."
Courtemanche, whose commute is 30 minutes, got the idea when he was pumping gas, thinking he may need to consider switching to the Metro, the ground and elevated transit system in St. Louis.
Courtemanche's research has also sparked some chatter in the United States.
"I've already been getting hate mail from people thinking that I'm trying to call for further increases in gas prices or something like that, which is definitely not the case," he said.
RESEARCHER LINKS GAS PRICE, OBESITY
Commuters more likely to walk, bike or take transit when costs rice
Michael Babad
Business Reporter
High gasoline prices may prompt people to tighten their belts in more ways than one, a U.S. economics researcher has found.
Studying average U.S. state fuel prices and U.S. government-reported health trends, Charles Courtemanche, a PhD student in health economics in his final year at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., found high pump prices can bring lower obesity rates.
"My finding is that when gas prices rise, there does seem to be some reduction in body weight and in obesity as a result," Courtemanche, 27, said from St. Louis. "Everyone's miserable about the high gas prices, so here's kind of a little silver lining in the story."
Courtemanche wrote in his study "that a $1 (U.S.) increase in gas prices would, after three years, reduce U.S. obesity by approximately 15 per cent, saving 16,000 lives and $17 billion per year."
The study, A Silver Living? The Connection Between Gasoline Prices and Obesity, also estimated that 13 per cent of the jump in obesity in the United States between 1979 and 2004 was attributable to a drop in real gas prices.
High gas prices, he said, may prompt people to switch from driving vehicles to walking, biking or using public transit, which involves walking to and from a bus or rail stop.
As well, higher gas prices may prompt more people to eat at home more, rather than at restaurants, and home meals tend to be healthier, his study said.
Courtemanche's findings were based on U.S. research. He has never been to Canada, but he would expect his results to be about the same.
"I would think generally, the magnitudes, might be slightly different," he said. "For example, if it's colder and snowier up there, walking might be a little less feasible, that sort of thing."
Courtemanche, whose commute is 30 minutes, got the idea when he was pumping gas, thinking he may need to consider switching to the Metro, the ground and elevated transit system in St. Louis.
Courtemanche's research has also sparked some chatter in the United States.
"I've already been getting hate mail from people thinking that I'm trying to call for further increases in gas prices or something like that, which is definitely not the case," he said.
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