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The Procter & Gamble Co. (P&G) is serious about environmental stewardship, as its 16th annual sustainability report reveals. The multinational consumer goods company met several environmental goals ahead of schedule: P&G met its waste reduction goal for 2020 six years early and its pulp certification goal a year early.

P&G only disposed of 0.40 percent of input materials as manufacturing waste to landfill across its facilities. That means 99.6 percent of all input materials are either recycled, reused or used for energy conversion. The 2020 goal called for less than 0.50 percent. The goal for pulp certification called for 40 percent of the virgin wood fibers used in tissue and towel products to come from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified sources by 2015. P&G now sources 54 percent from FSC certified sources.

Reducing waste to landfill is not enough, and that’s why P&G is busy creating and shipping packaging that is more efficient. The company achieved a total reduction of about seven percent per consumer use since 2010. However, it is not content to stay there as it announced two new packaging goals in October 2014: doubling the use of recycled resin in its plastic packaging by 2020, and ensuring that 90 percent of its packaging is either recyclable or has programs in place to develop the ability to recycle it.

Reducing energy use and carbon emissions while increasing renewable energy

P&G is concerned with reducing its energy use and carbon dioxide emissions. The goal is to reduce total energy use and total carbon dioxide emissions at P&G facilities by 20 percent per unit of production by 2020. P&G is on track to meet its carbon emissions reduction goal as it has achieved a 14 percent reduction. P&G has achieved a seven percent reduction in energy use per unit of production. The company credits the reduction in energy use to the startup of its new cogeneration systems in Mehoopany, Pennsylvania, and Pescara, Italy.

P&G has an ambitious vision to one day power all of its plants with 100 percent renewable energy. The short term goal is to achieve a 30 percent renewable energy rate by 2020. At the end of fiscal year 2013/2014 its renewable energy use was approximately eight percent. That is below it terms its glidepath target of 12 percent or three percent a year. It cites several factors as contributing to its slower than anticipated progress including long lead times for key projects. Another factor is historically low natural gas prices which impacted the economic feasibility of advancing some renewable energy projects.

A more sustainable palm oil supply chain

Palm oil is linked to deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia, the two countries that supply most of the world’s palm oil supply. Although P&G doesn’t use a significant amount of palm oil in its products, it does use palm kernel oil, a palm oil production byproduct.

In April, the company announced steps it would take beyond Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certification to ensure it does not contribute to deforestation. The steps include developing a traceable supply chain, no development of  high conservation value (HCV) areas and high carbon stock (HCS) forests, no development of peat lands, no burning to clear land for new development or replanting and complying with P&G’s Sustainability Guidelines for External Business Partners.

Image credit: P&G

If you waited until the last minute for stocking stuffers (again), bypass those dollar-store trinkets, and give  a gift you believe in.

We're big fans of the B Corp movement, having received our B Corporation status earlier this year, and shopping from B Corps is a great way to know you're getting an ethically made product.

With more than 1,000 companies already in the B Corp community, you're sure to find something for everyone on your list. Here are 10 of our top picks to get you started. 

1. Vacuum Insulated Beverage Bottle

Help your friends and loved ones ditch disposable beverage packaging for good. Whether it's a skinny chai latte or a tall drink of water, this insulated beverage bottle from Kleen Kanteen will keep it at optimal temperature for hours (six hours for hot coffee and 24 hours for cold drinks, to be exact).

Price: $27.95

2. Organic Fair Trade Gift Set

This gift set from Badger Balm fits perfectly in a stocking and lets your lucky recipient test out a range of the organic, Fair Trade goodies the brand offers. Each set contains one cocoa butter moisturizer and four lip balm varieties for a luxe holiday treat.

Price: $29.99

3. Naturalist Candle

Help a loved one bring the outdoors in with one of these nature-inspired candles from United by Blue. Choose from three scents -- woods, sea and moss -- all of which are made from 100 percent all-natural fragrances.

Hand-poured in small batches in Philadelphia, these candles feature soy wax and cotton wicks for a truly natural touch. Even better: For every product sold, UBB removes one pound of trash from oceans and waterways through company organized and hosted cleanups.

Price: $28

4. Sea Salt Truffles

Who doesn't love a little something sweet in their stocking? To make things even sweeter, these truffles are organic, Fair Trade certified and contain only eight ingredients. No mystery chemicals here! And you can even track each ingredient right to the source using Alter Eco's online tool.

Price: $7.99

5. Bixbee Animal Pack

The little ones on your list are likely dreading the end of holiday break, but these fun backpacks from Bixbee may just change their minds. Each bag is PVC free, phthalate free, lead free and BPA free to please moms. And with a range of adorable animals to choose from, kids are sure to love them too.

Price: $31.99

6. All Good Essentials Gift Set

For that friend who loves trying new products, this stocking-ready gift set from All Good is just what the doctor ordered. Featuring four of the brand's best-selling herbal products, it's a great way to show her you care and possibly introduce her to a new favorite.

