The Importance of Metals And Minerals

The Global Environment and the World’s Energy Needs

The earth’s crust is rich with minerals and transforming these ores into - metal tools, machines and equipment of all sorts, motor vehicles, solar cells, wind turbines, computers, the internet, communications satellites and the rockets that put them in orbit, medical equipment and innumerable other products - allow us to live a quality of life much different from that of our parents and grandparents. Stop and think about it. Even the most basic things we take for granted, from the roads and highways we drive on to flat screen television panels, are products of mining. Society not only relies on, but demands it receives the manufactured products it wants and has become accustomed.

Besides allowing us our standard of living and products, raw mineral products are the necessary ingredients of the world’s global economy. There is a saying that “raw materials are the basis of every modern industrial economy.” It is from raw, natural resources that nations treat, manufacture and produce value-added products. If a country does not have or cannot acquire raw minerals or initially beneficiated products like concentrates through international trade, it cannot produce and export manufactured goods or employ its citizens in good, long-term high-paying jobs. The choice for a country is to develop an industrialized economy or remain an agrarian one with all the age-old shortcomings of being at the bottom of the global economic ladder. It should be safe to assume that most of the world’s farmers would like their children and future generations to obtain an education or skills to enable them to move up that ladder.

Competition between developed and developing countries for the world’s finite production of metals will become more and more acute.

And recently there has been growing concern over man’s emissions of greenhouse gases and a renewed interest and acceptance of electricity produced from clean nuclear power. Not only is nuclear power clean and does not emit greenhouse gasses, but the U.S. and France have designed new and improved safe nuclear reactors. Much of the world, especially the Asian countries of China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and India have chosen to emphasize the development of nuclear power rather than rely on problematic fossil fuels.

So it is clear that we benefit immensely in a material way from the metals we remove from the ground. But there is more to this story than just the transformation of metals to products. Most people are not aware of origin or the obvious existence of the metals in their vehicles, metal beams in their bridges, overpasses, household appliances, wiring in their houses and work place. While in ancient times the ability to work with metals and manufactured things was extremely valued, people in modern times have become used to the benefits of refined, machined metals and manufactured products and take them for granted. To have these products people must be employed, and this is an important point. Mines are not usually in urban, developed areas. They are usually not close to large metropolitan areas. They are often “off the beaten track,” and in the U.S. are primarily in the Western states. But the people who work at mines, refine and produce the metals used in the manufacture of the products have one thing in common. They all enjoy high-paying sustainable jobs, jobs that allow them to obtain auto and home loans, purchase products and put money that multiplies its beneficial effect as it circulates through the economy. Indeed, the huge, U.S. economy was built on its domestic metal resources. From those metals, we built our railroads, ships, airplanes, engines of all sorts, and motor vehicles. And from those industries, we created millions of high-paying jobs and trained and hired workers to fill those jobs. And those workers bought things, built our strong economy and supported its continued growth. Currently, it is jobs, spending and jumpstarting the nation’s economy that President Obama is trying to create with his economic development program. As far as the world is concerned, economic growth resulted in the increased consumption of raw materials throughout the twentieth century. Between 1960 and 1995, world mineral use expanded by 2.5 times and metals use more than doubled (2.1 times). This growth outpaced the increase of the world’s population and occurred even though the world’s economy shifted to become more service oriented, and non-materials intensive manufacturing industries such as telecommunication and finance developed. Interestingly, metals use doubled even though metals became less important because of the increased use of plastics and other manufactured materials in the manufacturing industries.

To further illustrate how important the main industrialized countries are when it comes to metals use, the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan and Western Europe represent 15% of the world’s population, but consumed 61% of the world’s aluminum, 60% of the lead, 59% of the copper and 49% of the steel. Use is high on a per capita basis as well. For example, the average American uses 22 kilograms (48.4 lbs.) of aluminum per annum, while the average Indian and African use 2 kilograms (4.4 lbs.) and 1 kilogram (2.2 lbs.), respectively. And the numbers are similar for China, but China is becoming a major consumer of metals to feed the development of its transportation sector, not only for roads and railroads, but for vehicles, ships and airplanes to be sold both domestically and on the world market. It is well known, and becoming more widely understood, that China is aggressively seeking to obtain long-term supplies of the metals, oil, gas and other natural resources that will be required for it to continue its march to become a fully developed country. On a broader scale, the countries known as the “BRIC” countries, Brazil, Russia, India and China, are the countries that will be increasing their percentage consumption of the world’s metals over the coming decades. As their economies develop, they will significantly influence the future price of metals.

So where is this global increase in the consumption of metals taking us? No one has a long-term crystal ball, but in the shorter term it is obvious.

Metals prices will increase and manufactured products containing them will become more expensive. Not only will metals resources be sought out in more and more remote locations, i.e., the Arctic, Antarctica, seabed mining, central Asia and of course continued expansion into the far recesses of South America and Africa, but ways will need to be developed to ensure these metals operations will be reliable from an environmental perspective.

Besides allowing these countries to grow their economies and better the livelihood of their people, a fallout of this sprint to acquire and develop metals resources has the potential for increased greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental consequences.

Mining metals requires the use of heavy equipment, equipment that not only run on diesel, but they cannot be manufactured without using a lot of energy. And what about environmental consequences that could result from mining metals in far off places? On one hand, developing nations recognize the importance of conducting mining operations and promoting economic development in a clean, environmentally responsible manner. However, it is not always easy for developing countries to closely monitor mining and other development activities, or to enforce its environmental laws and regulations. But since most major mining operations involve at least one international mining company who knows how to conduct operations that are sound from an environmental perspective, the operation may well have obtained financing that requires compliance with the Equator Principals.

So the U.S. and all developing countries in the world must face the challenges resulting from the fact that populations and economies continue to grow, which will result in the increased consumption of metals, including Uranium for nuclear power reactors.

The challenge for a country and the world as a whole is to obtain enough metals necessary to sustain its economic growth, all the while mining the needed metals in a safe, sustainable and environmentally conscientious manner.

This is of course a lot easier said than done, but the mining industry and the world’s large financial institutions who will provide much of the funds necessary for this growth, are committed to this goal.

But because the world’s metals resources are in a sense finite, recycling will continue to become more efficient and more significant in the metals sector. In this regard, recycling is a truly substantial and vital sector of the steel industry. Having a stable metals mining industry is a fundamental requirement if the world is to regain and then maintain a strong economy. And no economy can be strong without a good source of energy to power its industries making nuclear power part of a vigorous global economic development effort. The world must be realistic and reasonable if it is to achieve this goal. People will come to realize they cannot escape their need to consume metals. So their ultimate challenge is to figure out a balance between the obvious needs of any vibrant economy for metals and energy and the goal of living in a healthy pollution-free environment.

Mark T. Nesbitt is at Nesbitt & Associates LLC, Attorneys and Counselors at Law. You can contact Mr. Nesbitt at 1580 Lincoln Street, Suite 700, Denver, Colorado 80203-1557. Phone: (303) 302-3097 Fax: (303) 302-3088 Email: [email protected].

Powering a Nation

Energy Development on Native Lands

Think “energy development on Indian lands” and probably wind, solar, geothermal and biomass projects - renewables - are what come to mind, but that’s not all that’s happening in on Native American reservations. Coal, which supplies more than 50 percent of America’s electricity, is still very much in the mix, and for good reason.

Former Sen. Ben Nighthorse-Campbell, R-Colo., told Congress just five years ago, “Indian lands comprise approximately 5 percent of the land area of the United States, but contains an estimated 10 percent of all energy reserves in the United States, including 30 percent of known coal deposits located in the western portion of the United States.”

Coal deposits are a big part of many tribes’ patrimony. Coal can be the resource that provides a decent standard of living, sends kids to college, and finances the struggle to affirm and maintain tribal sovereignty.

Steven J. Morello (Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians) is director of the U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs. “Energy development will be worth three times what gaming is worth in Indian Country,” he said. “Tribes need to take stock of their energy resources.”

Morello listed some of the energy projects on Indian reservations: the Northwest Band of Shoshone Nation is building the first of five geothermal plants and its entire output is already sold; the St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin have built an exemplary biomass facility; and the Oklahoma Cherokee, the Navajo Nation and many other tribes are working on wind projects.

Then there are the major coal projects: Many Stars CTL (coal-to-liquid) facility on the Crow Reservation in Montana and Desert Rock Energy Project, a coal-fired power plant in New Mexico on the Navajo Nation.

“The CTL plant will produce synthetic jet fuel for the Air Force,” said Morello.

When fully operational, the plant will provide millions in revenues each year to the Crow Nation. This will give them the opportunity to truly determine their own destiny.”

On Desert Rock, Morello said, “The Navajo Nation doesn’t yet do gaming and has great economic need. We advise tribes, ‘Don’t sell your raw materials, sell a product.’ That’s what the Navajo Nation is doing. The plant will generate electricity and provide jobs.

Many Stars CTL Project

Crow Tribal Chairman Carl Venne said the Many Stars Coal to Liquid project would not only “secure the future of the tribe and its members for generations, but would also enhance national security by making the United States less dependent on foreign oil.”

“On the Crow Reservation we have a 47-percent unemployment rate and a yearly average family income of $7,000 to $10,000. Our people are the poorest of the poor; we don’t make money from gaming,” Venne said. “We together as Indian tribes have an American dream to own our own homes, have jobs, and send our kids to school. But the federal government can’t do this.”

“We’ve given up a lot to this nation, which has not taken care of our tribe. Our land base was 38 million acres; now it is 2.5 million acres. What it boils down to is this: The government has managed our resources for 140 years and we lost everything. We’re tired of waiting for the federal government. We want the opportunity to make our own decisions and mistakes.”

How important is this project for the tribe? “We have the resources to secure the reservation for generations to come. That’s how important it is,” Venne answered.

Ken Roberts, COO of Australian-American Energy Company, a subsidiary of Australian Energy Company, the developer of Many Stars, explained that the project would use coal gasification combined with Fischer-Tropsch process, generally referred to as coal-to-liquids: Coal is first partially oxidized to create a synthesis gas made of hydrogen and carbon monoxide and then it is converted catalytically (a chemical process under heat and pressure…the Fischer-Tropsch process) into a synthetic crude. That can then be refined into transportation fuels and other chemicals. “Basically, the process takes the coal molecules apart and puts them back together in another form to create ultraclean transportation fuels. In this case, the plant will produce both synthetic diesel and jet fuel.

Roberts said the Fischer-Tropsch process has been around since before World War II. In the past several years the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense have carried out studies to verify the benefits of synthetic fuels made using the Fischer-Tropsch process. Results have been good, and the Air Force is moving toward certifying its entire fleet of jets to use this fuel.

“The technology will help us achieve energy independence and security,” Roberts said. “This is fuel produced from domestic supplies of resources, not foreign oil. The project is of huge strategic importance to the U.S. and helps set the pathway for other CTL projects in this country.”

The Crow project will need two to three years for design work, including final site selection of the plant and the coal mine that will supply it, with these initial development costs in the $100-million range.

About $7 billion will be needed in capital costs for construction of the plant, which will take about four years. “CTL facilities are highly capital-intensive projects,” said Roberts. Investors from the U.S., Australia, and other countries will get a reasonable rate of return on the project because oil prices are so high. “Oil prices of $75 a barrel or higher make CTL economically viable,” said Roberts.

The Crow Tribe will receive royalties and taxes from the coal mining operation as well as share in the profits from the CTL plant, with the exact dollar amount being related to future crude oil prices. In addition, “Part of our agreement is to help develop education and training programs to meet the needs of the project and operations into the future,” said Roberts. The project is expected to create up to 4,000 temporary construction jobs and up to 900 permanent jobs on a reservation of 12,000 people.

Coal gasification in a CTL plant takes place in an enclosed system, which makes it possible to capture significant amounts of the carbon dioxide produced by the process. The carbon dioxide can then be injected into deep geologic structures (geosequestration) or sold to oil production companies for enhanced oil recovery in older reservoirs.

Roberts explained that underground gas storage is not experimental. “Naturally-occurring carbon dioxide reservoirs exist and are currently being used for enhanced oil recovery, such as Jackson Dome in Mississippi and Sheep Mountain in Colorado. Natural gas has been injected and stored in underground reservoirs by the petroleum industry for a long time.” He said the company is working with the Department of Interior to locate potential storage locations for the carbon dioxide generated by the Many Stars Project. There are also many oil fields in the area that could utilize the carbon dioxide for enhanced oil recovery.

This project, Roberts said, would use stranded coal, coal that does occur in sufficient quality or quantity to be economic to develop if costs for transporting the coal to power plants have to be added in. “The CTL plant can be built near the mine to reduce costs of transporting the coal,” said Roberts.

