Technology

According to Interbrand’s 2013 Best Global Green Brands, Nissan ranked fifth. The Leaf is the most widely sold electric passenger car of all time. In February, 2013, the company announced that it had produced 50,000 LEAFs. The Leaf boasts a fuel efficiency rating of 115 MPGe and the EPA rated 2013 Leaf's range at 75 miles on a single charge. The Nissan Leaf, is by far the volume leader, part of what makes the Leaf so successful is the fact that it is efficient, affordable and it offers better range than most electric vehicles. Infinity, Nissan's luxury brand is also...

Green buildings are really about a culture of learning. In this video John D. Spengler reviews green innovation in sustainable campuses in Asia. In addition to mitigating carbon footprints and other environmental impacts through energy efficient technologies, campuses in Asia have started to apply various green innovations through design and methods enhancement. Some campuses use green roofs, others use a green facade with algae to produce energy, and still others irrigate their hydroponics using HVAC's water waste to grow food. Sustainability efforts in Asian campuses now represents the culture of learning and biophilia (the love of the nature). According to...

According to Interbrand’s 2013 Best Global Green Brands, Honda ranked third. The 2013 Honda Fit EV gets 118 MPGe combined (132 city and 105 highway), with a range of 82 miles. Although at present it is only available by lease, according to the EPA, it is the second most efficient electric car in the world today. However, the company is producing only 1,100 Fit EVs. The EPA rates the 2014 Accord Plug-In Hybrid's electric range at 13 miles, during which its efficiency rating is 115 MPGe. After the battery is depleted, it behaves like a conventional hybrid and is rated...

Toyota retained the top spot on Interbrand’s 2013 Best Global Green Brands ranking for the third year running. Toyota’s 2013 Prius line is dominating the greener car market. The Toyota Prius C, a compact version of the Prius that boasts fuel economy of 53 mpg city and 46 mpg highway. The Prius is one of the best vehicles on the market in terms of tailpipe emissions. Combined the four model variations of the Prius sold 236,659 units last year, making the vehicle the Toyota Prius the most popular hybrid car in the US. In total more than 2.9 million Prius...

Updated January 17, 2024 The United States is the most wasteful country in the world.  Waste management performance is commonly assessed by looking at the total volume of waste factored by the number of people in a given area. This provides a per capita average of trash output. The way waste or trash is defined varies but there is general agreement that on a per capita basis, Americans generate more waste than any other nation* and these numbers have been trending upward. According to data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), each American generates an average of 4.9 pounds (2.3...

Here are two solar powered cars, Luminos and Stella that are both being entered into Australia's World Solar Challenge in October 2013. The goal of this competition is to travel 3000km across Australia from Darwin to Adelaide. The key qualifying feature is with the exception of 5kW hours of stored energy, all other energy must come from the sun or be recovered from the kinetic energy of the vehicle. Luminos, is a Stanford Solar Car Project, which is the 11th such vehicle since their founding in 1989. As reported in Cleantechnica, Luminos boasts several major innovations including their own highly...

Revisions are being undertaken in ISO 14001 in order to create an overarching format in conformity with Annex SL (previously ISO Guide 83) which defines the framework for a generic management system. This new guidance is holistic and is intended to end conflicts, duplication, confusion, and misunderstanding from different MSS management systems. Since being issued in 1996 and then revised in 2004, the ISO 14001 Environmental Management Systems standard has been adopted by more than 250,000 organizations around the world. Annex SL, is described as a “high-level structure and identical text for management system standards and common core management system...

Canada is hoping the carbon capture and storage (CCS) can help to mollify its increasingly isolated position vis-a-vis the nation’s failure to limit emissions. The tar sands are a significant contributor to Canada’s rising greenhouse gas emissions. The Canadian tar sands industry now generates between 40 and 50 million metric tons of carbon dioxide every year, or around 7 percent of Canada’s total emissions. This will be the first commercial-scale test of CCS technology which requires an expansive network of pipelines, capture facilities, and storage reservoirs. However, large-scale CCS is unproven and the technology is both costly and risky. The...

There are a number of hybrid vehicles that have flooded the marketplace in the last few years. The number of available hybrid brands in the US market has more than doubled since 2007. There were a total of 434,498 hybrid electric vehicles sold in the US in 2012. The EIA estimates that in 2010 there were about 9 million alternative fuel vehicles in the United States. According to Annual Energy Outlook 2013, in 2010 there were 1,890,265 Hybrid Gas/Diesel-Electric vehicles in the US. As reported in June, 2012 there were 2,180,000 hybrid cars in the US. Toyota has consistently offered the...

Japan has been the world leader in well priced fuel efficient small cars for decades and this leadership continues as we enter the era of electric vehicles. The Honda Fit EV and the Mitsubishi i-MiEV are two of the best Japanese small cars and two of the most fuel efficient vehicles in the world. The 2013 Honda Fit EV (Electric vehicle), has received a combined adjusted Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mile-per-gallon-equivalency rating of 118 MPG (equivalent), and an unprecedented low consumption rating of just 29 kilowatt hours (kWh) per 100 miles. The EPA estimates that annual fuel costs will be...