Month: December 2021

As the headline image showcases above, that’s my overriding perspective fresh from attending COP26 and the Social Innovation Forum, and in many ways we saw Gen Z lighting the way – some incredible youth leadership on show! And this all supported by expanded awareness of key issues, for example levels of E-waste anticipated to double by 2050, a renewed global appreciation of the power of the collective, the rise of conscious consumerism, deepened focus on supply chains, reflection on individual, organizational and brand purpose, and all alongside enhanced technological solutions and convergence too …. the list of catalyst vectors just goes on! Indeed, embedding sustainability considerations by design is now an imperative to business success and competitive advantage, the very definition and actualization of you ‘can do well by doing good’.

Flowserve is committed to our purpose of making the world better, together. We will continue to adapt, innovate and deliver for current and future generations by addressing environmental, social and governance (ESG) areas through our sustainability program.  Our sustainability program has three key objectives – valuing our people, protecting the planet and promoting operational excellence. These three objectives serve as our guide as we reduce our environmental footprint and advance technologies that support energy transition, build a safe and inclusive culture for our associates, contribute to our communities, and maintain strong governance practices and drive efficient business processes.

Crowley Maritime Corp. is the latest shipper committed to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.  The Jacksonville, Florida-based company announced it submitted its emissions-reduction targets, which include scope 1 (direct), scope 2 (indirect) and scope 3 (all other) emissions, to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) Tuesday.  “On emissions, admittedly this is a bold goal, and we need to ensure our goal and targets are credible. This is why we are submitting our interim targets to reduce emissions through the SBTi, which is the world’s expert on validating companies’ methodologies on emissions targets to include monitoring progress along the way to net-zero,” Alisa Praskovich, vice president of sustainability at Crowley, told FreightWaves.  In October, SBTi released a global standard for setting credible net-zero targets backed by climate science. Crowley is expecting its net-zero target to be approved by SBTi in the next few months.

The 46-year-old fashion magnate and art collector successfully launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan along with his assistant Yozo Hirano, who will document the journey, as well as Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin. Medicago’s plant-based vaccine trial shows 75.3% efficacy against Delta variant Canadian drug developer Medicago’s plant-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate, enhanced by GlaxoSmithKline’s booster, was 75.3% effective against the Delta variant of the virus in a late stage study, the two companies said on Tuesday.

The Harrisburg-based Appalachian Chapter of the Audubon Society now accepting applications for a scholarship for students ages 14-17 to Audubon’s Hog Island Camp in Maine. The deadline for applications is January 21.  Hog Island Audubon Camp in Maine provides an opportunity for enthusiastic young birders to connect with people their own age, learn field identification and explore bird ecology from talented educators on an amazing island.  Primary scholarship consideration will be given to applicants who reside within the Chapters zip codes.

The sustainability culture at CHEP, a global leader in pallet and container pooling services, was upheld as an aspirational standard for the industry during this week’s episode of Net Zero Carbon. But this culture is baked into CHEP’s history.  “CHEP was founded when the allies left all these pallets for moving equipment during World War II in Australia,” said Tyler Cole, FreightWaves’ director of carbon intelligence. “It started as a way to get rid of waste with all the excess pallets laying around, and through a big global growth expansion and standardization of pallet size and forklift offloading, they’ve been able to scale and get rid of a lot of that waste.”
As the current climate crisis spurs supply chain constituents to join the movement, CHEP has continued its efforts by partnering with Convoy to reduce empty miles. Like many shippers, CHEP was paying for those empty backhauls, but during an initial trial of Convoy’s technology, it was able to reduce empty miles by 50%. Behind that optimization lies cost savings, a more efficient supply chain and emissions reductions. 

Sustainability factors are critical to successful project outcomes in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry, from exceeding performance requirements to improving cost control. Building design and construction stakeholders are faced with global challenges regarding limited resources and the impact of development on the surrounding environment. This panel will explore where responsibility for sustainability outcomes lies as we experience the convergence of design, engineering, and construction teams in common data environments. We will discuss the state of the industry in terms of solution maturity for advanced building insights on topics such as embodied carbon, resiliency, and materiality. We will also seek to understand key workflows that meet financial project goals while addressing environmental concerns and uncovering sustainability outcomes at the intersection of performance and ethics.

Patagonia Provisions has launched their inaugural collection of 10 fermented drinks including wine, cider, and sake, ranging from a sparkling cider made from a blend of fruits grown on a South Island family farm, to a red wine made from local Nerello Mascalese grapes grown on the Mt. Etna volcano. The vineyards are run using regenerative practices such as inter-row crops, use of animals as pest-control, and natural nutrient sources to avoid soil damage.

Serial 1, the electric-bike company started by the US motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson in 2018, signals an progression of the bicycle industry’s business model and independent development. However, most of its models would not qualify for a proposed tax credit in President Biden’s infrastructure bill.  Sales of electric cars have received an estimated $10 billion in US tax credits, but electric bikes could finally get some of that assistance from the federal government. Last month, the “Build Back Better” spending bill passed the House and it is now waiting for a decision in the Senate. The 2,000 page bill contains a 30% tax-credit for up to $3,000 spent on a new e-bike, but excludes models that sell for more than $4,000.

n this Research Note, we look at the sustainability and carbon footprint of leading cloud providers to help provide enterprises with the insight they need to make the server decisions that are right for their business.
Introduction
One of the most straightforward ways an enterprise can reduce its carbon footprint is to make use of cloud servers. Larger, centralized operations are often more efficient and, recently, have been prioritizing the lowering of carbon emissions. In determining which cloud provider is the right choice, an enterprise will consider numerous variables, including sustainability. Looking at the track records, future goals, and current actions that providers are taking in climate and sustainability can help an enterprise make the right choice.