Price: $24.99

7. BlueAvocado Lunch Bag Kit

The folks at Preserve teamed up with BlueAvocado, a fellow B Corp, to create this grab-and-go lunch kit that's perfect for your busiest buds. Each kit includes two Preserve sandwich containers, made from recycled #5 plastics, and a BlueAvocado lunch bag made from BPA-free, Repreve certified, recycled polyester fabric. You can also choose from one of six colors and prints to suit your loved one's style.

Price: $14

8. Lightweight Merino Crew Socks

Ordinarily, socks aren't exactly the most exciting gift. But these merino wool socks from Patagonia, arguably the most well-known B Corp, are the exception. They're specially designed to be comfortable in all conditions, with shaped cushioning in the footbed for extra comfort over long mileage. So, whether your loved ones are camping, biking or going for a long run, these socks are sure to keep up with them.

Price: $22

9. Organic, Fair Trade Texting Gloves

Help your favorite smartphone addict keep her hands warm and her fingers free with these organic, Fair Trade texting gloves from Indigenous. Ethically made in Peru, these gloves feature free-range baby alpaca yarn for a soft touch that's guilt-free.

Price: $44

10. Recycled Sketchbook

For the art-lover on your list, pick up one of these urban woodsman inspired sketchbooks from Ecojot. Made from 100 percent post-consumer waste and printed with soy-based inks, it's the perfect way to sketch away without the environmental impact.

Price: $14

Featured image by personalcreations via Flickr

Based in Philadelphia, Mary Mazzoni is a senior editor at TriplePundit. She is also a freelance journalist who frequently writes about sustainability, corporate social responsibility and clean tech. Her work has appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News, the Huffington Post, Sustainable Brands, Earth911 and the Daily Meal. You can follow her on Twitter @mary_mazzoni.

With a busy week behind you and the weekend within reach, there’s no shame in taking things a bit easy on Friday afternoon. With this in mind, every Friday TriplePundit will give you a fun, easy read on a topic you care about. So, take a break from those endless email threads, and spend five minutes catching up on the latest trends in sustainability and business.

As is always our motto around the holidays: It's better to give than to receive. With that in mind, this week we're rounding up 10 crowdfunding campaigns to support this season. For extra brownie points, donate in a loved one's name to make everyone's holiday a bit merrier.

1. Love is Project

The LOVE bracelet is the latest product from African lifestyle brand, LIFE Line, in collaboration with The Supply Change. Aimed at connecting communities around the world and impacting them through the art of love, the project funds women empowerment and education programs, job training, and community-building activities for Maasai communities in Kenya.

For a $25 donation, you can help fund the project and get a LOVE bracelet to gift this holiday. (Although technically you'll just have to give a photo for now, as the bracelets won't ship until February 2015.)

Click to contribute

2. A Revolutionary Cookie for a Cause

The only thing better than cookies are cookies for a cause. That's the idea behind (R)evolution Cookies, the project of a pastry chef looking to turn artisanal cookies into life-changing experiences for people with autism and developmental disabilities.

Her dream is to open a facilitated bakery where individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities can get empowering training and employment opportunities alongside professional bakers and facilitators. A $25 dollar donation will get you or a loved one 10 percent off cookies -- for life. And with tasty fillings like Nutella and lemon line curd, that's a pretty big deal in our book.

Click to contribute

3. Empower Syria's Refugees: Project Amal ou Salam

Project Amal ou Salam is a volunteer-run grassroots organization that works with Syrian refugee children in day-long workshops. The organization uses music, art, sports, photography and team-building activities to teach children about trust and unity and help them deal with the trauma they have sustained.

In addition to running workshops in refugee areas in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, Project Amal ou Salam also sponsors schools in these countries of refuge and inside Syria. They also run smaller workshops in response to urgent needs, such as the recent influx of Syrian refugees from Kobani.

If you're looking to gift your donation, you'll receive a collection of unique Syrian recipes for a $25 pledge or a photo print for $50.

Click to contribute

4. Up North Farm School Bus: Sustainable education on wheels

The team at Up North Farm is looking to transform a retired school bus into a mobile farm and greenhouse to bring farm tours to students across the country. Lesson plan themes include animal husbandry, water collection, soil health and pollination. The bus will be powered by solar panels on the roof, veggie oil or biodiesel depending on temperatures.

The team is planning a 60-school tour over four months (two in spring and two in fall) that will reach more than 2,400 students. "We would like to help make sure this is not the first generation that doesn't know what food looks like, where it comes from and who grew it and help farmers transition to a more sustainable system," they wrote on their Kickstarter page.

Click to contribute

5. Embrace: A smart watch designed to save lives

Embrace is a watch that looks great on anyone, and it can track your activity, stress and overall balance. But it's specially designed for people with epilepsy: They get an alert when an unusual event happens, like a convulsive seizure, warning them and their loved ones.

For $189, you'll receive one of these cool wellness watches to keep or gift to your favorite health nut. Even better, with the company's one-to-one model, your donation will also provide a watch to a family in need.