“That’s the same amount that would be needed to irrigate a 7,500-acre field of alfalfa,” said Roberts. “Fifteen acre feet a year represents less than 3 percent of the tribe’s water rights on the reservation today. We intend to be very attentive to water and carbon dioxide concerns. Our objective is to be technically reliable, environmentally responsible and safe.”

Desert Rock Energy Project

Steven Begay is general manager of Diné Power Authority, the Navajo Nation’s coal energy development arm and co-developer with the international development company Sithe Global Power subsidiary Desert Rock Energy Company of the proposed Desert Rock Energy Project.

Begay is acutely aware of the place coal could have in economic development on tribal lands: “There is a huge supply of coal here. From Four Corners to Grants, N.M., there is enough coal under lease to last us for 30-50 years. After that, there are harder-to-retrieve supplies good for another for 300-500 years.”

The Desert Rock project, an advanced-technology coal plant, is composed of two 750-MW units that use supercritical boiler technology, Begay explained. The units burn pulverized coal and the power plant will be built so that it can be retrofitted for carbon-dioxide capture and sequestration when that technology is mature.

For now it will have the latest emission controls, among them selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technology (the same system used to control vehicle emissions) designed to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury and other pollutants, a bag house to contain particulates, and wet scrubbers to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions.

Frank Maisano, a spokesman for Desert Rock Energy Company, said: “This plant will be built to meet the most stringent air-pollution limits ever imposed in the United States. Other projects have used pieces of the technology, but never before has it all been combined in one project. Desert Rock will set a new standard.”

Like the Crow Tribe’s project, coal for Desert Rock will come from tribal lands, specifically from the BHP Billiton mine near Farmington, N.M., which is expanding to meet the needs of this and other projects.

Maisano said the plant would use about 4,000 acre-feet a year of water, 85 percent less than older coal-fired plants. That number includes 500 acre-feet that will be given to nearby Indian communities. “It’s non-potable water that comes from a very deep aquifer. The communities would not be able to get the water themselves. They’ll be able to use it agriculture and other purposes.” Most of the remaining 3,500 acre-feet will be used for the pollution control equipment. “The plant is air-cooled,” said Maisano, “Cooling Desert Rock does not require water.”

Transmitting power from tribal energy projects to the market is an on-going challenge because many of the transmission lines running near the reservations do not have unused capacity. The Navajo Nation is working on getting clearances to build a new 500 kV AC transmission line that would run from Four Corners to Southern Nevada.

Begay talked about the economics of coal projects on Indian lands.

“When the opposition says don’t do coal, just do wind, solar, nuclear, we still have growing demand for electricity and coal’s a big piece of meeting that demand. We need a mixture of generation.”

“We need a proper mix instead of just saying ‘Green is good.’ Coal can be the backup baseload supply to support wind and solar development. Maybe when coal runs out in 1000 years or so, we’ll need to do something else.”

The No-Coal Option

Geri Small, President of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, and tribal attorney, Steve Chestnut of Ziontz, Chestnut, Varnell, Berley & Slonim in Seattle, talked to Native American Journal about the tribe’s experience with coal development in the mid 1960s through the early 1980s, a period during which many tribes – virtually at the insistence of the Department of Interior – were entering into leases for coal extraction on their lands.

“Between 1966 and 1971, coal companies including Peabody Western Coal, Consolidation Coal Company, and Chevron, as well as speculators, had acquired leases for coal on the tribe’s land, Chestnut said. “In 1972 and 1973 the tribal council began to realize they had essentially lost control of the reservation.”

“There was massive national interest in resources caused by the energy crisis of the early 1970s. Western coal was seen as the savior. Deals were put together by the BIA. Our royalty rate was 17.5 cents per ton, going down to 16 cents per ton if the coal was processed on the reservation.”

Said Chestnut, “It was a great giveaway and the council couldn’t live with it.”

In 1973 the tribe started to look at how they could get Interior to cancel the leases. It was a high-profile effort, said Chestnut. “The companies involved were very powerful and the tribe had little by way of financial resources.”

The tribe submitted a 600-page petition to the Secretary of Interior asking him to review and cancel the leases. At the end of 1973, Secretary Rogers Morton suspended all of the lease transactions, saying he wouldn’t go along unless the tribe agreed. “I think he wanted to give the tribe leverage to negotiate a better deal, and every company made it plain that there was room to renegotiate. But the tribe was not interested,” said Chestnut.

“This went on for several years. The tribe would never go along, but the leases were only suspended, so a legislative solution was needed,” Chestnut said. “Ultimately it took an act of Congress. The deal was that the companies would relinquish their rights to Northern Cheyenne coal and in return receive rights to federal coal located in other places the companies were already mining.”

In 1980-1981, the tribe received sizable damage payments. “The tribe had achieved its objective—they got clear title to the reservation and some damages and picked up 7,000 acres of land.” The one group of speculators that held out lost out when the final date for negotiations set by Congress expired. Their leases were automatically canceled.

“The whole strategy was conceived and executed by the tribe. Northern Cheyenne has very good tribal leaders, for example, Edwin Dahle, who is considered a tribal hero,” said Chestnut.

And since? “There’s nothing going on” in regard to the development of coal or coalbed methane on the reservation, said Small.

Chestnut offered this explanation: “The tribe is unbelievably dedicated to the reservation.”

Reprinted with permission by Native American Journal, October 2008.

It's Time To Dye The White Collar Green

An Interview with Van Jones

Van Jones is an award-winning activist, bestselling author, speaker, and political advisor. I first became a die-hard fan in 2007 when I attended my first (and far from my last) Awakening the Dreamer Symposium - a program of the Pachamama Alliance and presented by its founder, Lynne Twist. I sat in awe, quite literally glued to the screen, listening to the profound wisdom Mr. Jones shared about many ideas, but especially about how he views collaboration to be a significant solution to our planets problems. He said,

“For too long we’ve had this division between ecology and social justice, and so you’re either concerned about nature and the environment, or you’re concerned about people. Now you’re starting to see a much more wisdom-based approach to the fact that there are no single issues. If you pull enough on any single issue, you find it’s connected to every other issue. When you talk about cosmology, and I talk about racial justice, we realize we’re speaking the same language, When you talk about environment, and I talk about community health we’re speaking the same language. And so now it’s the age for the translator. It’s the age for the bridge builder. It’s the age for Velcro. It’s the age for Lego. It’s the age for combining what we already have into what we need.”

It is no surprise that The Green Collar Economy, How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems, was written by Mr. Jones, and it could not be more current. The book launched at #12 on the New York Times bestseller list with a timely message - that green jobs can save both our economy and our environment. Through Jones’ steady stewardship, his organization Green For All helped create the Green Jobs Act (2007). Once passed, the act authorized $125 million in “green-collar” job training. This training is folded into emerging green sectors such as solar and wind industries, energy retrofitting and green building construction. The monies approved by Congress don’t find their way only to existing businesses with a need to improve their bottom line. Twenty percent of the funds also support “Pathways Out of Poverty,” a program providing targeted resources and support to low-income individuals.

I had the great pleasure to meet Mr. Jones at the Big Tent, blogger headquarters during the 2008 Democratic National Convention. He spoke on several riveting subjects from environmental justice to green jobs not jails. I found myself analyzing the content of his presentations, using his topics as a springboard to further inquiry. After reading the book I was able to formulate the following questions…

In your book The Green Collar Economy you clearly describe how, “some of the barriers to a real breakthrough are not technological, economic or political.” Describe your vision of what the barriers are and what we need to do to fix them?

Well, there are political challenges to moving to renewable energy and energy efficiency. There are economic and technological challenges, too. But one of the biggest things standing in our way is the lack of workers trained and ready to do the work of building the green economy.

Bringing America’s economy into the 21st century is going to take a lot of work. We have to retrofit and upgrade millions of buildings. We have to install millions of solar panels, and plant and care for millions of trees. We have to build millions of plug-in hybrid vehicles. We need thousands of solar farms, wind farms, and wave farms; we’ll have to build those, too. And we have to manufacture the solar panels, wind turbines and wave power turbines for those energy farms.

Who’s going to do all this work? Right now, America does not have a workforce trained to do the hard and noble work of building the green economy. But we have more than enough people who want those jobs, who want to be trained and equipped to do work that not only feeds their families but saves the country and the planet.

So the biggest barrier is not having enough workers to do the work. How do we overcome this barrier? We invest in workers. We invest in the everyday person, ready to work and looking to serve. We invest in training programs, service and learning programs, job placement programs.

Right now, Green For All is preparing to roll out our campaign for a Clean Energy Corps for America. It’s our plan to do all these things so that we can match the people who most need work, with the work that most needs to be done.

At ICOSA we believe that collaboration could save the world. Describe how collaboration creates a Green Collar Economy, and could in fact be the answer to our economic problems?

From floods to fires, from foreclosures to financial collapse, it should be obvious to everyone at this point that the old, pollution-based economy is hurting the planet and hurting the people. We need a new, green economy - one that helps the planet and helps the people.

That’s a big shift. To get there, we need a massive and deliberate reorganization of the country’s resources and priorities. The work ahead of us - from retrofitting buildings, to constructing energy farms, to upgrading our power grid, and so on - is going to create tremendous opportunities for work, wealth and health. But it will also create a million and one headaches, missteps and failures if we aren’t moving forward together as a country, united.

That means collaboration. That means building a strong, durable, and broad-based coalition with the political muscle to move such a comprehensive agenda. It will not be easy. The current economy, based on pollution and exclusion, still has many powerful supporters entrenched in Washington and on Wall Street.

No, it will not be easy. But it is necessary, and possible.

We all have something to gain from a green economy. But none of us can build it alone. Which means we have to build it together. All of us — workers, environmentalists, activists, students, people of color, people of faith, small farmers, progressive business and finance leaders, entrepreneurs, intellectuals, scientists, and more.

I call it a “Green Growth Alliance,” and it boils down to exactly what you said: collaboration can save the world.

You describe ethanol, nuclear power and “clean coal” as false solutions. You even suggest, “in a world full of hungry people burning food should be criminally punished.” Why do you think the U.S. continues to be attached to these solutions?

I call it a “Green Growth Alliance,” and it boils down to exactly what you said: collaboration can save the world. Well, the American people aren’t attached to these false solutions. But there are those who have made enormous profits exploiting the planet that want to keep doing that.

When I travel the country and talk to regular people, they all want a country where their children don’t get asthma, where their workplaces don’t put them at risk for cancer, where climate change isn’t jeopardizing the farms that feed them, where energy sources are renewable and local and don’t lead to wars and other political conflict. Everyone wants that.

The challenge is giving people a way to understand and participate in the solutions. When we do that well, everything becomes a lot easier.

What are some examples of green technology that can spur greater economic growth (akin to the Silicon Valley explosion in the 90’s)?

The low-hanging fruit in the green economy is energy efficiency. By investing in energy efficiency, we can create hundreds of thousands of green-collar jobs and dramatically reduce America’s greenhouse gas emissions, which cause global warming. Most people don’t know this, but buildings are responsible for more of our energy use and greenhouse gas emissions — about 40 percent — than anything else.

That includes transportation and industry. At the same time, our buildings are incredibly wasteful. They leak energy constantly because of loose windows and doors, poor insulation, and other easy-to-fix problems. And older appliances use more energy than necessary to do simple things like heat water or refrigerate our food.

Those problems may be easy to fix, but they won’t fix themselves. We need people to do the work, and that means jobs. Retrofitting and upgrading our nation’s buildings would be a major job engine and a catalyst for the green economy.

Since your second son, Mattai, and I share a birthday, how has fatherhood changed your views and your work?

I am much more committed to real impact and creating a real difference. When I was younger, I was happy just giving speeches and going to coalition meetings and protests. Whether we won - or whether our victories truly changed anything - was of lesser importance than whether we were “right.” But now I have two boys, and they will be asking me about what we did, or didn’t do, to heal their planet. And I don’t want to have silly answers for them, when they are bigger. And I don’t want them to grow old on a hot, strip-mined, dying planet.

What kind of impact has the recession had on the green collar economy, and what are your projections for the green job market based on those trends?

When I was younger, I worked harder and harder - but saw few results. Now I want to work smarter. This recession has been hard on everybody. Green-collar workers are no exception; neither are green entrepreneurs. But there is a silver lining.

The severity of this recession has made it obvious that the old way of doing things does not work.

It has left even the most skeptical more open to the ideas and arguments of the green-collar movement.

