Activist organization Greenpeace publishes periodically a “Guide to greener electronics”. The guide attempts to rank top electronics manufacturers according to their “policies on toxic chemicals, recycling, and climate change”. I have written about this ranking earlier, it showed Nokia as the greenest company and Nintendo on the bottom of the list.

In October 2010 Greenpeace released their updated ranking, here are some excerpts for some companies including their “green score” (10 is best, 0 is worst).

1. Nokia   (Score: 7.5)
2. Sony-Ericsson (6.9)
3. Philips (5.5)
4. Hewlett Packard (5.5)
5. Samsung (5.3)
…
16. Toshiba (4.3)
17. Microsoft (1.9)
18.Nintendo (1.8)

Looking at this list unscientifically I cannot see an obvious connection between sales success of a company and “greenness”. The top contenders do well in the markets, but the low ranked companies seem to do very well too. Microsoft is certainly making lots of money, Nintendo is my son’s favorite. So, is it fair to say that being green is an insignificant factor for overall sales success?

I think so. Availability of a favorite game or ability to play games with friends is important to many kids, sustainability is not. Does this change with the age of the consumer? Apparently not, features and coolness (think Apple’s product line) seem to be more important than qualities like energy efficiency or sustainable  practices  in production.

There might be exceptions to this observation. Some products sell because they are deemed to be green (think about a Prius Hybrid for a moment). Still, consumers might choose these products more to make a statement than for its green features.

But I do have one hope: What if there is a company that delivers cool and feature rich products made in a very green way? Will this combo sell?

Claus Schafhalter, Sunogos

There are still many challenges to overcome to make electric cars ubiquitous. We need a charging infrastructure preferably based on renewable energy as opposed to electricity generated by fossil fuels. We need to bring the electricity for charging to the spots where cars are recharged, which brings new challenges to the electric grid and to the connections to homes and businesses.

Still, it seems that most of these challenges can be addressed with technology that is available today. However, the weak link today is the energy storage medium, the battery powering the electric car.

Have a look at energy density:

• Wh/kg — Watthours per kilogram as indicator of how much energy is stored per unit of weight
• Wh / L — Watthour per liter as  indicator of how much energy is stored per unit of volume.

These numbers show that you need much more weight and volume to carry around when you want to drive an all electric car as opposed to a conventional gasoline car if you want to go the same distance without refueling stop.

Now, there are some mitigating factors: Internal combustion engines are inherently inefficient compared to electric motors, and while the energy density of gasoline has turned out to be stable for decades, batteries became much better and technological advancements are expected to continue. Combine this with charging stations at home, at work, at shopping centers, and other places, the Achilles’ heel of poor energy density for batteries might just become manageable.

Claus Schafhalter, Management Consultant @ Sunogos

A little known program to jump start solar energy projects on public land is a huge failure, according to an AP report “Feds fail to use land for solar power”.

In 2005 the U.S. congress mandated that by 2015 10 megawatts of renewable energy at peak time should be generated on public land.  The U.S. Bureau of Land Management set aside stretches of public land primarily in the south-west of the U.S., but so far not a single project delivered energy to the grid.

The idea was to provide land to private developers who would in turn build energy farms. Interestingly many of the leases for the land went to a firm better known for its role in the financial meltdown than its role as leader in renewable energy: A subsidiary of Goldman Sachs!

So, how did the Bureau of Land Management “manage” the process? All an interested party had to do was fill out an application, pay a fee and file development plans. Apparently the filings were not evaluated for technical or financial feasibility. And the applicants did not have to show that they are capable and willing to develop the sites.

So, many of the country’s best sites for alternative energy production have claims on it by organizations unable or unwilling to develop. This land is effectively taken away for productive alternative energy use, the total opposite of the intentions that Congress formulated in 2005.

Just to let yo know: In the same time period when the Bureau of Land Management managed to not manage alternative energy leases, the agency approved more than 75,000 leases for oil and gas. Which clearly shows where the priorities are.