Click to contribute

6. Desolenator: Transforming sunshine into water

The team at Desolenator is looking to develop the "most affordable and environmentally friendly water purification technology ever." According to them, the technology has the potential to provide water independence for up to a billion people living in coastal and water-stressed areas -- using the power of the sun alone.

Unlike reverse osmosis systems that are expensive, have consumables and are usually powered by fossil fuels or solar stills that have a low yield, Desolenator is robust, energy independent and has no moving parts. During its lifetime, Desolenator will desalinate water at a lower cost per liter than any system at this scale available on the market today. For $450, you'll receive one of your own to test out, but there are also perks for smaller donations if you're on a tight budget.

Click to contribute

7. TriplePundit 10 Year Re-Launch

We'd be remiss if we didn't take a moment to mention our own crowdfunding campaign: To celebrate 10 years on the Web, we're giving TriplePundit.com a makeover -- and we need your help! In a nutshell, we’ve launched a crowdfunding campaign to cover some of the costs associated with our re-launch. It’s a modest $10,000 goal, but it’s just what we need to bridge the gap for a re-launch some time in February and a great 10-year celebration.

With your help, we’ll be able to bring you better navigation, more resources, better readability, more in-depth coverage of new issues and more. We're also offering loads of perks -- from cool 3p stickers and T-shirts to a dinner with our founder -- for you to gift (or keep) this holiday.

Click to contribute

8. Chuice for Healthy Lifestyles & Sustainable Communities

The makers of Chuice -- a bottled juice made from a blend of over 30 fresh fruits, vegetables, herbs, nuts and seeds -- currently order their ingredients from all over the country. But they're looking to source everything near their own community in Atlanta, Georgia, and they need your help.

"We’ve been hard at work the past few months engaging with several family-owned farms and organizations local to Georgia that are committed to helping their community through promotion of locally grown food," the team wrote on its Kickstarter page. "These groups are excited to be involved with a company that is growing and creating a need for more fresh produce."

Click to contribute

9. Help Harriet Tubman Students Graduate

Harriet Tubman Democratic High School is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit school serving mostly low-income families in and around Albany, New York. The school enrolls many students who were drop-outs or considered at-risk, and offers a safe and diverse community for all youth.

The school receives no public funds, and last year more than 90 percent of its students qualified for tuition assistance. They're halfway through the school year and must raise an additional $21,000 by July 1, 2015. The $5,000 goal of Harriet Tubman's Indiegogo campaign will allow the school to reach its incremental goal this quarter and give more kids a chance to graduate. For 35 bucks you'll receive a signed thank-you note from the students, and for $65 they'll send you a handmade gift. How cute is that?

Click to contribute

10. Sustainable Agriculture: Cluster Farming Ghana

Cluster Farming NGO, an agricultural organization based in Ghana, focuses on all aspects of sustainable agriculture. The group recently launched sustainable Hub Farm on 40 acres in Ekumfi Ekrawfo, consisting of a nursery, animal breeding station, fish hatchery and animal/fish feed production.

After years of investing and innovating, the Cluster Hub Farm is ready for further expansion. Additions include the expansion of animal feed production, the purchase of a fodder production system for Barley grass and the purchase of an incubator with a capacity of 5,000 eggs. For only a few dollars, you can provide nutritious food and agricultural training to entire communities in the area.

Click to contribute

Based in Philadelphia, Mary Mazzoni is a senior editor at TriplePundit. She is also a freelance journalist who frequently writes about sustainability, corporate social responsibility and clean tech. Her work has appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News, the Huffington Post, Sustainable Brands, Earth911 and the Daily Meal. You can follow her on Twitter @mary_mazzoni.

By Bruce Hull and Michael Mortimer

How do you go from being an art dealer in Wisconsin to a successful hotelier and influential green business advocate in China? Brian Linden did it by pioneering the market niche of sustainable luxury tourism emerging within the larger multi-trillion dollar tourist industry.

China is relatively new to domestic tourism, but as is typical of most things Chinese, its tourism industry is developing on a grand scale, experiencing double-digit growth. The extraordinary economic development that lifted out of poverty and urbanized hundreds of millions of people is fueling an equally dramatic explosion of domestic tourism.

Tourist preferences in most cultures follow a similar pattern: Tourism begins with the pursuit of mementos and novelty, and matures into a quest for meaning, connection and self-actualization (for examples of the latter, think eco-tourism, agri-tourism, heritage-tourism and yoga-tourism).

Chinese national policy actively promotes tourist destinations with massive infrastructure investments and marketing. Chinese tourist sites such as Dali and Lijiang, in Yunnan province in southwest China, offer examples of mass tourism developments dominated by trinket shopping, foot massages, cosmopolitan bars and glitzy shows. These attractions target novelty-oriented tourists who buy mementos and want to be entertained, a market segment that seems likely to grow as millions more Chinese join the middle class. But surely there are also visitors who are looking for a more transformative experience or cultural immersion. Where will they go?

