GreenMonk news roundup 02/26/2009

• Costs and environmental impacts of electric cars

  a guest post by Joost van den Bulk in which the costs and benefits of electric cars available by 2010 are compared with internal combustion cars powered by gasoline for the Netherlands. It is a summary of his Master thesis in environmental science at Wageningen University in the Netherlands (PDF, 3 Mb, 72 pages).

  Developments in battery technology have made cars driven by electric propulsion cost competitive with internal combustion based cars. Based on a scenario in which a car owner drives 15,000 kilometers annually, the car is owned for a period of 6 years, and the oil price on average remains above 100 dollars per barrel in the next two decades, it was found that an electric car for the consumer is already cheaper than a gasoline powered vehicle in the Netherlands, and that this will only improve in the future. This is the case because higher initial investments in the purchase of an electric car are more than compensated by lower fuel costs, reduced maintenance and tax benefits. Furthermore, greenhouse gas emissions of an electric car are at least half that of the gasoline powered car based on the current Dutch electricity mix.

  tags: ev, bev, phev, electric car

• Drought Shrivels China’s Wheat Belt – NYTimes.com

  Northern China is dry in the best of times. But a long rainless stretch has underscored the urgency of water problems in a region that grows three-fifths of China’s crops and houses more than two-fifths of its people — but gets only one-fifth as much rain as the rest of the country.
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  The New York Times

  Northern China grows three-fifths of the country’s crops.

  The current drought, considered the worst in Northern China in at least half a century, is crippling not only the country’s best wheat farmland, but also the wells that provide clean water to industry and to millions of people.

  tags: china, drought, wheat, winter wheat, rain

• Marc Gunther » The anatomy of a latte

  Have you ever wondered how much water it takes to make a Starbucks grande latte? I hadn’t until I met Jason Clay.

  tags: wwf, jason clay, starbucks

• James Governor’s Monkchips » An Open Memo to Sam and Mark: Who is the real leader?

  One of the big battles of this depression is going to be HP versus IBM. But we live in a new business environment and you need to rethink strategy accordingly. The Street can’t promise you anything. Only the government can do that right now. So why not cut out the middleman? Forget namby pamby corporate social responsibility. Just contract with government on the basis you won’t cut jobs. Its not a bail-out: its an employment strategy. This is real sustainability.

  tags: ibm, hp, sustainability, employment, mark hurd, sam palmisano

• IBM Press room – 2009-02-25 IBM Sheds New Light on the Smart Energy Consumer – United States

  Global Business Services today unveiled its new report, “Lighting the Way: Understanding the smart energy consumer,” that shows consumers around the globe are willing to become more involved with managing their energy use.

  The study shows while in the short term, changes in customer needs will occur based on personal initiative and income, in the long run, even more radical changes may yet emerge as the Millennial Generation continues to move into adulthood and the energy customer base.

  Those respondents age 18 to 34 were most eager for the types of “self-service” and automated energy management that ‘smart’ metering and smart grids will bring.

  tags: smart grid, smart meter, ibm

• Four Dimensions of Sustainability – CSR Perspective

  Reducing impact on climate change is a challenge many corporations are trying to tackle. Many organizations are up for the challenge but many are unsure of where to begin among the myriad of activities on the table.

  Due to these challenges, I’ve developed a white paper which I hope will provide more insight on how to navigate these challenges. The Four Dimensions of Sustainability evolved from my trying to put BT’s and other company’s many sustainability activities into a logical set of categories for a presentation I had to give.

  tags: csr, sustainability, bt, white paper

• Polar regions found warming fast, raising sea levels | Reuters

  The Arctic and Antarctic regions are warming faster than previously thought, raising world sea levels and making drastic global climate change more likely than ever, international scientists said on Wednesday.

  tags: arctic, antarctic, sea level rise, climate change

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.