You can see it in the stimulus package, which contains significant investment in green industry and green-collar workers. The federal government is not just trying to stimulate the economy, it is also paying special attention to nurturing the seeds of the new, green economy.

Basically, the recession has taught us a lesson we should have learned long ago, and it has taught us the hard way. That lesson will, I hope, be the springboard to a green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty.

Rebecca Saltman is a social entrepreneur and the President and Founder of a Foot in the Door Productions an independent collaboration building firm designed to bridge business, government, non-profits and education. Contact Rebecca at [email protected].

Harrison Western

Protecting Watersheds and Reclaiming Polluted Water

Worldwide demand for water is doubling every 21 years and the World Bank reports that 80 countries already have water shortages that threaten health and economies. Agriculture and other industries are all competing with a growing global population for limited fresh water resources.

Mining companies and oil and gas producers, in particular, are feeling the forces of tighter water supplies and tighter discharge regulations that are part of the growing watershed-management trend around the world. As a result of the growing pressures, significant progress has been made in technologies and best practices for conserving, purifying, recycling, and desalinating water in an effort to increase freshwater availability and quality.

HW Process Technologies (HWPT), for example, has been solving water pollution problems around the world for decades. The quiet giant from Colorado got into the water treatment business by helping many of the worlds largest mining companies to successfully treat mass quantities of mine water. Because of HWPT, these mining companies are able to reclaim millions of gallons of clean water, while reclaiming valuable metals and chemicals from wastewater.

HWPT also developed successful water treatment solutions for oil and gas production for both produced water and “frac” water. The custom-designed systems can improve various industrial processes that rely on fluid and chemical management.

HWPT was founded in 1988, determined to solve the environmental concerns associated with water management in the mining industry. Because mine water discharges are high-impact problems, HWPT sees responsible water management as part of their clients’ “social-license-to-operate.” The water treatment systems offered by HWPT have proven superior in performance and economy relative to traditional chemical precipitation systems.

HWPT’s powerful systems process more than 10,000 gallons of industrial-grade wastewater per minute at one installation. In the water-intensive mining industry, for example, high-volume and high-performance are critical because the potential impacts of mining on the water environment include:

Seepage of contaminated water from mine tailings and closed mine operations

De-watering of active mining operations

Recovery of valuable metals and solvents otherwise lost through wastewater discharge

HWPT has already installed numerous custom water treatment systems for mining companies, oil and gas developers, and government agencies around the world. Although the company is based in Colorado, all of its installations so far have been outside of the United States. Even though HWPTs clients are reclaiming millions of gallons of clean water every day, the systems also reclaim many thousands of dollars worth of valuable minerals and chemicals from the water treatment process. This protects the watershed and also protects the bottom line by allowing efficient and environmentally responsible operation.

As operational and environmental pressures on mining, oil, gas, and other industries continue to rise, HWPT’s proprietary EMS® water treatment systems are more important than ever. For example, one client was forced to shut down mining operations completely for several months due to water-discharge problems. HWPT’s engineers immediately installed one of its high-performance systems to replace a competitor’s failed reverse osmosis membrane system and the mine was producing again. Elsewhere in the world, a large mining company credits HWPT for tripling gold production by increasing the mine’s water treatment capability. That system is generating millions of dollars of returns by producing usable water, and capturing valuable metals and chemicals.

Although the company is continuously improving its systems and expanding their applications, one of HWPT’s first, large mining installations showed an immediate payback. When commissioned, the challenges that HWPT confronted at this open pit copper mine in Mexico included:

Dewatering the pit and reducing the volume of acid leach solution;

Increasing copper concentration in the leach solution for enhanced recovery;

Reducing acid costs by recovering acid and avoiding the cost of neutralization with lime; and

Recovering large volumes of clean water for mine use.

The breakthrough system recovered 2.5 million gallons of clean water and 28,000 pounds of copper each day. The system increased copper production 14 percent by recovering copper otherwise lost in the mine wastewater. With current copper prices and water prices factored in, the company realized a 200 percent return on its total investment each day. Capital investment in the EMS® system was recovered in 1.7 years. Some of HWPT’s clients have recovered their investment in just four months.

Specific water quality problems in mining that are addressed by HWPT systems include salinity and acidification. The mining process exposes heavy metals and sulfur compounds that were previously locked away in the earth. Rainwater leaches these compounds out of the exposed earth, resulting in acid mine drainage (AMD) and heavy metal pollution that can continue long after the mining operations have ceased. Similarly, rainwater on piles of mining waste (tailings) can transfer pollution to freshwater supplies. Plus, huge pools of mining waste are often stored in containment ponds. If a dam leaks or bursts, entire watersheds can be contaminated.

Industry, labor, government, and environmentalists agree AMD is the number one environmental problem facing the mining industry.

It is a common problem in all countries where mining started prior to environmental legislation. Many mines are reaching the end of their productive life and as a result, dewatering is terminated and re-watering results in the decant (overflow) of AMD. In addition, tailings dams and waste rock dumps are surface sources of AMD.

AMD devastates fish and aquatic habitat, is difficult to reverse with existing technology, and once started, costs millions of dollars annually to treat

(continuing for centuries). The Iron Mountain mine in California, for example, has been closed since 1963 but continues to drain sulfuric acid and heavy metals into the Sacramento River. The mine’s effluent streams are void of life and have a pH range of 0.2 to 1.5. The Equity Silver mine north of Vancouver, British Columbia will require treatment for AMD for at least 500 years.

Many benefits result from AMD neutralization and precipitation. For mining operations in positive water-balance environments, where site discharges are required, the treatment system can reduce mercury, arsenic, thallium, selenium, antimony and molybdenum in water to the double-digit parts-per-billion level or less.

HWPT’s patented technology utilizes composite thin-film membranes with pore sizes different than the reverse osmosis membranes commonly used for seawater desalination. The pore size, membrane material, and operating conditions are all specifically engineered by HWPT to allow operation at lower pressures, maximizing the recovery of contaminants.

The feed stream is separated into a permeate solution and a concentrated solution. The permeate passes through the membrane, while the concentrate is held back with the thicker dissolved solids, organics and bacteria. A series of membranes can continue screening the permeate solution to remove various elements in a sequence that captures the smallest particles and chemicals last before releasing clean water.

EMS® systems can be designed to selectively screen ions such as aluminum, calcium, chloride, copper, gold, iron, magnesium, nickel, selenium, uranium, zinc, not to mention chemicals used in oil and gas exploration and production. The robust systems can be designed to reject sulfate, silica, organics, colloids and other contaminants as well.

For coal bed methane, the EMS® system can be used for the production of surface discharge-quality water under the most stringent environmental guidelines. In the oil and gas fields, the contaminated waters produced can be treated to recover potable water. As these wells age and become depleted, they typically produce more water.

HWPT is driven to succeed where other water treatment companies fail. After proving its technology in the toughest mining waters, the company is confident that its custom systems can clean up any water anywhere in the world.

HWPT already has a strong international presence, but countries such as China, India, and those throughout Southeast Asia, South America, and Africa present a number of opportunities to help numerous stakeholders. For example, HWPT systems can clean toxic waters from mines that are currently operating, and mines that are considered exhausted, but still discharging toxic waters. With proper treatment, these polluted mine waters can be cleaned up and safely used again.

Plus, industrial process waters around the world – previously considered too polluted to clean – can be treated and used for other purposes, while the reclaimed chemicals can be reused in the industrial process. Many countries also have highly polluted lakes due to policies that once allowed pollution in discharged waters. Now these countries must remove these pollutants to reclaim local water supplies and entire ecosystems.

International partners and suppliers will play a critical role as HWPT expands its network around the world. Emerging global alliances will help the company manufacture equipment and materials to exacting specifications at a lower cost. In fact, HWPT is exploring opportunities with two Chinese research institutes to keep its products on the cutting edge of treatment technology in industrial applications. HWPT has had a strong research relationship with the world-renowned Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado for many years. These global alliances and others will help HWPT reclaim many millions of additional gallons of water around the world.

For more information about HW Process Technologies, visit www.harwest.com or call 1-800-638-8793.

Coal

By: Stuart A. Sanderson, President Colorado Mining Association Issue: Energy & The Environment Section: Jewel Of Collaboration

Affordable, Reliable and Clean Energy for Colorado’s Future

When gasoline prices hit $4 per gallon last summer, so did the call for reducing our reliance on foreign oil. Skyrocketing natural gas prices, at least until recently, generated significant discussion about the need to lower electricity costs through alternative energy sources.

The fact is, we will need all the energy we can get from a variety of domestic sources in the years to come. According to the Colorado Energy Forum, a non-profit group studying Colorado’s future energy needs, Colorado will require an additional 4,900 megawatts of new electricity sources or energy conservation by the year 2025. (A megawatt is the amount of electricity required to power about 1,000 homes). Where will we get all the energy? Much of the answer already lies right beneath the surface here in Colorado and throughout the United States: Coal.

Coal - America’s Energy Security Blanket & The Best Option for Reducing U.S. Dependence on Foreign Energy

It may come as a surprise, but coal is by far the nation’s most abundant source of electricity. Coal accounts for more than 90% of the nation’s fuel resources and is currently used to generate about half of U.S. electricity. Colorado gets nearly 75% of its electricity from coal.

But these figures really don’t fully describe coal’s abundance. The United States has 27% of the world’s coal reserves (more than any other nation). By contrast, we have only 2% of the world’s oil and 3% of the world’s natural gas. And while some refer to the United States as the “Saudi Arabia” of coal, even that term doesn’t do justice to America’s unique energy riches. The United States has more coal than any other nation has any single energy resource. According to the Illinois Geological Survey, the Illinois Coal Basin alone contains more energy equivalent units of coal than all the oil in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and Kuwait combined.

Coal’s low cost (about one-fourth the cost of natural gas) and its reliability are essential to keeping energy prices affordable in Colorado and throughout the United States. While recent legislation will mandate increased use of intermittent sources of electricity like wind and solar, coal remains an important fuel capable of providing affordable electricity to meet baseload or 24/7 demand.

But why use coal solely for electricity generation? With U.S. reliance on foreign oil at an all time high, many lawmakers see the bright potential for coal to liquid fuels technology (CTL). The Department of Defense is already studying the advantages of CTL fuels to support our armed forces on the ground and in the air. As the U.S. is reliant on foreign sources to meet 60% of domestic oil requirements, it only makes sense to use our most plentiful fuel resource.

The media and many politicians promote renewable resources as the answer to our dependence on foreign energy. However, most of our imported energy is in the form of crude oil for transportation fuels while domestic sources like coal provide the electricity used to power our homes and businesses.

Plug in vehicles or hybrid electric vehicles could derive some of their power from renewable-based electricity, but it will be a long time before the use of electric vehicles is widespread enough to provide any significant reduction in imports of oil for motor vehicles. A further problem is that renewable energy from wind and solar is an intermittent source; in other words, the sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow. Thus, wind and solar presently account for only a small portion of the electricity currently generated in Colorado and the United States, and will require continued costly production tax credits and mandates in order to increase their share of the energy market.

Colorado law, for example, now mandates that public utilities generate 20% of their electricity from renewable resources by 2020. Assuming that goal is attainable, where will we get the other 80%? For the foreseeable future, coal remains the fuel of choice for electricity generation for our homes and businesses, as well as for powering plug ins and hybrid electric vehicles. Coal also has significant potential for use in aviation fuel, further reducing demand for imported crude oil.

Colorado Coal - Supporting the Economy, Local Communities and Public Schools

Colorado is one of the nation’s top ten coal producing states, ranking eighth overall and fourth in underground mining. With production at more than 33 million tons in 2008, Colorado’s ten coal mines generated about $1 billion in direct sales and more than $100 million in taxes royalties and fees. About half of the federal royalties paid by coal producers (more than $60 million in 2007) fund Colorado’s public school system. Coal miners are the highest paid industrial workers in Colorado, earning average wages and benefits which topped $100,000 annually in 2007.

Coal mines require hundreds of millions of dollar in capital and must operate over long periods of time (30-40 years or more) in order to recoup the investment. Thus, coal companies tend to become a part of the community. If you travel to coal communities in northwest Colorado, for example, you can see numerous demonstrations of long term good neighbor policies. Coal companies have built and donated ballparks, golf courses, and athletic club facilities to the communities in which they do business.

What About Emissions From Using Coal?

