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As a science-based method, life cycle analysis (LCA) is an excellent tool to bust the myths that surround sustainability. In this monthly series, we look at some common sustainability ideas to see if they aremyth or truth. In today’s episode: transportation.
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Carlsberg Group is inviting companies and members of the public to submit their ideas on how to make Carlsberg beer more sustainable. The competition, “Cheers to Green Ideas,” was launched in partnership with Scandinavian think tank Sustainia on Monday.
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After meeting its initial goal a year ahead of schedule, Carnival Corporation has renewed its goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent from its 2005 baseline by 2020, according to a recent announcement of the travel and leisure company’s 2020 sustainability goals.As part of the effort, the company and its 10 global brands have developed strategic energy reduction and conservation initiatives, many of which exceed current laws and regulations.
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Sustainable Brands Rio 2015, which took place August 25-27, saw the participation of over 500 attendees from business, civil society organizations, NGOs, universities, governments and the third sector. This year, the theme "How now: how innovation in sustainability is transforming business now" reinforced an open and critical view on trends which, on a larger scale, may lead to positive change in companies´ business models.
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Two years ago, billionaire CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX visionary Elon Musk made headlines when he released designs for the ‘Hyperloop’ Transport System, which would be capable of rapidly transporting people from Los Angeles to San Francisco via a tube in under 30 minutes.The proposed system would use pods about two meters, or around 6.6 feet, in diameter. Musk described the Hyperloop as a “cross between a Concorde and a railgun and an air hockey table," instilling images of people-packed pods being blasted pneumatically through vacuum tubes.
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Highways England and Under Secretary of State for Transport Andrew Jones MP announced today that off-road (test track) trials of technology needed to power electric and hybrid vehicles on England’s major roads are due to take place later this year.The trials are the first of their kind and will test how the technology would work safely and effectively on the country’s motorways and major A roads, allowing drivers of ultra-low emission vehicles to travel long distances without needing to stop and charge the car’s battery.
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As a digital industrial company focused on answering the unique needs and scale of customers across aviation, energy, healthcare and transportation, GE has announced plans to enter the cloud services market with Predix Cloud. The world’s first and only cloud solution designed specifically for industrial data and analytics, this platform-as-a-service (PaaS) will capture and analyze the unique volume, velocity and variety of machine data within a highly secure, industrial-strength cloud environment.
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UPS logged 154 million miles in 2014 toward its goal of driving 1 billion miles with its alternative fuel and advanced technology fleet by the end of 2017 — an almost threefold increase from 2013, according to the company’s 13th annual Sustainability Report.To put this into perspective: it took 13 years for the company to drive the first 350 million miles with its alternative fuel and advanced technology fleet, but in just one year UPS was able to build dramatically on that number and is now more than halfway to its 2017 goal.
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Hyundai Heavy Industries, a leading shipbuilder, and Accenture are collaborating to design a ‘connected smart ship’ that will enable ship owners to better manage their fleets and achieve potential operational savings through the application of digital technologies. The collaboration is part of Hyundai Heavy Industries’ plans to expand its business, moving from manufacturing to services.Using a network of sensors that will be built into new vessels, ship owners will be able to capture a range of ship voyage information including location, weather, and ocean current data, as well as on-board
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Canadian startup Daymark has developed a fully electric, solar-powered scooter capable of playing music from built-in speakers, charging your phone and traveling up to 10 miles using its 24V battery pack, which is available in lithium or lead acid varieties.The Photon scooter re-charges under daylight during any kind of weather, gaining approximately 0.2 miles for every hour of exposure the 6W solar panel receives.
CLEANTECH -
If you think about air travel and sustainability, a couple of things might occur to you: First, that you are not involved or interested; second, that since airlines are so dependent on liquid fuel, reducing their carbon emissions is a lost cause. But, you probably are involved, and flying can become less disruptive of the planet’s systems.