So, can anyone explain to me why the Federal Bureau for Land Management leases sites to develop renewable energy generation to entities closely affiliated with the likes of Goldman Sachs?

Claus Schafhalter, Management Consultant @ Sunogos

There are many new wind projects under way, in the US and world wide.

What is said to be the world largest wind energy project is started in California’s Mojave Desert. Once completed as planned, the Alta Wind Energy Center (AWEC) will have the ability to generate 1,550 MW. Project proponents also claim that 3,000 jobs will be created. $1.2 billion are said to be injected into the local economy in Kern County, California.

Meanwhile in British Columbia, Canada, BC Hydro acquired about 3,300 GWh/year of clean energy.  Six wind power projects account for almost half of the clean energy, 434 GWh/year from Tumbler Ridge project by Capital Power Corp., 237 GWh/year form Meikle Wind project, and the rest from four smaller ones.

Portugal, EU, seems to be more than one step ahead. An initiative to reduce Portugal’s dependence on imported fossil fuels, started 5 years ago, shows results. In 2010, almost 45% of Portugal’s electricity will come from renewables. Land based wind power is deemed to be potentially competitive with fossil fuels this year, according to the International Energy Agency in Paris. And land based wind power generation  has expanded seven fold within 5 years.

But as you  can see, wind energy still has no price advantage when compared to energy generated by fossil fuels. The US average residential retail price for electricity was 11.75 cents in April 2010. This price to consumers includes a majority of electricity generated by conventional not renewable means. Wind project “Cape Wind”, Massachusetts, reportedly sold its proposed electricity for 18.7 cents per kWh to National Grid. This premium for renewable energy leaves the door wide open for critics of alternative energy and proponents of oil, gas and coal.

There is no silver bullet. Costs of renewable energy generation might come down, but as long as we do not include environmental costs into all forms of energy, renewable energy will stay to have a price disadvantage compared to fossil fuels.

Claus Schafhalter, Management Consultant @ Sunogos

It is no secret that many cities in Europe are bike-friendly, with dedicated bike lanes, paths solely for use by bicyclists, and generally a higher acceptance of bicycle in general traffic.

Still, if you are a person of the more lazy kind, the idea to work out just to get to work or do your shopping, might not be that appealing to  you.

Bring on the E-Bike, a (usually) two-wheeler powered by a small electric motor (and still by your muscles in many cases).

Stuttgart, Germany, known as the city where the Mercedes cars come from, will have a meet of 500 e-bikers on July 4th. This seems to be the biggest e-biker event so far. In Austria, the state of Upper Austria has a successful program to spread e-bikes to its citizens. Applicants can get a small subsidy from the state and enjoy their effortless movements.

Many holiday regions offer e-bikes for rent to discover scenic routes. I remember years ago when my family did a vacation bicycling from Passau to Vienna along the river of Danube. Although the route follows the river downwards all the time, there are many hills and side-trips where the help of an electric motor would have been very welcome. So why not try it out on you next vacation?

Sure, the e-bike will not solve our carbon addiction and use of fossil fuels for most of our transportation needs, but it is a small step into the right direction and has the ability to make m0re people comfortable with electric propulsion.

Claus Schafhalter, Management Consultant @ Sunogos

Many builders attending the National Green Building Conference stated that they have been able to sell sustainably built homes considerably faster than the traditionally built new homes that have been languishing in today’s tough market. Especially energy efficiency remains the feature most important to consumers interested in green buildings.

Good news is also that the price gap between green and standard housing is closing, helped along by tax and other incentives.

One of the problems builders have is to get the green features appraised correctly. If appraisers do not factor in the value of green features, the loan a potential buyer can get will be lower and maybe not sufficient to buy the house. And this in spite the savings in monthly expenditures, which means that borrowers are able to pay somewhat higher mortgage payments instead of spending the money on higher utility bills.

Does building green pay off? Research is still in its infancy, but there are numbers cited that each Dollar in annual energy savings adds $20 to the value of a house.