In the past 30 years, coal use for electricity generation is up nearly 180% yet emissions are down by 40%. The Colorado Mining Association (CMA) and the mining industry have long supported cost effective and sound programs to improve Colorado’s air quality. Colorado coal, naturally low in sulfur and mercury yet high in quality, also helps utilities meet federal and state clean air requirements, thus earning the designation as “supercompliance” coal under the 2005 Energy Policy Act. While climate change policies remain a concern and a challenge, CMA supports the deployment of clean coal technologies, carbon capture and sequestration. But these technologies will not appear overnight and a successful climate policy will require worldwide participation. Colorado’s total carbon footprint is only 1.4% of the nation’s total (including all sources, not just coal power plants); so cutting such emissions locally without a uniform national and global strategy will only sacrifice economic growth and put consumers at risk. As demonstrated by the chart, China has already surpassed the United States in total greenhouse gas emissions. Unless the entire world can agree on a fair and rational program for reducing greenhouse gas emissions; developing nations like China and India will continue to avoid having to limit such emissions at the expense of economic growth in the United States.

Given the potential costs of implementing greenhouse gas reduction strategies and the fact that they may have no discernible impact on temperature for many generations, the U.S. must carefully weigh the impacts and the risks.

Unfortunately, Colorado’s Public Utilities Commission recently ordered the closure of two coal fired power plants based not on cost considerations (coal is clearly the lowest cost option for electricity consumers), but simply to lower emissions. In so ruling, the Commission rejected a lower cost alternative proposed by the CMA that would have kept the plants open and its workers employed. Co-firing with biomass, as recommended by CMA, would have lowered electricity generation costs and reduced CO2 emissions by more than 212,000 tons annually.

Coal and Natural Gas

In terms of fuel costs, coal clearly beats natural gas, which costs four times the price of coal. As the chart below demonstrates, coal prices have remained relatively stable and well below $2 per million British Thermal Units (BTU – defined as the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree). Natural gas prices hit $12 per million BTU in 2005, and have averaged more than $5.70 per million BTU during the five year period from 2001-2006. By contrast coal prices remained relatively flat at $1.40 per million BTU. As the U.S. and Colorado turn to natural gas for electricity generation, costs to electricity consumers will increase. The relative scarcity of natural gas also means that utilities may have to rely on imported liquefied natural gas from nations like Iran and Russia, with all of the attendant geopolitical risks associated with importing foreign oil.

Higher Energy Costs Impact Those Who Can Least Afford to Pay

One thing is certain. Higher energy costs hit consumers, especially low income energy consumers, hardest. Those earning less than $25,000 annually, spend up to 29% of their income on energy. They are often required to make hard decisions about what bills to pay – utilities, food or medicine – just to name three examples. And the inability to pay energy bills is a leading factor in homelessness, according to Energy Outreach Colorado, an organization dedicated to helping low income consumers meet their energy needs. Many of the politicians, religious figures and celebrities who speak with such emotion about the perceived effects of climate change never talk about the impact of higher energy prices on the poor.

The U.S. is built on affordable energy – as coal use has increased, so has our nation’s gross domestic product. Thus, the consequences of not acting to secure our domestic energy security pose enormous economic, social and geopolitical risks. Coal must remain a part of the overall energy mix in order to secure that energy future. Mining Matters.

The Colorado Mining Association (CMA) is an industry association, founded in 1876, the year that Colorado became the Centennial State. CMAs 875 members include producers of coal, gold, metals and industrial minerals, as well as individuals and organizations providing services, equipment and supplies to Colorado’s $8 billion mineral resource industry. Colorado’s mining industry employs directly more than 5,000 workers and, according to a recent National Mining Association study, accounts for more than 41,000 jobs in the general economy.

Cameco Corporation

Providing an Alternative to Carbon-Based Energy in Trying Times

With all of the economic challenges the world is facing, one of the most important revolves around the production of energy. It not only helps drive our economy but also provides the lights for our schools where our future leaders are being educated.

Even with the downturn in our economy, electricity demand is expected to double by 2030. It is predicted that the increase will be the greatest in developing economies.

These demands leave all of us with a serious challenge. Energy must be found and delivered but it has to be safe, reliable, affordable and environmentally sustainable. The environmental challenge is particularly vexing.

Our continued reliance on fossil fuels comes with myriad of costs, many of them measurable. Those costs include the exhaustion of natural resources and the reliance on countries for resources that have governments with political positions that are anathema to the West. There are also the challenges that fossil fuels bring, related to air pollution and the warming of the Earth. These problems are particularly acute in China and Russia.

No single energy source offers the perfect solution to these economic and environmental costs, many of which are rising. Renewable options such as wind, water and solar are increasing in their popularity, in part because they are “cleaner” alternatives. However, their intermittent nature cannot today provide the necessary energy to meet all industrial and residential demands.

One re-emerging and viable solution to this problem is nuclear power, which has lost favor in the United States over the last two decades. President Obama discussed the need for nuclear power while campaigning for the presidency.

The issue of plant safety, including the fear of radioactivity, especially as a terrorist threat, is on many people’s minds. However, most of the alternatives used to generate electricity carry similar but different risks.

There can be little question that nuclear power delivers large amounts of electricity without generating greenhouse gas emissions or toxic air pollutants. That is one of the reasons it is being used as an alternative for generating power, domestically and abroad.

The status of nuclear power as a reliable, cost-effective and environmentally appropriate technology for electricity production is growing and these benefits are becoming even more compelling as the Earth continues to warm.

In part because of safety concerns, the nuclear industry is one of the most highly regulated industries in the world. It has strict licensing requirements for construction, operation and decommissioning of all operations. The industry also holds itself accountable through international organizations such as the World Association of Nuclear Operators and the Institute for Nuclear Power Operations.

Since 2001, the Nuclear Energy Institute reports that U.S. nuclear power plants have achieved the lowest production costs amongst coal, natural gas and petroleum.

Taking the lead in the production of nuclear power is Cameco Corporation, headquartered in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. The company, whose president and chief operating officer is Gerald Grandey, celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2008.

Cameco is “committed to improving our performance and demonstrating environmental leadership — an objective that causes us to look at our impact on the environment and strive for continued improvement,” said Grandey, who joined the company as a senior vice president for marketing and development in the early 1990s. “We do this, even though we have complied with regulatory standards for many years.” He became President and CEO in 2003.

On a global scale, it is estimated that in comparison with coal-fired generation, nuclear reduces carbon dioxide emissions by about 2.5 billion tons per year.

Cameco is one of the world’s largest uranium producers accounting for nearly 20 percent of world production from its mines in Canada and the U.S., and operations in Kazakhstan. Its philosophy is that “no job is so important that we cannot take the time to do it safely.”

Grandey, a California native who graduated from the Colorado School of Mines with a degree in geophysical engineering stressed, “in advancing our nuclear energy business, we help create opportunities and wealth that allow future generations to advance and prosper as our generation has.” A former lawyer who practiced in Denver after graduating from Northwestern University Law School, he added, “as we pursue our current activities, we preserve choices so that those future generations are able to address the challenges and opportunities that they will face in a sustainable way.”

One opportunity that Grandey helped negotiate was an agreement with Russia to market highly enriched uranium (HEU) from dismantled Soviet-era weapons. The equivalent of 13,000 warheads have been recycled into fuel for electricity generation under a “megatons to megawatts” program.

Cameco has controlling ownership of the world’s largest high-grade reserves and low-cost operations in northern Saskatchewan with ore grades up to 100 times the world average. Cameco has uranium refining, conversion and fuel manufacturing operations, as well as a partnership in Bruce Power, North America’s largest nuclear generating station located 150 miles northwest of Toronto.

As we conduct ourselves in accordance with these principles and our values, we will maintain our social license to operate and will deliver, in a sustainable manner, the significant benefits of nuclear energy to people around the world.”

The company stresses that sustainability drives its decisions as it expands its involvement in the nuclear fuel cycle. It is developing uranium mines in Canada and Central Asia, and pursuing exploration opportunities throughout the world.

According to Cameco, sustainable development is simply “meeting the needs of our stakeholders today, while preserving choices for future generations to meet their needs.” The company lists four key measurers of success concerning its governance and management practices.

Cameco believes that sustainable development requires economic, environmental and social responsibility, as well as a strong commitment to governance and management. The company organizes its sustainable development indicators around its governance practices as well as its measures of success. “We will only pursue those investment opportunities that can meet all four of our measures of success,” stated Grandey, “a safe healthy and rewarding workplace, a clean environment, supportive communities and outstanding financial performance.” Cameco sees such development as an integral component to the way it does business.

The company’s sustainable development report, plays an important role in helping the company communicate with its key stakeholders, monitor and measure its performance, and ensure accountability in all areas of its business. The 2008 Report documented how well the company did in regards to its governance and management practices and four key measures of success.

In an effort to address the information needs of Cameco’s key stakeholder groups, the company hired Canadian Business for Social Responsibility to gather and collate feedback from company stakeholders through interviews and focus groups. Cameco plans to use the results and recommendations to improve reporting in the future.

“We look to sustainable development as a means of aligning, communicating and measuring our priorities,” said Victor Zaleschuk, Cameco chair. “But the test of sustainability does not stop there. Cameco sees sustainable development as a means for holding ourselves accountable for the long-term consequences of our operations.”

The company chose 23 key performance indicators to build on for sustainable development reporting. The company’s leadership, including Zaleschuk who joined Cameco’s board of directors in 2001, feels that these are the appropriate parameters at this stage in its sustainable development program.

Cameco increased the amount spent on corporate donations and sponsorships from $1.98 million in 2005 to more than $5.5 million in 2008. “We want to increase employment and business opportunities, but also support programs that enhance health and social infrastructure,” said Grandey. Cameco is supporting “the Northumberland Hospital in Ontario, St. Paul’s Hospital Foundation in Saskatoon, the Ile-a-la-Crosse Health Centre and High School in northern Saskatchewan and Cameco’s annual employee giving campaign.”

The continued increase in net earnings has made it possible to increase the corporate investment budget annually with major investments in education and literacy, health and wellness, youth and community development. Each year Cameco targets one percent of forecasted net earnings to go toward community investment initiatives.

Cameco strives to provide significant employment and economic benefits that come from its activities for communities near its operating sites. The company’s community investment program encompasses relationships with dozens of communities in Canada, Australia, the U.S. and Central Asia.

It is the company’s fundamental belief that supportive communities are a key measure of its long-term success. Cameco and its employees support hundreds of community projects. The company believes that taken together, these acts of community investment - large and small - make a difference.

Cameco focuses on education and literacy as a priority of community investment. This is demonstrated across a spectrum of learning, supporting projects from preschool to high school and throughout the community.

The company assisting post-secondary education with a $3 million contribution to the University of Saskatchewan (U of S), the largest single donation that the company ever has made. In 1995, the company invested $1.5 million to establish a Cameco chair in aqueous and environmental geochemistry at the U of S.

Cameco research chair Jim Hendry is studying the long-term behavior of elements such as arsenic and radium within mine tailings facilities. While the company benefits from the research, Hendry’s findings are important to other mining companies as well. Canada’s only synchrotron machine is located at the U of S and Hendry has been able to use the facility to study how elements bind together with other minerals at the molecular level.

Cameco feels that these contributions reflect its belief that the university’s success is an integral component of community success. This success is not just local, but provincial and national.

The company also supports a range of scholarships, amateur sports events, arts and cultural pursuits, community festivals and training programs. In Saskatoon, for example, Cameco took the lead in the Royal University Hospital Foundation’s Royal Care campaign with a $1.5 million contribution which will fund several initiatives, including the first Chair in Aboriginal Medicine.

In Port Hope, Ontario, company donations helped expand the Public Library’s Local History Room and created the Cameco Room as part of the Capital Arts Centre restoration project.

Strengthening local economies is also part of community development. When an economic development summit was planned for the Athabasca region, Cameco was a co-sponsor. When Pinehouse was recognized as a leading northern community committed to sustainable economic development, part of the celebrations involved the recognition of 31 Cameco employees for their leadership in community achievement.

In 2004 Cameco launched its first employee giving campaign. The company matched eligible employee donations dollar-for-dollar, doubling the impact of the generosity of its staff. In five years more than $1.5 million has been raised in support of registered charities across Canada and the United States. Many Cameco employees help drive community fundraising campaigns, volunteering in a variety of capacities to help the organizations the company supports.

This dedication of company staff support combines with financial contributions to demonstrate the company’s commitment to be a good corporate citizen. Cameco strives to provide significant employment and economic benefits that come from its activities for communities near its operating sites.

Grandey sees this involvement in the community going hand-in-hand with the company’s commitment to be a strong environmental steward. “Environmental leadership is important because nuclear energy is increasingly seen as a clean source of abundant energy,” he said. “We want to make sure that our participation in the industry - from exploration to the generation of electricity - is both clean and sustainable.”