Brian Linden saw an opportunity. He signed a long-term lease on a historic building in charismatic southwest China, renovated it, and built a business model that sells sustainable luxury experiences to these guests who are looking for a more meaningful connection.

Resources exist to help businesses such as the Linden’s green their operations (i.e., knowledge networks sponsored by National Geographic or the United Nations, third-party certification systems, and programs to reduce carbon emissions in major hotel chains). Linden took advantage of these and other resources and greened the hotel in all the usual ways: energy and water conservation, local and locally-sourced cuisine, paying a decent wage to a largely local workforce, and financially supporting charities and causes. Those were not easy tasks, but relatively straight-forward ways to promote an environmentally and economically sustainable business.

The bigger challenge Linden faced was influencing the development trajectory of the surrounding town. For Linden’s business model to work, the town where the hotel is located must sustain rather than replace its culture and environment so that guests have an immersive and authentic cultural experience. The hotel loses its capacity to deliver these experiences if local tradition, architecture and environment get replaced by the cookie-cutter, trinket-driven, escapist-entertainment development. For example, the rice patties abutting the hotel’s terrace could become condos, the adjacent street lined with historic houses could be replaced by fast food restaurants and bars, and the access to traditional food, tool making, arts and crafts could convert to the all-too-familiar bazaars and bars selling mass-produced goods imported from elsewhere.

Influencing a town’s development trajectory would be difficult for any small business owner, but especially one who is a foreign national. Yet, Linden has been remarkably successful, using several strategies to exercise what leadership experts call “influence without authority.”

Linden uses rational arguments and evidence about tangible, material gains to show how Xizhou, the town where the hotel is located, benefits directly from the hotel operations. Examples of short-term economic gain are plentiful because the hotel intentionally sources local food and labor and pays respectful wages for access to tofu makers, horse cart drivers, tour guides, and for arts and crafts demonstrations. It also helps organize projects by service-minded visitors that repair community buildings, record local history or teach language skills.

Convincing local leaders of longer-term economic payoffs takes considerably more rationalizing. Linden works hard to communicate a vision of the town that includes a future where traditional culture and architecture become scarce elsewhere in China and thus a valuable resource to those who sustained them. As Chinese tourist preferences evolve and visitors tire of trinkets and novelty, few other Chinese communities of tomorrow will be able to provide high-value, authentic experiences.

Some of Linden’s influence comes through nurturing a sense of purpose and pride in sustaining and enhancing the local culture. Hotel guests include the Chinese and global elite, who travel great distances to experience an immersive cultural experience. He uses this fact to help residents appreciate the special qualities of their town and inspire them to sustain these qualities. Although Linden tries not to use negative pressure to motivate action, he says that shame may be part of his influence: local leaders recognize that a foreigner is stepping up to save local legacies which is something local people should have been doing all along.

The hotel also leads by example. It promotes local food systems that increase farmer productivity and public health. It innovates building and engineering practices and invites local plumbers, architects, building renovators and neighbors to tour the facilities and learn about these innovations. The hotel also works hard to achieve and sustain employee buy-in. It employs people from the village, treats them with respect, pays a decent wage and provides regular training. These employees have become local advocates who explain to family and friends the value of conserving traditional architecture and values. These efforts were recently recognized when the Linden Center was one of nine finalists for the prestigious Secretary of State’s 2014 Award for Corporate Excellence (ACE).

As foreign nationals, Brian and his wife Jeannee have little formal authority, but they have become local celebrities because the hotel’s success attracts considerable media attention, and because Brian was named by the United Nations Development Program and Chinese media as one of the 10 most influential foreigners in China. The Lindens intentionally share their celebrity: They take daily walks, visiting with townspeople, and stop at local establishments to shake hands, pat backs and share status with their neighbors. The Lindens are also quick to give credit to local authorities for creating the conditions that led to the hotel’s success, and these formal leaders in turn lend their connections and authority to support the hotel.

The Linden Centre now ranks among the top luxury facilities in China. What makes it especially noteworthy are the leadership lessons it illustrates. The Lindens’ success seems to follow the basic principles of a well-known leadership theory known as influence without authority. In doing so, they are helping define sustainable luxury tourism in China and perhaps creating a model that can be replicated elsewhere as more and more tourists demand both luxury and sustainability.

Authors: R. Bruce Hull and Michael Mortimer are senior Fellows at the Virginia Tech Center for Leadership in Global Sustainability. Hull is the corresponding author (hullrb@vt.edu; 540-267-6315).

This week, New York state joined the growing list of states and communities to ban hydraulic fracturing (fracking) within its boundaries. After years of contentious debate over the safety of fracking, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's announcement Wednesday that he would move to unilaterally ban fracking was not completely unexpected. Still, environmental groups are counting the Department of Health's report that "[high volume hydraulic fracturing] should not proceed in NYS" as a victory.