The Congo Basin is the world’s second largest rainforest after the famous Amazon, and a large amount of it is uninterrupted. However, in recent years, human activity has increasingly become a threat to this incredibly diverse ecosystem. From excessive logging to encroachment, governments in the Congo region have realized it is time to form a plan to protect this important forest. In the latest edition of Central African Forests Forever, author Meindert Brouwer takes on these challenges and proposes various ways to deal with them.  The book was presented at the global United Nation’s conference on protecting biodiversity in Kunming, China last month. FSC is featured as one of the means through which the government of Gabon is acting to protect the Congo Basin forest. This includes an interview with Lee White, Minister of Forests of Gabon, about the country’s unprecedented transition to FSC-certfied sustainable forest management in an effort to push back illegal and destructive logging. FSC can be a strong tool for governments to protect forests, and if successful, this example set by Gabon can change forestry in the Congo Basin and worldwide.

Physicians for Social Responsibility in Pennsylvania will host a half-day virtual conference– Cradle to Grave: Health Hazardous Of The Oil and Gas Industry in Pennsylvania– on December 10 from Noon to 4:30 p.m.  The Conference will focus on worker’s often uninformed exposure to chemicals and radioactivity, the exposure to their family, and throughout their community, and beyond.  The speakers will include: Dr. Carl Werntz, Occupational Physician; Wilma Subra, Environmental Scientist; Lee McCaslin, Master Driller; Justin Nobel and Kristen Locy, Investigative Journalists; Dusty Horwitt, PSR consultant and attorney; Paul “Bobby” Manion, Wayne State University/PSR PA Research on Radioactive Emissions. The panel discussion will be moderated by Dr. Pouné Saberi.

As the 2030 Agenda targets loom, environmental service companies are increasingly incorporating in their business plans investments in recycling facilities capable of bringing us closer to the zero waste goal by turning it into secondary raw materials that can be returned to the commercial cycle with minimal waste.  With this aim, G.A.I.A. Spa and Iren Ambiente (which holds 45% ownership of G.A.I.A. and provides environmental services to a population of more than 3 million) called on STADLER, the German company specialized in the planning, production and assembly of turnkey recycling and sorting plants, to design and build new recycling plants in Asti and Parma.  The requirements for the two plants were different: sorting of plastic packaging from separate collection in Asti, and sorting of plastic and paper/cardboard in Parma.

The large Nov. 25 fire at the North Augusta’s Materials Recovery Recycling Facility has disrupted Aiken County’s recycling operations, and County Administrator Clay Killian doesn’t know when things will be back to normal.  Recyclables such as plastic bottles, aluminum cans, cardboard, magazines and newspapers that people have taken to the county’s Recycling Drop-Off Centers now are being transported to the Three Rivers Waste Authority Regional Landfill at the Savannah River Site instead of North Augusta.

Artist’s rendering of autonomous, continuous “liquid robots” in an animated GIF.  When you think of a robot, images of R2-D2 or C-3PO might come to mind. But robots can serve up more than just entertainment on the big screen. In a lab, for example, robotic systems can improve safety and efficiency by performing repetitive tasks and handling harsh chemicals.  But before a robot can get to work, it needs energy—typically from electricity or a battery. Yet even the most sophisticated robot can run out of juice. For many years, scientists have wanted to make a robot that can work autonomously and continuously, without electrical input.

Nancy Bush and Caitlin Dinh grew up a continent apart but with a common interest: chemistry. Though they took divergent roads to arrive at USC and only met for the first time this fall, they quickly developed a highly effective working relationship in the lab of Megan Fieser, Gabilan Assistant Professor of Chemistry in the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. Together, they’ve been researching a method for making PVC recyclable—and their efforts have been so successful that they won first place in this year’s Wrigley Sustainability Prize, awarded by the USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies.

Intel Labs recently opened the Intel Research Center for Integrated Photonics for Data Center Interconnects. The center’s mission is to accelerate optical input/output (I/O) technology innovation in performance scaling and integration with a specific focus on photonics technology and devices, CMOS circuits and link architecture, and package integration and fiber coupling.  “At Intel Labs, we’re strong believers that no one organization can successfully turn all the requisite innovations into research reality. By collaborating with some of the top scientific minds from across the United States, Intel is opening the doors for the advancement of integrated photonics for the next generation of compute interconnect.

Tom Giddings, general manager of Alupro, discusses the waste and resources sector’s ‘hot topics’ and explores both the hurdles and opportunities that could be in store for 2022.  Over the past 18-months, the world has experienced a series of economic challenges that would previously have been considered almost unimaginable. And yet, during what has been a hugely challenging period, the waste management supply chain has shown fantastic resilience.  In 2020, for example, while a significant volume of aluminium packaging was placed on the market, the sector exceeded targets and reached its best ever recycling rate.

Dieline is a global package design community and showcase of package design inspiration. We cover industry news, sustainable packaging news, design trends, and host our own packaging conferences, package design events, and Dieline packaging design awards.

The U.S. government plans to end purchases of gas-powered vehicles by 2035 in a move to lower emissions and promote electric cars under an executive order signed by President Joe Biden on Wednesday. The government owns more than 650,000 vehicles and purchases about 50,000 annually. Biden’s executive order said that light-duty vehicles acquired by the government will be emission-free by 2027. Total federal government operations will reduce emissions by 65% by 2030 under the plan. The government will seek to consume electricity only from carbon-free and non-polluting sources on a net annual basis by 2030 and have net-zero emissions by 2050. The order noted the U.S. government is “the single largest land owner, energy consumer and employer in the nation” and can transform “how we build, buy and manage electricity, vehicles, buildings and other operations to be clean and sustainable.”