In tying this concern about protecting the environment with its commitment to communities near Cameco facilities, Grandey concluded, “our customers, communities, other stakeholders, and shareholders expect no less. Of course, we know that all human activity has impacts and our operations are no exception. The key is to constantly ask ourselves how we can do better.”

Canada And North America's Economic Recovery

Paving the Way through Energy Security & Clean Energy

These days a lot of people talk about how we live in challenging times. They’re not kidding, especially when by “challenging” they mean a freeze in international credit markets and a synchronized world economic slowdown. It’s no secret, we are in the middle of a global financial crisis, and when it comes to helping get the world economy back on track, Canada is all aboard.

Like the United States, Canada has already taken a number of actions to protect its own economy, which the International Monetary Fund predicted will continue to lead the G7 in financial growth in 2009. Canada is also committed to help stabilize global financial markets, restore credit flow and renew economic prosperity around the world. It will address these challenges by continuing to work closely with its G7, G8 and G20 partners, especially its neighbor, ally and number one trading partner the United States.

As part of this economic recovery strategy, Canada has made energy security and climate change top priorities. Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Barack Obama recently discussed these key issues and vowed to tackle them together during their meeting in Ottawa on February 19, 2009.

President Obama and Prime Minister Harper Establish Clean Energy Dialogue

Noting the long and productive history of bilateral cooperation on continental environmental protection and energy trade and technology, the President and the Prime Minister agreed that environmental protection and the development of clean energy are inextricably linked and announced plans to work together to build a new energy economy as a key element of broader economic recovery and reinvestment efforts.

The two leaders also discussed ways Canada and the United States could encourage the development of clean energy technologies to reduce greenhouse gases and combat climate change. These talks resulted in the establishment of a senior-level Canada-U.S. Clean Energy Dialogue that will cooperate on several critical energy science and technology issues. Priority initiatives identified include: expand clean energy research and development; develop and deploy clean energy technology; and build a more efficient electricity grid based on clean and renewable generation. In the weeks following the meeting, Canadian and U.S. officials will meet and officially launch this new Canada-U.S. initiative. (See “Canada-U.S. Initiative for Tackling Climate Change & Energy Security” for more details).

Canada - Number One Supplier of Energy to the United States

For a deeper understanding of how Canada fits into the energy and environment equation for North America, it’s important to know the role that Canada plays today. First, Canada is the largest energy supplier to the United States including oil, natural gas, uranium and electricity. In fact, the United States imports more oil from Canada than it does from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait combined. And in 2007, Canada’s oil exports to the United States totaled more than $55 billion U.S., representing 2.4 million barrels per day.

Aside from its conventional oil and gas reserves, Canada’s oil sands in northern Alberta total an estimated 175 billion barrels of oil, which represents one of the largest sources of recoverable oil reserves in the world - second only to Saudi Arabia. Yet as technology and recovery techniques advance, the total oil reserves in Alberta’s oil sands are estimated to reach 1.7 trillion barrels, approximately four times the size of Saudi Arabia’s total reserves.

Roughly half of Canada’s crude oil exports to the United States are derived from Alberta’s oil sands, which provide a secure, dependable and long-term supply of oil for the North American market.

Canada’s Oil Sands and Sustainable Development Practices

Development of one of the world’s largest oil deposits brings both opportunities and issues. With such a huge energy resource come environmental challenges. To deal with these issues in a responsible and proactive manner, Canada is working with both provincial governments and the private sector to address how to secure the energy future in a way that is environmentally sound and sustainable. This involves balancing economic development with environmental and social responsibilities.

Production from Canadian oil sands is undertaken on a commercial basis in the context of transparent environmental regulatory and royalty regimes on greenhouse gas emissions, carbon dioxide capture and storage, water use and land reclamation, as well as water and natural gas use. U.S. companies are among the leading firms engaged in oil sands production, and project proposals to develop oil sands deposits are subject to extensive environmental and regulatory review. These permits are only granted once environmental issues and First Nations’ concerns have been addressed.

Canada’s Commitment to Environmental Stewardship

Canada understands that economic prosperity cannot be sustained without a healthy environment, just as environmental progress cannot be achieved without a healthy economy. It has committed to reducing Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020 and by at least 50% by 2050. Meeting those goals will ensure that Canada’s ongoing actions remain comparable to those our partners in the United States, Europe and other industrialized countries undertake.

In support of this ambitious national goal, Canada will continue to provide support for biofuels, wind and other energy alternatives and will also bring in legislation to ban all bulk water transfers or exports from Canadian freshwater basins. Canada will work with all parties in Parliament to introduce sensible policies that can help consumers and improve our environmental well-being, such as increasing incentives for energy-saving home retrofits.

In addition, Canada will work with the provincial governments and our partners to develop and implement a North America-wide cap and trade system for greenhouse gases and an effective international protocol for the post-2012 period. Canada will set an objective that 90 percent of its electricity needs to be provided by non-emitting sources - such as hydro, nuclear, clean coal or wind power - by 2020.

In early 2009, Canada’s Minister of the Environment Jim Prentice gave an address to the Canadian Council of Chief Executives reaffirming Canada’s commitment to environmental stewardship. During the speech, Minister Prentice stated that the Government of Canada has resolved to make national environmental policies positive instruments of economic renewal and of national development during this period of economic uncertainty. He also said that Canada is committed to helping achieve an effective multilateral climate change agreement for the years ahead. Canada will also continue working with the United States to pursue coordinated approaches to energy and environmental challenges that both face, which was further discussed during Prime Minister Harper’s and President Obama’s meeting.

Achieving these objectives will not be easy. But progress is being made on three concurrent tracks, including the previously mentioned Climate Change Policy that Canada introduced in 2007. As stated, this strategy sets a target to reduce total greenhouse gas emissions in Canada in 2020 by 20 percent from a 2006 starting point, also known as the minus 20 by 2020 approach.

While ambitious, Canada believes these target reductions in greenhouse gases are achievable - a promise to the global community that we think Canada will be able to keep. It’s a commitment that requires a greater effort of Canadians than the one proposed by the E.U. 27.

Going forward, Canada is developing a regulatory regime with mandatory targets that will apply to major industrial emitters

President Barack Obama spoke with clarity and determination about his commitment to environmental issues. The United States is re-engaging on multilateral climate change negotiations, creating the opportunity for a North American regulatory regime and a level playing field.

The Canadian Government looks forward to working with the Obama administration on energy security and environmental sustainability.

We will seek to ensure our federal policies are coordinated. We want federal climate change regulation to work in tandem with tax, tariff and technology policies, as well as all other policies that promote timely domestic investment.

Canada is also working to coordinate and harmonize federal and provincial governments and policies.

Concurrent with such measured movement in Canada, we hope to make progress internationally. In 2009, we will work with other countries to negotiate an effective multilateral climate change accord for the years ahead. Key meetings will take place in Bonn in early April and June, as well as in Italy at the June G-8 meeting. Finally, all roads will lead to the Copenhagen Conference in December 2009.

It is Canada’s hope that future climate change agreements will be effective. Climate change is a global problem and requires a global solution, which means all major emitters, developed and developing nations, need to be part of any new accord

Industrialized nations, to be sure, must be prepared to lead the charge provided all major emitters agree to follow, because if industrialized countries exercise leadership without emerging economies countries coming on board, real progress will not be made.

Climate change is a global problem and requires a global solution, which means all major emitters, developed and developing nations, need to be part of any new accord.

Moving forward, we need to ensure comparable efforts from all industrialized nations. We also need to secure meaningful participation from all emerging economies led by the “Big Five” of China, India, Brazil, South Africa and our NAFTA partner Mexico. We need to focus as well on the development and deployment of transformative clean technology and a concerted effort to produce and transmit a greater percentage of cleaner base-load power.

These are principles that Canada believes could and should form the basis of one shared commitment between Canada and the United States similar to the collective commitment of the European Union. A bilateral agreement could have shared targets and shared timetables, a common carbon market and price standard, and mandates that are based on science and common sense. But we think that the two countries need to go further and talk in terms of concrete action plans. Actions that will reduce not just greenhouse gas emission levels but North America’s dependence on foreign oil, such as the soon-to-be-launched Clean Energy Dialogue, established by President Obama and Prime Minister Harper.

Forty years ago, imported oil accounted for about 10 percent of the American market with Americans producing approximately 90 percent of their own consumption. Today that 10/90 ratio has become 60/40. By 2020, it will likely be at 80/20, because at current rates of production and exponential increases in consumption—SUVs and plasma TVs for example—proven U.S. oil reserves, like those of Mexico, are on course to be depleted just one decade from now. This means that by 2020, the United States will be as dependent on imported oil as E.U. nations.

So while Canada already plays a major role in the North American energy equation, we have the capacity to play an even larger role in the North American energy solution. We believe that working together we can reconcile energy and the environment and still have a secure and environmentally sustainable energy future for both our nations.

It is increasingly important that Canada plays a larger role in the North American energy security solution, when one considers the implications of oil scarcity and the political situations in Russia, Venezuela or the troubled Middle East. Considering these factors, Canada’s status as the world’s most reliable supplier of energy becomes not just an economic opportunity but also an obligation to our international partners and perhaps the single best way that we can contribute much-needed stability in an uncertain world.

Opportunity and obligation are why Canada needs to work with the United States in developing cooperative bilateral action plans. These joint strategies could include bringing northern gas to southern customers; clean technology roadmaps that would optimize the considerable expertise of both countries in areas such as carbon capture and storage; plans to expand clean power generation and transmission capacity here in North America or to interconnect the eastern and western regional power grids in North America; and actions that will help North America and the world make the transition from a high carbon present to a low carbon future while avoiding a disruptive and dislocative period involving no carbon en route.

Finally, as Canada gains traction domestically on approaches to dealing with energy security and environmental stewardship, we are able to make a credible commitment to the international community that Canada will play a key role in the effort to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions. Canada will achieve this by also working with our neighbor and closest ally, the United States, in order to devise and execute a coordinated plan of action that will advance our environmental and our energy objectives and, at the same time, renew the North American economy.

Ambitious? Perhaps it is.

Achievable? We think so.

But of this I am certain: as North Americans, this is an agenda that is worth our very best efforts in the days ahead.

Dale Eisler (BA in Political Science at the University of Saskatchewan, Regina Campus; MA in Political Science at Vermont College, Union Institute & University).

Prior to joining the Canadian Federal Government, Mr. Eisler had an extensive career in journalism, including daily newspapers, weekly newsmagazines, syndicated opinion columns, radio and television. He was also a sessional lecturer in journalism at the University of Regina.

In addition, Mr. Eisler was involved, at an ownership level, in private business for 13 years.

In 1998, he was appointed Assistant Deputy Minister for Consultations and Communications with the Department of Finance in the Government of Canada. In 2004, he was appointed Assistant Secretary to Cabinet (Communications and Consultations) at the Privy Council Office, which was the most senior communications position in the Canadian Government.

In 2006, Mr. Eisler was the recipient of the Saskatchewan Commemorative Medal in recognition of his contributions to the province and society. He is the author of two books, most recently False Expectations: Politics and the Pursuit of the Saskatchewan Myth, published by the University of Regina in 2006. Recently, he was awarded the University of Regina’s distinguished alumni award for professional achievement.

Dale Eisler and his wife Louise took up residence in Denver in November 2007. They have one daughter and one granddaughter.

Sustainability

By: Darrin C. Duber-Smith Issue: Energy & The Environment Section: Collaborator Profile

The Green Imperative

As we have only begun to understand the dramatic impact that the human species is having on the environment, the concept of sustainability has emerged, an idea championed by many consumers and a business model that has crept into the practices of an increasing number of organizations. If you have not yet heard of this term, you have certainly heard of its closely related cousins: The words “green”, “natural”, “organic”,“socially responsible” and other terminology describe a way of doing business that addresses the natural environment, and all of us in it, as a fundamental part of the strategic planning process.

Sustainability Defined

Economists, business professionals and academics have all defined sustainability in a variety of ways. Yet, there is general agreement that it involves not only producing and promoting environmentally sensitive and healthful products, but also the management of pricing and distribution functions. Think of it in terms of a continuum where there are “degrees of sustainability”.

No organization has ever attained 100% sustainable status, but there are several endeavoring to do so, and technologies leading to zero emissions and zero waste may soon be feasible. No organization has ever attained 100% sustainable status, but there are several endeavoring to do so, and technologies leading to zero emissions and zero waste may soon be feasible. Sustainability reshapes the manner in which we create products, manage our distribution/supply channels, price products, and position products for promotional communications. Indeed, in order to be sustainable, organizations must meet customer needs and marketing objectives as well as ensure that the entire process is compatible with eco-systems (including human health and wellness) and does not have an adverse effect on them.