The decision is the result of the health department's two-year analysis of an environmental impact assessment of fracking along the Pennsylvania-New York border. The proposal to allow fracking was being promoted by industry groups and some small communities that had been energized by reports that similar towns in Pennsylvania were gaining economic leverage from natural gas exploration. The Department of Environmental Conservation's impact assessment, however, didn't address whether there could be potential health risks associated with fracking, or the extent of impact on the state's drinking water sources.

According to Acting Commissioner of Health Howard Zuker, the DOH wasn't able to quantify the potential health risks to residents, and that may have been the most damning part of the report.

"[The overall weight of the evidence from the cumulative body of information contained in this Public Health Review demonstrates that there are significant uncertainties about the kinds of adverse health outcomes that may be associated with HVHF, the likelihood of the occurrence of adverse health outcomes, and the effectiveness of some of the mitigation measures in reducing or preventing environmental impacts which could adversely affect public health]" said Zuker in his introductory letter to the Department of Environmental Conservation (DOC).

The risks included impacts from:

• Respiratory health issues from various forms of exhaust


• Climate change impact from methane and other chemical releases


• Water contamination from chemicals


• Potential spills into the environment

The DOH report noted an impressive list of similar studies that have delved into the risks associated with fracking, but it was careful to mention that there still isn't a clear definition of the environmental or health impacts of hydraulic fracturing and natural gas exploration. It called upon health and environmental experts to broaden the scope of research.

"[It] is clear from the existing literature and experience that HVHF activity has resulted in environmental impacts that are potentially adverse to public health. Until the science provides sufficient information to determine the level of risk to public health from HVHF and whether the risks can be adequately managed, HVHF should not proceed in New York state."

But the clearest message came from Zuker's own anecdotal statement on the issue when he admitted that, given the choice, he would not want his family to live in an area where fracking was being conducted.

What the DOH's analysis didn't cover, of course, was the economic options for those communities that had been counting on the booming revenues of fracking investments. Communities in New York's section of the Utica and Marcellus Shale regions have reportedly seen fracking as a way to increase employment and household incomes, an endemic problem for towns in New York's  rural communities.

But as the U.S. Senate Urban Affairs Committee found when it conducted hearings in shale-rich Fayette County, Pennsylvania earlier this year, improved economic conditions aren't a guarantee for local residents when the natural gas industry comes calling. Increased problems with housing availability, cost of living and other challenges have been common offshoots of fracking in semi-rural areas, as North Dakota communities have found.

And not all residents of the state's undeveloped countryside wanted fracking in their backyards. Wines and Vines pointed out, when a temporary moratorium was instituted in New York in 2010, that the state's most popular wine estates sit next door to its rich natural gas drilling reserves -- a potential worry for an industry that relies on dependable water sources, spacious terrain and jaw-dropping vistas in which to court prospective tourism.

But while environmental groups can rejoice over the ban, the answer of how to ensure economic parity in New York's rural towns is still a challenge that needs to be addressed. And as organizers of other initiatives like the Keystone XL Pipeline have found: In unemployed, low-income rural areas, where there is economic disparity, there's often a willing ear to development, even if it comes with an environmental cost.

Image of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo: Metropolitan Transportation Authority

Image of NY Catskill area: Tony Box

South Africa is a nation rich in renewable energy resources. It's finally capitalizing on them, thanks in large part to opening up its power market – previously a regulated monopoly – to independent power producers (IPP) and instituting short- and long-term national targets for renewable energy generation capacity.

Experiencing rolling blackouts and committed to developing its renewable energy resources as a path towards sustainable development, South Africa's government on Dec. 11 announced it would triple electricity production from renewable energy sources in order to help alleviate power shortages. In the midst of auctions to procure 3,725 megawatts of energy from biomass, wind, solar and hydropower sources, and an additional 3,200 MWs thereafter, South Africa is now aiming for renewable energy resources to contribute 11.4 gigawatts to the grid as of an as yet unspecified date.

Add at least another 100 megawatts to South Africa's total renewable power generation capacity: It is to come in the form of a concentrating solar power (CSP) plant to be built and operated by Spain's Abengoa, and it will do more than generate clean, renewable power. Making use of molten salt thermal energy storage technology, the Xina Solar One power plant will be able to store five hours worth of energy, doling it out as needs demand even after the sun sets.

South Africa's 100 MW Xina Solar One

As of May 2014, a total of 64 project awards had been made to private-sector groups that must include a local, black-owned enterprise. Private investment in these projects totals $14 billion, with an expected 3,922 megawatts of clean, renewable power to come online. Bid prices have dropped over the course of three successive IPP auction rounds, with average tariffs for solar photovoltaic (PV) projects declining 68 percent and those for wind power projects by 42 percent in nominal terms over a mere 2.5 years.

Partnering with South Africa's Industrial Development Corp. (IDC), the Government Employees Pension Fund represented by Public Investment Corp. (PIC) and Kaxu Community Trust, Abengoa on Dec. 15 signed a 20-year power purchase agreement and secured financing for Xina Solar One.