If this holds true, then we have another example where doing the right thing for our environment is also the right thing for our pocket books.

Claus Schafhalter, Management Consultant @ Sunogos

Nantucket / Massachusetts gets the first US off shore wind-energy farm, and many don’t like it. Germany switches on the “Alpha Ventus” wind park located in the North Sea, they celebrate it.  And off the coast of Louisiana an oil spill threatens nature and the livelihood of  fishermen and oyster farmers.

What is going on in our country? I hear so many people say we need to switch to renewable energy, but the necessary wind turbine should of course be built in the neighbor’s backyard, not in our backyard. On NPR I heard the concern that because the Nantucket wind farm uses an oil cooled transformer positioned in the water, there is the risk that 150,000 l (40,000 gallons) transformer oil spill into Nantucket Sound — if something goes wrong!

In the waters off New Orleans something went wrong. An oil drill platform exploded and sank, and the oil well is spilling oil. The latest estimate is that about 800,000 l (210,000 gallons) oil per day leak into the sea. This is more oil spilled each and every day than the oil-content of seven wind-energy transformer stations!

We need to start to take alternative energy sources seriously. Wind energy, Solar energy and other sources do have their disadvantages. Cost compared to fossil fuels might be the biggest one. And yes, environmental concerns need to be addressed too. But we should not think that doing nothing and relying on fossil fuels does not harm our environment. On the contrary!

Claus Schafhalter, Management Consultant @ Sunogos

In a press release today Google is said to lead the charge against tougher energy efficiency standards for data centers. Google? Is this not the company touting green initiatives and trying to not be evil?

It is worth to dig a little deeper into this issue. Data centers house tons of heat producing computer equipment, and in order to run reliably data centers need a lot of cooling. Data centers consume lots of energy, on the one side to power computer equipment to generate heat (okay, they consume energy to process data and generate heat as a by-product), and on the other side to cool down the stuff. Our lean trained minds would gear our efforts to reduce the heat in the first place, thus saving energy to drive the computers and saving energy by using less cooling. And in all fairness manufactures and data center owners try to go that route.

Back to topic: An organization dubbed ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers) proposed amendments to its efficiency standard for buildings dealing with cooling for data centers. Google, and executives from companies like Microsoft, Nokia, Amazon, and others charge that these standards prescribe how to do cooling (the method), as opposed to setting goals that need to be achieved regardless of the method used. ASHRAE is said to mandate certain equipment. The method (equipment) prescribed may not always be the most efficient or most effective. And the mandate does not accommodate innovations that could be much more environmentally friendly.

Here is my take: As an organization with the power to regulate, set goals and criteria. Let innovative engineers come up with the best methods how to accomplish these goals. Prescribing methods might be good for a few equipment manufacturers, prescribing (reasonable) goals will have a much more powerful impact in reducing power consumption in data centers.

Claus Schafhalter, Management Consultant @ Sunogos

2009  Microsoft and Intel commissioned a study looking at environmental benefits of digital media compared to old school CD (or vinyl albums, do you still remember?). Researcher at Stanford came to the conclusion that there are energy– and CO2 savings between 40% and 80% when music is distributed digitally as compared to sending CDs.

Another study done by Climate Partner finds that CO2 emissions resulting from sending proofs for ads can be reduced by up to 75% when an online portal is used as opposed to sending via snail mail.

And as can be easily shown the shifts are already under way. Did you buy a music CD at the store or did you download from Amazon or Itunes? Did you use an old fashioned ad in the newspaper to sell your used car or did you post on Craigslist?

The new crop of e-readers like the Kindle and tablets like HP’s Slate or Apple’s iPad enable consuming media digitally instead of printing and delivering books. That saves energy and trees.

To get the most out of this shift I would like to see the manufacturer of our digital devices to emphasis more on sustainability, energy savings, and ability to recycle. If you agree, you can start here!

Claus Schafhalter, Management Consultant @ Sunogos