Challenging? Yes. Impossible? No.

Green marketing tactics are no longer effective unless the company has the policies and procedures to back up the marketing messages.

One manner of looking at this important business model and marketing strategy revolves around two primary concepts: front end sustainability and back end sustainability. If processes are to meet sustainability objectives, measures must be taken regarding:

Front End - Reducing, managing and eventually eliminating pollution throughout the product development process.

Back End - Re-designing systems so that resources are recovered to be re-used, reconditioned, and/or recycled so that terminal disposal into a landfill or other creative methods is avoided.

Application of this concept involves an A-Z environmentally and socially friendly approach that follows the product from its inception all the way to the end-user. Think of anything that does not add value to the process as waste. Waste is bad. It costs money. It hurts the environment. Excess packaging is waste. Excess energy is waste. Producing toxic products is waste. And, as for government fines and legal outlays for lapses in environmental stewardship…you guessed it…waste. Also, remember that the consumer seeks a bundle of features and benefits, what we call a “product”, and not the side effects that go with it. Environmental pollution, toxic materials, etc. are not at all what they ask for.

Green Marketing’s Model of Sustainability

The day of choosing from a “green buffet” are fast coming to a close. Competitors, the growing environmental and social awareness of consumers, rapidly increasing government regulations, the growing influence of socially or environmentally oriented NGO’s, the media in all of its splendor, and influential supply chain partners, increasingly demand that organizations perform environmental and social audits and develop comprehensive plans for continuous improvement in a number of areas.

Sustainability efforts should be woven into every aspect of an organization for optimal competitive advantage. Shallow efforts at positioning products and entire organizations fall on increasingly deaf ears and, more importantly, open the organization up to the growing backlash against “greenwashing”, a species of puffery that is rapidly gaining scrutiny among the stakeholder groups mentioned above.

In the name of complete transparency, the best way to utilize a green marketing strategy is for the sustainability audit and plan to be available on a company’s website and updated annually with measurable objectives for improvement in the following areas:

The nature of raw materials and composition of products offered

The nature, consumption and recapture of energy

The use of water

Impact on land and biodiversity

Reduction and recovery of emissions, effluents, and waste

Distribution issues such as packaging and transportation

Cause related involvement

Human resources and vendor partner policies

Commitments to any or all of these areas can be easily assimilated into a product’s brand identity and crafted into a message that incorporates a concern for people and the environment.

The Green Imperative

There are a number of compelling reasons to become “greener” and adopt a business model with sustainability as a key centerpiece. The Green Imperative© provides business executives who endeavor to be more in tune with the eco-system, a commitment that often leads to increased return on investment for stakeholders and a competitive advantage in the marketplace, with plenty of ammunition in support of a strategic focus in that direction.

Target Marketing:

A sustainable marketing strategy, with products that are properly positioned, will address the growing target market (well over 50% of the U.S. population) for goods that are green, natural, etc.

Sustainability of Resources:

Insuring the availability of resources to continue to make and sell goods is another imperative that suppliers and manufacturers must embrace. Cutting down all of the trees does not help the shareholders of paper companies, let alone everyone else.

Lowered Costs/Increased Efficiency:

There are countless ways to save money and increase efficiency so that marketers can enhance the bottom line and stave off the narrowing of margins that occurs in every industry as it reaches the maturity stage of its life cycle.

Product Differentiation and Competitive Advantage:

Every marketer knows that in the hyper-competitive world of ingredients and products, notably in personal care/cosmetics, it is crucial to maintain advantages over competitive and substitute offerings.

Competitive and Supply Chain Pressures:

When competitive organizations and their products adopt sustainable business models and green positioning, it often pressures other companies to follow suit, especially in the case of market leaders. Wal-Mart and its recent environmental and social initiatives illustrate how powerful supply chain members can force companies around the world to adopt more favorable social and environmental policies.

Regulation and Risk:

Regulations at all levels of government are on the rapid rise, so organizations need to not only remain in compliance but also proactive with regard to impending legislation. This practice reduces shareholder risk.

Other Stakeholder Demands:

Activist shareholders, NGO’s, the financial sector, and the media all work independently and sometimes in concert to ensure that companies are cognizant of their impact on people and the environment.

Brand Reputation:

Any marketer worth his/her salt knows that a brand’s reputation is of paramount importance, and being sustainable enhances that reputation among the majority of consumers.

Global Market Forces:

Global concerns about climate change, looming energy problems, and a recent growing backlash against globalization among many others factors, all point toward the necessity of addressing sustainability issues.

Customer Loyalty:

A brand’s attitude toward sustainability is just one of the many variables that factor into the decision-making processes of the majority of consumers.

Employee Morale:

A wide body of research points to the fact that adopting a more sustainable business model actually enhances employee morale.

The Ethical Imperative:

This concept is simple.

It is not ethical to degrade the environment and the people in it in the name of commerce. Embracing sustainability is simply the right thing to do.

All are compelling reasons to get with a program.

Green Marketing Strategy

Only after we have addressed the “what” and the “why” of sustainable business, can we discuss the communication of what an organization is doing.

The sustainability plan should be transformed into a brand identity and corresponding image that blends the brand’s key benefits with an assurance that you are monitoring and improving your social and environmental “footprint”.

Cause Related Marketing: The initial attempts at incorporating sustainability into policy and marketing strategy involved partnerships between not-for-profit, cause related organizations and well-meaning for-profit enterprises. Simply put, a company would ideally align with a cause that resonates with its target market and other stakeholders. This is why so many companies that market products to a female dominated audience focus on health efforts that are important to women, such as breast cancer. These efforts are no longer enough, but are still expected by many stakeholders.

The Green Buffet: Formerly seen as “hey it’s a start”, these efforts to pick and choose the easiest and most obvious from the various greening options with no attempt at improvement, transparency, or a commitment to continuous improvement. This shallow communications effort leaves an organization open to backlash and is no longer appropriate for any target market due to increasing scrutiny. Please don’t over use images of nature. This has also become hackneyed.

Green as a Secondary Benefit: Often called “the tie-breaker”, this is a strategy that encourages the consumer to see a brand that meets or exceeds all of his/her expectations and also enjoys the benefit of being a “greener” option will win among the majority of consumers. Clorox has recently adopted this strategy with its GreenWorks line of household cleaning products. This is the predominant strategy currently used since it is often used for consumers that do not place environmental concerns among their key determinants in making purchase decisions.

It is not ethical to degrade the environment and the people in it in the name of commerce. Embracing sustainability is simply the right thing to do.

Green as a Primary Benefit: Companies operating in the natural and organic products marketplace, an industry now in the hundreds of billions, have been using this strategy for years. The product may not be quite as effective as a more mainstream option, but for consumers that consider health and the environment to be key factors in their decision making process. Communications using terms like natural, organic, and fair trade are common and have proven very effective. These communications are for those consumers more concerned with the nature of the ingredients than they are the entire business model.

Sustainability as Part of Mission: This is the new frontier and therefore affords the most opportunity for visionary organizations to embrace the Green Imperative™ and the benefits that will help reduce costs and expand the market for their products. It involves the entire audit and plan, absolute transparency, and a commitment to people and the environment as part of the top-line vision. No process or product can be immune from this effort to maximize efficiency and appeal to the global shift in overall values towards organizations, the products they make, and the effect business practices have on its stakeholders, society and the environment.

Since 2000, Darrin C. Duber-Smith, MS, MBA, has been president of Green Marketing, Inc., a Colorado-based strategic planning firm offering marketing planning, marketing plan implementation, and other consulting services to companies in all stages of growth. He has almost 20 years of specialized expertise in the natural and sustainable products industry and has been a Visiting Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Metropolitan State College School of Business in Denver, CO, since 2003 and an adjunct professor at the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado-Boulder since 2006. He can be reached at [email protected].

Safeway

Investing In Our Environment

Becoming a leader: Not a follower

A business listed in the yellow pages as a grocery store does more than sell food and other household items. In 1915, M.B. Skaggs purchased a small store in his hometown of American Falls, Idaho. The goal was to give customers a value store and expand with a narrow profit margin. In 1926, his determination and drive enabled him to open 428 Skaggs grocery stores in 10 states. Later that year Skaggs struck a deal with Selig and merged into one company doubling in size and today is known as Safeway.

Today Safeway is in the business of “investing in our environment.” For over 82 years they have been dedicated to earning a reputation for honesty, integrity and fair play, since they were well aware that they were a major consumer of energy on an annual basis. Therefore, they decided that they needed to take necessary steps to be a leader in renewable & socially responsible energy use.

Since the public has become more conscious about the state of the environment consumers over the years have been demanding “environmental-accountability” from the suppliers of the goods and services they buy. Safeway wanted to meet these demands and have since branded themselves as a “good corporate practitioner.” They have managed to balance the field between making a profit, meeting obligations to shareholders, customers, employees, suppliers and sustaining the environment. Programs such as the Code of Business Conduct, recycling, sustainable energy, fuel efficiency, and the careful planning of expansion of their company have put Safeway in the forefront of large businesses that make a difference for the environment and the future.

The Code of Business Conduct: The Environmental Boot Camp

Before any environmental programs proceed, Safeway employees must buy-in. The belief “is that you should practice what you preach.” Since the company recognizes that the air, water, soil and vegetation should be kept as free as possible from negative impacts they have laid a set of guidelines that all new-hire and current employees must apply to their job - wherever and whenever possible. These guidelines state that employees must conduct business and operate facilities in an environmentally responsible manner; comply with all applicable environmental laws and regulations; minimize waste and reduce pollution sources in stores and manufacturing and distribution facilities; minimize environmental liabilities in the acquisition and disposition of properties; and assist customers in utilizing sound environmental practices.

These guidelines are just a small part of the training the employees receive. They are provided with environmental modules in new employee orientation, retail leadership, and developmental and safety champions programs. There are also clean water compliance trainings on source reduction, recycling and environmental practices. “Power to Save” is a monthly education program on energy conservation that provides employees the tools to make a difference in their stores. And, employees can access a 24-hour online intranet site with numerous resources and training materials related to their job functions.

Education on safe environments doesn’t stop there. Safeway also aggressively tries to train and educate the public through public service announcements, which support state programs aimed at reducing energy in stores and support facilities.

Refuse and Reuse: The Recycling Program

The recycling program started with just cardboard in the 1960s and has turned into a 450,000 ton material a year business. The recycling program allows for solid waste to be diverted from landfills and reduces the cost of waste hauling and disposal, therefore saving the company millions of dollars each year. In addition, it helps cities and states meet the mandated reduction of solid waste that is put into landfills. In fact, in each of the California stores, they recycle approximately 85% of its solid waste, even though the states mandated solid waste reduction policy is 50%. Because the company well exceeded the state goal, California and the CIWMB (California Integrated Waste Management Board) presented Safeway with the Waste Reduction Award in 2005 and 2007.

Number Facts for 2007: Food for Thought

Corrugated Cardboard Recycling: 309,563 tons All cardboard is collected and sold to cardboard brokers. Plastics Recycling: 8,975 tons Customers can bring back plastic bags and plastic trays that are used to make parking lot bumpers and plastic lumber products. Composting: 92,891 tons Produce trimmings, unusable produce, waxed boxes, and bakery products are sent to a co mposting site where they are turned into soil products. Food Wastes: 65,981 tons Includes bread, dairy products, cooking oil fat & bone from the meat department are recycled into products like animal feed, supplements and biodiesel fuel. Miscellaneous Recycled Materials: 24,986 tons Aluminum, metals, paper, wood, batteries, oil & refrigerant are all recycled.

Overall, 502,396 tons were recycled in 2007. That is 386,000 cubic yards, enough to cover a football field and rise over 190 feet high.

The Future is Today: Sustainable Energy

The definition of sustainable energy is energy that in its production or consumption has minimal negative impacts on human health and the healthy functioning of vital ecological systems, including the global environment, and that can be supplied continuously to future generations on earth. In 2006, the Greenhouse Gas and Sustainability Initiative was created in a partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the California Climate registry. These partners, along with Safeway, were striving to reduce the amount of carbon released in the air and improve the quality of life. The goal was to reduce the amount of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 6% in California, and to maximize fossil fuel use reductions. This has aided the planning and construction of Safeway’s environmental management, operation, maintenance and infrastructure projects. Recently Safeway became the only company to join the Chicago Climate Exchange; which is the world’s first and North America’s only voluntary, legally binding GHG emissions reduction, registry and trading program.

Over the last few years, technology has supported the company in their effort to move forward by installing energy-efficient refrigeration and freezer systems, computer based and equipment control systems, improved heating, ventilation and air conditioning, wastewater neutralization, building improvements and LED lighting to reduce overall energy consumption.