With an investment totaling approximately $1 billion, Abengoa and partners have secured financing from a group of multilateral and South African banks that includes the African Development Bank, the International Finance Corp., Industrial Development Bank of Southern Africa, RMB, Nedbank and ABSA. The 20-year agreement is with South Africa state power utility Eskom.

Xina Solar One is expected to produce enough power to meet the needs of over 90,000 households while also avoiding over 398,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year. In addition to molten salt energy storage, the 100MW Xina One CSP plant will make use of parabolic troughs to concentrate sunlight and generate clean, renewable electric power. Construction is already under way, with Xina Solar One expected to be commissioned in Q3 2017.

Green investment, energy and employment

Building Xina Solar One is expected to create employment for 1,300 people during its peak construction phase. A total of 45 jobs in plant operations and maintenance will also be created, according to Abengoa's press release.

The plant will be located near the town of Pofadder in South Africa's Northern Cape Province, adjacent to the Kaxu Solar One CSP plant. Taken together, the two 100-MW CSP plants will comprise the largest solar energy complex on the African continent, according to Abengoa.

Along with Xina Solar One, Abengoa is in the midst of building Kaxu Solar One and the 50-MW Khi Solar One CSP plant, both of which are at advanced stage of construction. “These three projects contribute to South Africa's goal to introduce up to 17,800 MW of renewable energy by 2030 and reduce its dependence on oil and natural gas,” Abengoa highlights.

24/7 solar

Xina One isn't the first or only solar thermal power plant in which Abengoa is making use of its molten salt thermal energy storage technology to overcome solar energy's intermittent nature. This past May, Abengoa received approval from the Chilean Environmental Service's Evaluation and Review Committee to proceed with construction of the 110-MW Cerro Dominador CSP-thermal energy storage facility in Chile's Atacama Desert region.

Making use of molten salt energy storage technology, Cerro Dominador will be the first solar power facility of any kind “to serve as a baseload power plant,” meaning it is expected to deliver electricity 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Abengoa was also the first company to build and commission a CSP-molten salt energy storage facility here in the U.S. In October 2013 brought the Solana CSP-thermal energy storage plant online. Solana's molten salt energy storage system can store the equivalent of six hours worth of the plant's 280-MW power output.

*Image credits: 1) Abengoa; 2, 3) South Africa’s Renewable Energy IPP Procurement Program: Success Factors and Lessons

For over 40 years, global trade has grown at a pretty decent clip relative to GDP. That is, up until now.

For the first time in nearly half a century, trade between nations has grown slower than the global economy.  Some economists believe trade may be at a peak, at least for a while. "Peak Trade" suggests the world could hit a long-term ceiling in terms of the effects of trade growth as an economic driver.

Why would this be a problem? Because international trade accounts for about 60 percent of the world's GDP. In the 1990s, it accounted for about 40 percent of the world's GDP. So, a good chunk of economic growth for decades came from (and resulted in) increased trade. This reduction in trade growth over the past few years could explain why economic recovery has been somewhat sluggish. Maybe the engine that fueled rapid international economic growth has maxed out.

There's plenty of disagreement, of course, as to why trade growth has slowed. And there's disagreement as to whether it's a cyclical or structural thing.  A cyclical explanation would suggest that the slow-down is relatively short-term and it' will correct itself over time ... maybe it's a result of more trade protections implemented after the economic crisis; maybe it's a shift in trade toward services rather than goods. A structural explanation, on the other hand, would suggest that there are deeper and more permanent forces at play.

The International Monetary Fund is suggesting the latter. According to the IMF, we seem to be facing a long-term "structural" slow-down in trade.

For one thing, the world trade seems to have become less responsive to income. In the good old days of the 1990s, a 1 percent increase in global income translated into a 2.2 percent increase in global trade! Not bad. Now, a 1 percent increase in global income translates to just a 1.3 percent increase in global trade. So, not only is income growth slower worldwide, but trade is also less responsive to income growth.

So, it used to be like this: The more global income climbs, the more we trade. And the more we trade, the more global income climbs, and so on. Now we seem to be at a point where when global income climbs, we trade at about the same rate.

Another issue is internal consolidation. Much of the world's trade growth came from increased supply chain imports and exports: One nation makes the springs, another makes the widgets, a third makes the doohinkers, and still another assembles them into a final product. However, internal consolidation and more sophisticated manufacturing methods are allowing important trading nations, like China, to simply manufacture a greater share of the components themselves. In the 1990s, China imported about 60 percent of the components it used in manufacturing. Today China imports about 35 percent of those components. And China is one of the largest trading nations on earth. It makes a big difference, worldwide, when they don't need to buy your parts. In fact, the two largest trading nations, China and the U.S., have basically flatlined in terms of import shares over the past decade.

As far as I can tell, lower trade-to-income responsiveness and internal consolidation are two of the larger reasons the IMF seems to conclude we're looking at long-term structural causes of our trade slow-down. Says the IMF:

"The high responsiveness of trade to growth in the 1990s reflected the increasing fragmentation of production driven primarily by the United States and China. That particular engine appears to have exhausted its propulsive energy for now."