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If changing the world for the better was easy, we'd all be doing it. But thinking that you can make a difference is audacious. It takes a sort of beneficent arrogance to set out to push humanity in a positive direction. To believe you will succeed is madness, but to believe otherwise is to surrender. I think of giving up as a form of death, so I'll gladly side with the crazy ones who are trying to make things better.But the world needs change as we’re headed toward multiple planetary boundaries, so someone needs to take the wheel and point us in a better direction.I was invited to an intriguing event last week, where I learned about the plans for something audacious.Let’s start with the details:
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Earlier this month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Transportation proposed new fuel-efficiency and greenhouse gas standards for medium- and heavy-duty trucks.I spoke with Jason Mathers of the Environmental Defense Fund to find out how these new regulations affect U.S. brands. Jason leads EDF’s Green Freight initiative, which works with consumer product companies and large fleets to reduce the environmental impact of product distribution in the U.S.
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Today, Ford announced progress on its commitment to developing autonomous vehicle technology, including innovations in wearable technology and collaborations with startups in Silicon Valley to make mobility solutions more accessible. The announcement, made at the Further with Ford trend conference, marks a transition from Ford’s investment in autonomous vehicle technology as a research effort to an advanced engineering program.
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This week, five major companies from the beverage and chemical industries announced a collaboration on sustainability initiatives in the shipping sector. FrieslandCampina, AB InBev, AkzoNobel, DSM and Huntsman will join forces under the BICEPS (Boosting Initiatives for Collaborative Emission-reduction with the Power of Shippers) network to create momentum for sustainability improvements in shipping.
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Atlanta, May 05, 2015New Agreement with Clean Energy Will Help Grow Market for Use of Methane Gas from Landfills as Fuel UPS® (NYSE:UPS) today announced it has entered into an agreement to purchase renewable natural gas (RNG) for its delivery vehicle fleet from Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (NASDAQ: CLNE). The deal signifies UPS's plan to significantly expand its use of renewable natural gas for its alternative fuel and advanced technology fleet. The company has a goal of driving one billion miles using its alternative fuel and advanced technology fleet by the end of 2017.Clean Energy Fuels, co-founded by T. Boone Pickens, is the exclusive producer of Redeem, the first RNG made available in commercial quantities.
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Richmond, VA, April 30, 2015Purchase supports enterprise's sustainability goals UPS Freight® (NYSE: UPS), one of the nation's largest heavy freight carriers, announced today the addition of 64 liquefied natural gas (LNG) tractors to its fleet. The tractors, which are based in Harrisburg, Pa., join UPS's worldwide fleet of more than 2,500 natural gas vehicles."Even though UPS has used LNG tractors in package operations for more than a decade, it's still a relatively new fuel for trucking," said Willie Rivero, UPS Freight vice president-fleet. "By adding these tractors to the UPS Freight fleet, we are aligning ourselves with the enterprise's commitment to use natural gas as a reliable alternative to traditional fuel."
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Spring cleaning this year just got a little easier: On Saturday, May 2nd, donating old clothes will be a breeze thanks to a partnership between Goodwill and Uber. Donors can open the Uber app on Saturday, select the GIVE option at the bottom of the screen and request a pickup for their donations to be delivered directly to their local Goodwill, free of charge.
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Having racked up over 10,000 deliveries and 30,000 members in its Scandinavian motherland since its 2013 launch, Norwegian social delivery service Nimber is set to plug a sustainability gap in the UK delivery sector, making use of unused capacity by using real people who are going somewhere anyway to make deliveries.The company estimates that to date its service has helped cut carbon emissions by 198.24 tonnes through the use of existing capacity to bring and send items to individuals and businesses.
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When Airbnb and Uber burst on the scene a few years ago the business world was abuzz with the potential for a new “sharing economy.”Advocates explained how these services would provide people with new ways of making money by utilizing their homes and vehicles to their full potential, while offering a service that could save energy, reduce waste and bring communities together by sharing their resources and time.