Furthermore, Safeway has supported wind energy to offset the power used by their fuel stations and corporate offices. In fact, in 2008 Safeway unveiled two new solar-powered stores as part of an Earth Day celebration. Both stores are located in northern California and provide 20% of their average annual power and up to 48% at peak power from solar sources. Eventually Safeway’s plans are to have 23 solar driven stores that will remove 26 million pounds of CO2 from the air each year - the equivalent of taking more than 1,000 cars off the road annually.

Safeway’s plans are to have 23 solar driven stores that will remove 26 million pounds of CO2 from the air each year - the equivalent of taking more than 1,000 cars off the road annually.

Keep on Truckin’: Fuel Efficiency & Cleaner Air

Since 2006, Safeway has been an advocate and member of the EPA’s SmartWay Transport Partnership.

This move was the first of its kind by any major U.S. retailer. In addition to the fleet conversion, all of Safeway’s 48 underground storage tanks have met EPA standards.

The transition to biodiesel fuel did not happen overnight. Safeway used Smartway’s FLEET (Freight Logistics Environmental and Energy Tracking) to track and analyze their truck fleet during 2006 and created a baseline fuel efficiency study that implemented over a three-year window. The goal was to improve overall fuel efficiency performance. So far, the effort has saved the company almost 6.8 million gallons of diesel fuel and has prevented 75,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually. Moreover, Safeway saved over $19 million in fuel costs during 2007 with its shift to energy efficient fleets.

In 2008, Safeway made an aggressive and bold move that converted almost 1,000 fleet trucks to cleaner burning B-20 biodiesel fuel, which will reduce over 75 million pounds of CO2 annually.

To ensure that fleets run more efficiently, even the drivers of delivery trucks and other transportation vehicles are required to follow a set of stringent guidelines dedicated to fuel efficiency. These guidelines include adopting a five-minute idle policy which keeps drivers from running trucks unnecessarily during loading and unloading; purchasing tractors with an aerodynamic profile; using automatic tire-inflation systems to keep tires inflated at levels that maximize efficiency; using large-capacity trailers to limit the number of trips to stores; running route-optimization software to determine the most efficient delivery routes; and training drivers to more effectively shift gears to maximize engine performance.

Surveying the Field: Responsible Growth

Careful planning is key to the growth strategy at Safeway. They assess the impact of particular areas for development and the impact to the environment. Before the purchase or sale of land, environmental assessments are conducted to ascertain potential impacts to the land and the surrounding community.

Sustainable development is about creating environmentally responsible growth programs. It is a standard belief that setting a good example will open doors for others to follow. When it comes to business ethics, others judge us not by what we know but by what we do. Safeway is leading the charge in developing company-wide efforts to create sustainable, environmentally friendly business models. They are on the forefront of fleet conversion, building conversion, and training conversions. They are a model business citizen investing in our environment.

International Development Enterprise

"It’ll never work.” “Look at all of the failed international aid programs, the big anti-poverty programs. Maybe you can feed people, but every effort to change communities fundamentally seems to have failed.”

“When you pull one strand of the problem of poverty, the whole mess begins to unravel – what do you do when people have no education, when healthcare is unaffordable?”

“Even if you did figure out how to help people support themselves, wouldn’t they just deplete the natural resources in their region, causing even bigger problems down the road?”

Good thing for millions of people on three continents that Dr. Paul Polak didn’t see any of these arguments as a reason to stop innovating. Like any great entrepreneur, he merely saw them as hurdles to leap, bulldoze, or sidestep on the way to his ultimate goal: helping poor farmers build secure futures for themselves.

Trained as a psychiatrist, Polak worked for years to help people cope with mental illness through the Southwest Denver Mental Health Association. There he witnessed the inextricable link between poverty and mental health - and even created housing and jobs programs to help his patients. Then, on a trip to Belize, he became interested in poverty on the global level, poverty much deeper than what he witnessed in the United States. Because of his background in business, he saw poverty as a breakdown of the market system. When hardworking people had the right tools and access to the right markets, they could succeed in escaping poverty.

Driven to continue his investigation, Polak traveled to Nepal and Bangladesh and asked hundreds of people who lived on small farms - why are you poor? The obvious answer came: “We need more money.” And what would help you get more money? “Water.”

With regular access to water, farmers would be able to increase their incomes dramatically. And with improved incomes, they would have the resources to gain access to healthcare and education.

Upon consideration, Polak thought that there was something he could do about this. He grew up on a farm in Canada and thought that perhaps some inexpensive agricultural technologies could help. A treadle pump would allow farmers to access water from seven to ten feet below the ground. Simple drip irrigation systems that allowed for more direct delivery of water to plants would increase production, and allow for production of higher value crops.

But hadn’t similar efforts failed before? Rusting infrastructure brought in by big international aid programs molders in developing countries throughout the world.

What could make the difference in terms of adoption and use?

In 1981, Polak founded an organization called IDE (International Development Enterprises) to answer this question. The answer has come through applying market-based principles to the needs of the poor. For more than twenty-five years, IDE has gone directly to small communities and, through appropriate technologies and the seeding of small businesses, has developed sturdy and sustainable economies that are improving the lives of millions.

IDE recognizes a few key things based on simple business principles. It’s important that the farmers themselves have an investment in the new technology, and that the technology be affordable enough to pay off in one year’s harvest. It’s important that seeds, fertilizer, and replacement parts for the pumps and irrigation systems be available locally. And finally - no way out of poverty is sustainable if it depletes the natural resources of the region.

Building Local Markets

The typical IDE program works like this: in-country IDE workers go to a local marketplace and demonstrate a treadle pump or a drip irrigation system. They connect with farmers who might be interested in trying the technology, and arrange with partner organizations for them to receive a very small loan to pay for the technology. Let’s say a farmer buys a treadle pump. He would receive a loan of about $20 to pay for the pump, and IDE would provide connections to local well drillers, information about the best agronomic practices, and links to local markets where he can earn fair prices. The farmer uses the pump to irrigate his crops and increase his yield. He takes his crops to market, sells them, and can earn up to 300% more than he would have in previous years. He is able to pay off his loan, and is on the way to economic self-sufficiency.

Panchagarh, Bangladesh – With the income from the chili, amaranth, radish, and potato grown using her IDE treadle pump, Rashida Begum has been able to support her family of five, and open a successful retail shop as well.

With increased income, the farmer’s life and that of his or her family can be transformed. Nazrul Islam of Bangladesh used his increased profits to keep all of his children in school. “I hope that one of my sons will go on to school in Dhaka and get a good government job,” he says. His additional income has also allowed his daughters to remain in school, which is uncommon in his village.

But IDE doesn’t stop there. As they build relationships with farmers like Islam, they also build relationships with entrepreneurs, craftsmen, and agricultural suppliers. Their goal is to create a sustainable market system in a community, where the pumps and irrigation systems, seeds and organic fertilizers are all produced and sold locally. They also stimulate markets for higher quality, higher profit crops by providing connections to broader distribution systems.

With certain pump models at just $20 apiece and drip systems as low as $5, the question arises: why not just give this technology to the farmers? IDE USA Executive Director Zenia Tata explains, “Our studies show that rates of adoption are much higher when farmers invest their own money. They are also more likely to properly maintain the equipment when they have ownership. Treating smallholder farmers as customers is a respect issue. Rather than deciding for them what they should have, we allow our customers to make the decision about whether our products have significant value for them.”

The Key is Sustainability

From central offices in Lakewood, Colorado, IDE runs in-country programs in eight developing countries in Asia and Africa, and operates affiliates in Canada, the United Kingdom, and India. Since its founding in 1981, IDE has helped an estimated 17 million people pull themselves permanently out of poverty and to do so in an environmentally sustainable way.

With millions of farmers using more water and planting more crops, it might seem that the natural resources of the regions where IDE works could be depleted. In fact, the opposite is true. “IDE’s anti-poverty programs are deeply rooted in sustainable design and environmental practices,” explains Andy Vermouth, IDE Communications Director. “Because our systems are so widely spread on smallholder farms throughout a region, they haven’t affected the water table or the surrounding environment the way a large scale irrigation scheme would.” Studies conducted in association with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have found that, because IDE promotes the use of organic fertilizer and drip irrigation, along with other water-saving technologies, agricultural run-off is significantly decreased in areas where IDE technologies are at work.

“If we are serious about ending extreme hunger and poverty around the world, we must be serious about transforming agriculture for small farmers - most of whom are women,” said Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “These investments - from improving the quality of seeds, to developing healthier soil, to creating new markets - will pay off not only in children fed and lives saved. They can have a dramatic impact on poverty reduction as families generate additional income and improve their lives.” The Gates Foundation recently awarded $40 million in grants to IDE for projects throughout Asia and Africa.

Obstacles and Opportunities

IDE has achieved its success through focusing on a few key technologies, genuinely listening to the people in the countries it serves, and developing market systems that sustain themselves and preserve the environment. Major foundations like Gates and the Mennonite Economic Development Agency, along with international development agencies in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Australia provide a steady stream of investment capital to seed projects around the world. Individual donors also play a part, since it costs only about $250 to raise a family out of poverty through IDE’s programs.

IDE is also seeking corporate partners who can help bring the global marketplace to small farmers. “In Nicaragua, IDE partnered with Nestlé and ECOM to create a market link for premium coffee produced by small farmers there using our drip irrigation technology,” says Tata, “and we’re getting great results. We’re looking for other corporate partners who are interested in working with us to create innovative, sustainable solutions to the problem of poverty.”

What prevents IDE from moving even faster to implement its successful model throughout the developing world? Vermouth cites political strife as one key obstacle. “We have people in both Myanmar and Zimbabwe, where the political situations are tenuous,” he explains. “This can make our work difficult, but our presence there can also be a blessing.” IDE’s in-country workers were among the very few people able to distribute aid to victims of the Myanmar cyclone last year.

IDE is proud of its success internationally, Vermouth notes, but they also hope to connect the power of their methods to local projects in Colorado. Last summer, he created a demonstration plot in a Denver Urban Gardens site, and despite planting the garden later than others, it still produced more than neighboring plots due to the benefits of micro-irrigation. “We hope to share what we’ve learned in developing countries here in Denver. This year we’re working with several local groups to promote a showcase village that demonstrates some of our technologies and by extension how they might be applied by others here in the U.S.”

While the economic downturn certainly challenges some of their funding streams, IDE continues to forge ahead with its programs, hoping to reach millions more people in need in the years ahead. “Because the systems we create are environmentally and fiscally sound,” Vermouth explains, “our work fits perfectly with the emphasis on a move to an economy based on sustainable development.”

For more information please check IDE’s website at www.ideorg.org

Rebecca Arno is Vice President of Communications for The Denver Foundation, a community foundation serving the seven-county Metro Denver area.

Green Festivals

By: Tom Hobelman Issue: Energy & The Environment Section: Collaborator Profile

Collaborative Environmental & Social Justice Conferences

Pop culture often serves as a fairly effective barometer of that most ephemeral of American icons, the national mood. Preoccupations and underground movements that may not make the talking points around the water cooler nevertheless find broader expression through various modern media, from television to music to cinema. Although many headlines and television shows continue blaring dire predictions about the economy, a different theme has recently emerged from the national consciousness: how to live a more meaningful life, one in harmony with each other and with the environment. “The Day After Tomorrow” and “The Happening” fight for viewer/consumers alongside “AC 360” on CNN, annual music festivals like Bonaroo and national bestsellers like Thomas Friedman’s Hot, Flat, & Crowded.

Sustainable living is becoming accessible for everyone, from individuals to corporations looking to expand on their “triple bottom-line” goals (financial, environmental, social), and the annual Green Festival provides the blueprint. The Festivals unite green businesses, social and environmental groups, visionary thinkers, and tens of thousands of community members in a lively exchange of ideas. Each city’s Green Festival agenda has the same over-arching themes: learn (through star-studded lectures and workshops), network (via organizations effecting sustainable change locally, nationally, and internationally), and socialize (meeting different people committed to the possibility of a better world, sharing common interests, building movements).

Since the first fledgling event in 2002, Green Festival has created a model of environmental and social leadership, consistently providing authentic information for consumers on every aspect of green living. Green Festival has created a model of environmental and social leadership, consistently providing authentic information for consumers on every aspect of green living.