Image credit: Ingrid Taylar: Source

The data center is the factory floor of the information age. How well it is managed can mean the difference between profit and loss, an angry or satisfied customer, or money and resources conserved or needlessly wasted. Efficiency underpins successful management of IT infrastructure as the scale and complexity of some of the world's biggest data center networks continues to expand.

We introduced readers to TrendPoint last year, a growing company manufacturing utility-grade data center power and cooling monitoring systems for mission-critical applications. TrendPoint designs and engineers a powerful set of cost-effective sub-metering devices, allowing users to more effectively track power consumption, maximize uptime and manage power distribution resources throughout an entire facility. As the old adage goes: You can't manage what you don't measure.

This fall, TrendPoint released its latest addition to the EnerSure line of products, the EnerSure Enkapsis 3-Phase Power Quality Meter (PQM). The PQM provides full power quality monitoring, environmental sensor support and the addition of high-speed waveform capture at 133 samples per cycle.

Say what?

Essentially, the ability to capture waveform data at high speed enables data center managers to quickly spot and assess power spikes and anomalies for better decision making and rapid problem solving.

“In the realm of power meters, it’s definitely at the top of the spectrum in terms of the accuracy and comprehensiveness of the metrics provided,” says Jon Trout, TrendPoint’s chief technology officer, in a press release. “Most power meters cannot measure power fast enough to provide a visual rendering of a trend. Enkapsis gives data managers the insights and intelligence that they need to identify and resolve issues quickly.”

Risking a bit more geek-speak, the Enkapis PQM provides "both THD [total harmonic distortion] and waveform capture metrics, plus all your downstream power and environmental monitoring," adds Trout.  "It really captures the concept of Platform Metering."

The Enkapsis PQM works either as a stand-alone meter or as the hub of TrendPoint’s Branch Circuit Monitoring (BCM) modules designed to interact with enterprise Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) and Building Management (BMS) systems.

It all gets back to measuring what you hope to manage. The better you can measure, the better you can manage. For a data center, metering and monitoring of power and data infrastructure at a granular level allows greater power utilization, efficiency and uptime. This improves reliability, reduces costs and lightens a data center's resource footprint.

Facebook and TrendPoint partnership expands

Two years ago TrendPoint began working with Facebook in their effort to deploy Branch Circuit Monitoring across multi-vendor busway and panelboard power distribution in multiple data facilities around the world. On Tuesday, Dec. 16, TrendPoint and Facebook announced the expansion of this partnership with the introduction of the EnerSure Enkapsis into Facebook's data center monitoring infrastructure.  The new Enkapsis system ties in seamlessly with legacy TrenPoint devices, enhancing Facebook's DCIM initiative by adding Total Harmonic Distortion and Waveform Capture analysis capabilities.

Every TrendPoint power meter uses a common chipset, configuration tool and protocol map/mib (management information base) reducing the cost of deployment, integration and operation -- what TrendPoint calls their Platform Monitoring approach. With the adoption of the EnerSure Enkapsis, this integrated and comprehensive approach is a core component of Facebook's DCIM system.

“Power efficiency is a key priority as we continue to scale, and with four data centers in the U.S. and Europe, we are always looking for ways to optimize our data center operations,” said Tom Furlong, Facebook's vice president of infrastructure. “TrendPoint Systems will provide us with a granular understanding of power consumption across our distribution equipment – information that will help us improve our IT infrastructure."

It's probably a safe bet that most of Facebook's 1.2+ billion users don't care or know much about power management, branch circuit monitoring or waveform capture metrics. They just want to post their status updates and like those of their friends. But for Facebook, the continued success and growth of the world's largest social network depends on the constant, integrated and highly discrete monitoring and metering of their vast data systems. It's not an easy task.

"Facebook’s critical facilities team does an excellent job leveraging the EnerSure platform as well as best in class software applications to drive energy efficiency and reduce operating costs across their global data center footprint,” says TrendPoint's Trout.

Go ahead, give it a try -- like TrendPoint on Facebook!

Image credit: Intel Free Press, courtesy Flickr

By Leah Thibault

As the year winds to a close, the fate of the 14-year-old federal New Markets Tax Credit program was decided in the final moments of business on Capitol Hill. The potential of this incentive to create and preserve thousands of jobs and improve the quality of life for low-income Americans was renewed for another year.

It’s too bad the renewal was only for a year, short of the permanent extension its supporters pursued. In the course of conducting due diligence on proposed projects and deciding where to deploy these federal credits, New Markets practitioners witness firsthand the revitalization they ignite, especially in rural places.

How excited would you be if a new Hampton Inn were built in your town? In Presque Isle, Maine it's a big deal. The New Markets-funded Hampton Inn there is the only branded hotel within two hours. It’s no laughing matter, as the effect of this single hotel project will be felt for years to come. Its presence made the key difference in the region winning hosting rights to a World Cup Biathlon competition, attracting millions of dollars to this remote corner of Maine, rippling through the local economy.

It's similarly a big deal in the numerous medically-underserved rural counties, where the New Markets program provided lynchpin financing for the construction of 68 community health centers. According to research by Stanford University, despite rural communities accounting for about 20 percent of America’s population, less than 10 percent of physicians practice in these communities. Meaning that although rural residents have higher rates of age-adjusted mortality, disability and chronic disease than their urban counterparts, they have less access to doctors and healthcare providers.

And it’s a big deal in towns like Cherokee County, South Carolina; Baileyville, Maine; and Aliceville, Alabama; where New Markets-funded manufacturers have brought new life and innovation to a struggling wood-products industry.

Rural places have unique obstacles to revitalization, including a lack of economic diversity and investors, the limited availability of credit, the seasonal nature of employment, and geographic isolation. Yet there are hundreds more stories that show how this program has been successful. Just take a look at the numbers: An analysis of the U.S. Treasury’s CDFI Fund data between 2003 and 2012 by the New Markets Tax Credit Coalition shows that the program:

• Generated nearly $118 billion in economic activity;


• Created 744,267 jobs in low-income rural and urban communities, including 457,487 construction jobs and 286,781 full-time equivalent jobs in nearly every industry sector of the economy;


• New Markets is especially effective in rural communities, for despite the fact that only 20 percent of New Markets investments go to these areas, more than 30 percent of the full-time jobs the program creates are in rural places.

The USDA just released the 2014 edition of its annual report Rural America at a Glance. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack noted the report “shows that USDA's investments in rural communities, small businesses, and people are working: rural unemployment has fallen, rural outmigration has declined slightly since last year, and rural poverty has stabilized.”

The New Markets Tax Credit program is one tool that has supported this progress, helping, as the Secretary says, “rural businesses and manufacturers to capitalize on new demand for what is grown and made in rural America.”

Since its inception during the Clinton administration and its commencement in the Bush administration, the program has enjoyed bipartisan support and sponsorship. The new Congress coming into office in 2015 has the opportunity to make permanent a program with the promise of new jobs and opportunity across the country.

Leah Thibault is Director of Operations for CEI Capital Management.

Food waste is a worldwide problem. Globally an estimated 30 to 50 percent (or 1.2 to 2 billion tons) of all food produced is wasted. Food waste is also an American problem. The average U.S. family throws away $1,500 worth of edible food every year, yet one in six Americans struggles with food insecurity. In the U.S. almost 40 percent of all food grown and processed is never eaten, but thrown into the trash, adding up to $180 billion a year.

A new report by BBMG titled “Waste Not, Want Not” looks at the problem. The report highlights businesses with food waste reduction initiatives ranging from donations to food banks, composting, converting food waste to energy, and branding unappealing looking produce:

• BJ’s Wholesale Club partners with Feeding America to donate over 20 million pounds of food a year, about 16.7 million meals.


• The Kroger Recovery System processes food waste from Ralphs and Food4Less grocery stores in California and Nevada, turning an estimated 55,000 tons of organic food waste into renewable energy a year, enough to offset over 20 percent of a distribution center’s energy needs.


• TGI Friday’s has offered smaller portions to its customers since 2007.


• The French supermarket chain, Intermarché found a way to brand misshapen fruits and vegetables to appeal to consumers and that has inspired other retailers to market produce that usually is rejected. The Intermarché campaign increased traffic by 24 percent and leading to the selling out of all stocks of fruits and vegetables.

Aspirationals and food waste reduction

The report looks at a group of consumers termed aspirationals. BBMG and GlobeScan first discovered aspirationals during a global study of 21,000 consumers in 2013. There are about two billion aspirationals globally, mainly comprised of Generation Xers and Millennials. Aspirationals care deeply about social and environmental values as consumers BBMG labels “dark green” but they love to shop. They care about price, quality, and style, or as the report describes them, “they prize value and values.” Aspirational consumers are increasing. In 2014, they represent 38 percent of the global population, up from 36 percent in 2013.

BBMG found by conducting polls that aspirationals really do care as much about the values of a company as they do about shopping. Nine out of 10 (93 percent) of them said “shopping for new things excites me." Half of them said they “trust global companies to act in the best interest of society." Most (90 percent) aspirationals said they encourage people to buy from socially and environmentally responsible companies compared to 59 percent of all consumers. They are willing to pay more for socially and environmentally responsible products.

Most aspirationals (95 percent) also said they think they need to consume less to preserve the environment. When asked what they thought about food waste, BBMG found that 70 percent of aspirationals are motivated by money although they have “deep empathy” for the issues surrounding food waste. They also found that being wasteful is not perceived by aspirationals as a positive character trait.

The report concludes that aspirationals hold the keys to “scaling sustainable consumption” because of their love of shopping combined with their desire to “do more with less.” Aspirationals expect brands to be responsible and reward brands that practice responsibility. A new narrative is needed on food waste that celebrates food while encouraging consumers to save money by not wasting food. That sort of campaign would appeal to aspirationals who in turn would influence those around them.

Image credit: Michael Coghlan