The Festivals are essentially a two-day party with a serious purpose: to accelerate the emergence of a new economic paradigm that is life-affirming and life-restoring. Each Festival (Seattle, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington D.C. and now Denver) cultivates a culture of sustainability and social equity that honors one’s interdependence with all life. The festivals began as a joint project of Global Exchange and Green America (formerly Co-Op America), two leading non-profit organizations dedicated to environmental and social justice for more than twenty-five years. width=

Global Exchange is a 20-year-old membership-based international human rights organization dedicated to promoting social, economic and environmental justice around the world. The group prioritizes international collaboration as central to ensuring peace, and aims to create a local, green economy designed to embrace the diversity of our communities. They educate communities about realities outside their audiences’ purview using a diverse range of educational methods.

Green America is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1982. Their mission is to harness economic power - the strength of consumers, investors, businesses and the marketplace - to create a socially just and environmentally sustainable society. Taking a different approach than Global Exchange, Green America focuses on economic strategies to solve social and environmental problems. They mobilize people in their economic roles (as consumers, investors, workers, and business leaders). Addressing their constituents as well as acolytes in this manner, they empower people to take personal and collective action in working through issues of social justice and environmental responsibility. Amazingly, Green Festival is just the tip of the iceberg for both Global Exchange and Green America. They promote green and fair trade business principles, while also building the market for businesses adhering to these principles.

And these two groups are not alone in their mission. The Green Festivals continue to attract and expand upon a truly impressive base of speakers and educated individuals who anchor their time in each city with workshops, discussions, and speeches of great import to the “green” movement. Festival speakers are articulate, powerful advocates for a just and sustainable world. From authors and filmmakers to politicians, musicians and scientists, these renowned individuals inspire packed audiences with their expertise - one of the most compelling draws to Green Festival™ since 2002.

width= There is Dr. Cornel West, whose writing, speaking, and teaching weave together the traditions of the black Baptist Church, progressive politics, and jazz. The New York Times has praised his “ferocious moral vision.” West burst onto the national scene in 1993 with his searing analysis of racism in American democracy – Race Matters. This bestseller has become a contemporary classic, selling more than a half a million copies to date. Another dedicated soul is Van Jones, founder and president of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland, California. Headquartered in San Francisco, EBC is a national organization that challenges human rights abuses in the U.S. criminal justice system. He recently started the group Green For All (www.greenforall.org) , which is focused on bringing green-collar jobs into lower-income communities. For many featured speakers, pop culture is both the medium and the message in bringing social justice and sustainability to the forefront of common discourse. As leader and co-founder of the legendary rap group Public Enemy, Chuck D redefined rap music and hip hop culture. His lyrics addressed weighty issues about race, rage and inequality with intelligence and eloquence. In May 2005 the U.S. government’s Library of Congress included “Fear of a Black Planet” in a list of 50 recordings worthy of preserving in the National Recording Registry.

If the “oral traditions” don’t fit your bill, there are literal “grassroots” speakers as well. Paul Stamets has been in business since 1980 with Fungi Perfecti®, a family-owned, environmentally friendly company specializing in gourmet and medicinal mushrooms to improve the health of the planet and its people. Stamets has published 6 books, including Mycelium Running, a book of mycological rescue for healing habitats and increasing sustainability using low-tech techniques for restoration of damaged ecosystems.

Two speakers that are now slated to appear at the newest stop for the Green Festivals (Denver, CO) will have a powerful impact on a metropolis somewhat infamous for oil production and corporate malfeasance – Amy Goodman and John Perkins. An award-winning journalist and author, Amy Goodman and producer Jeremy Scahill went to Nigeria. Their radio documentary Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria’s Oil Dictatorship exposed Chevron’s role in the killing of two Nigerian villagers in the Niger Delta, who were protesting yet another oil spill in their community.

John Perkins, a former “economic hit man”, is a founder and board member of Dream Change and the Pachamama Alliance, non-profit organizations devoted to creating stable, sustainable and peaceful worlds. Perkins’ Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, which spent more than a year on the New York Times bestseller lists and has been published in more than 30 languages, details the clandestine operations that created the world’s first truly global empire.

The recent addition of the Mile High City to Green Festival’s roster was no random event. As Mayor John Hickenlooper put it: “Having just hosted the greenest national political convention ever, we think Denver is a natural site for the Green Festival in May 2009 and are excited to host this successful event. Denver is proud to be creating safe, healthy, sustainable communities and a strong local economy by raising awareness, sharing best practices and collaborating on greening initiatives. The Green Festival is a terrific place to trade success stories, brainstorm innovative new ideas and learn about the newest technologies and services.”

Denver’s City Hall is backing the upcoming Green Festival in Denver with synergistic reasoning: Mayor Hickenlooper’s “Greenprint Denver” program fits hand-in-glove with the guiding tenets of the Festival. Hosting the DNC in Denver taught the city an exciting lesson. Colorado’s capitol could indeed handle a large-scale event without abandoning the Mayor’s program or other much-touted “green principles”. This lesson was accomplished by adhering to a set-up process (Green Festival’s) and location (the Colorado Convention Center) steeped in green economy details. A stringent screening process ensures all exhibitors meet the highest standards for environmental integrity and social responsibility. While many events and tradeshows are notoriously wasteful, the efforts of hundreds of Green Festival™ volunteers ensure meticulous sorting procedures to reuse, recycle and compost, translating into only 3% of the waste going into landfills. In 2003, U.S. residents, businesses and institutions produced more than 236 million tons of municipal solid waste, approximately 4.5 pounds of waste per person every day. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that Coloradans dispose of 6.1 pounds of waste per person per day: 26% more than the average American. Green Festival organizers mitigate that statistic with the help of Seven-Star, Inc., the country’s foremost “green event” experts. They organize and manage the landfill diversion, product conversion and carbon offsetting for each Green Festival. For example, every plate, knife, bowl, napkin, coffee stirrer and sample cup is 100% biodegradable and will be collected with all food scraps to be composted.

The setting for Denver’s Green Festival, the Colorado Convention Center, follows suit with the Green Festival™ efforts. Photovoltaic panel installations on the roof are capable of continually providing 300KW of power. Timed lighting systems controlled by electricians allows lighting levels to be at 50% during event move-in and move out, and 100% only during event hours in occupied space. The Convention Center is now on a citywide “steam tube and shell system” for heating, allowing for lower preset temperatures when the building is unoccupied as well as more efficient overall control.

Seattle’s Green Festival takes place in late March, followed by Denver in early May and Chicago in mid-May. Washington D.C. gets hosting honors October 10 and 11, while the final stop is where it all began – San Francisco November 13, 14, and 15.

Take a moment to visit the website (www.greenfestivals.org) if you are unable to attend in person – you may make more of an impact than you realize. Become part of a virtually zero-waste carnival of ideas, and let the economy figure itself out for a change!

Engines & Energy Conversion Labs

Investing in Innovation & Improving Efficiencies

Don’t be fooled by the name: Students, faculty and staff working on any given day in the Colorado State University (CSU) Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory (EECL) aren’t working on engines per se.

Improving engine efficiency is certainly within the scope of work at the lab, but students - under the tutelage of the lab’s director, Dr. Bryan Willson - are working on global solutions such as systems that will produce biodiesel from algae on a massive scale and cookstoves that will help curb indoor air pollution in developing nations.

The laboratory is the largest of its kind in North America at one of the top research institutions in the nation (CSU ranks fourth in annual research expenditures in the nation when compared with its peers without a medical school, according to the most recent figures from the National Science Foundation). The mission of the Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory is to “create innovative energy solutions and entrepreneurial models that benefit the human condition and achieve global impact.”

That mission coincides with the university’s mission and that of its new Superclusters – a business model that was enacted in 2007 to bring the university’s innovative research to the marketplace more quickly.

Applying Michael Porter’s concept of business clusters, the Superclusters are organized around the university’s areas of strength such as clean energy solutions and cures and vaccines for infectious disease and cancer.

Translated into a university setting, the cluster concept helps scientists in different disciplines come together to work on common goals while also helping industry navigate the complexities of a university for licensing and patenting. The goal is to make the university look and act more like a business and encourage public/private partnerships and collaboration.

“Superclusters are designed around the idea that we can pull together a critical mass of faculty in an area where Colorado State University has strong expertise; we can leverage those strengths in developing solutions to address challenges facing societies worldwide,” said Interim President Dr. Tony Frank. “We oriented these Superclusters around areas where the solution could be addressed for commercialization – taking the ideas, the intellectual property, the innovation that comes out of groups of scientists and students from across disciplines and translating it into the commercial space for the public good.”

Collaboration is key to innovation at Colorado State University, including the groundbreaking work occurring in the engines lab. Willson, the lab’s director, also doubles as the Director of the academic side of the Clean Energy Supercluster. His role is to help connect researchers across campus who may be working in the area of clean energy.

Willson himself helped create two of the university’s spinoffs: Envirofit International, a company that is helping poorer countries solve indoor and outdoor air pollution problems, and Solix Biofuels, which aims to develop algae into biodiesel on a mass scale.

“When I’m giving tours of the lab, I like to tell people that the next round of breakthroughs in energy are going to happen where more than one discipline intersect,” said Dr. Morgan DeFoort, co-director of the engines lab. “It’s not going to be a physicist working alone. It’s the physicist working with the chemist. Or the biologist working with the mechanical engineer. It’s the more complex problems – those are where the breakthroughs for the next few decades – even the next century – are going to occur.”

Engineering Complex Systems

The EECL at Colorado State is known for tackling large, complex environmental problems such as air pollution – issues that relief agencies around the world don’t have the funds or the time to address. Willson, the founder of the lab, often says, “the bigger the problems, the better.”

The first major breakthrough to occur at the engines lab was in 1999. That was the first year that students competed in the SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge, ultimately developing a snowmobile that was 300 times cleaner than a stock model. In 2003, students Tim Bauer and Nathan Lorenz, along with Willson and Paul Hudnut, business instructor, took that innovation to the next level and created Envirofit International, a non-profit corporation and leader in creating sustainable, scalable businesses that help solve global health and environmental problems.

Envirofit developed a bolt-on, direct-injection retrofit kit for carbureted two-stroke engines that are major polluters in the developing world. This easily installed, direct-injection retrofit technology drastically reduces pollution by 70 to 90 percent while improving fuel economy more than 35 percent.

Those two-stroke engine retrofit kits are being sold in the Philippines with expansion planned in other developing countries.

Lorenz and Bauer, the two students who helped create Envirofit, now work for the company and have helped steer the business into another major area of concern in the developing world: indoor air pollution.

Envirofit has developed a cleaner burning cookstove that reduces emissions while using less fuel and increasing efficiency. The stoves are now being disseminated throughout India as students in the engines lab continue to work on improving the technology.

According to the World Health Organization, nearly 3 billion people - or nearly half the world’s population - cook their daily meals over open fires indoors using biomass such as wood or dung. A majority of the heat is wasted, and up to 20 percent of the biomass is transferred into such toxic materials as carbon monoxide, benzene and formaldehyde. Indoor air pollution, as a result, kills 1.6 million people every year.

In 2006, the Shell Foundation committed up to $25 million in grants to Envirofit to design and disseminate 10 million cookstoves across the developing world. Stoves are already being delivered in India.

EECL Saving Lives

To meet Envirofit’s goal to disseminate the stoves, the company is working with DeFoort and his students at the EECL to perfect the technology. As many as 40 or 50 students work in the lab at any given time – most of them undergraduate students – on a variety of different projects.

Christian L’Orange, a graduate student in the laboratory, works with DeFoort, who is the technical lead on the research and development efforts that support Envirofit’s cookstoves enterprise. DeFoort has four graduate students and six undergraduate students working with him.

Through Envirofit and his work in the lab, L’Orange has learned that engineering offers a multitude of career paths. He’s responsible for designing the test hood in India that measures stove emissions.

“It’s engineers that are doing something different,” L’Orange said of the lab. “Being an engineer doesn’t just mean that you’re designing gears or cars or robots. Working with Envirofit – it was the first project that anyone had talked about that was completely different.” Being an engineer doesn’t just mean that you’re designing gears or cars or robots.

And the differences don’t stop there: Students at CSU are learning what it means to collaborate with their peers in other disciplines. They’re working with business professors such as Hudnut who are helping to build new business models to sell such products as Envirofit’s to people in poor nations who need them. Or with sociocultural anthropologists, like Mac McGoldrick, Programs Manager for the EECL, who is helping students learn to appreciate cultural differences that will help Envirofit sell their products.

“There’s a unique, collaborative culture that exists at Colorado State because of our ability to be entrepreneurial,” DeFoort said. “You find that willingness to collaborate here more than at any other university.”

Students Learning from Collaboration

Collaborative experiences are also creating new entrepreneurs: Some of the first seed funding from the Clean Energy Supercluster helped a group of students in the College of Business’ newest master’s program create a new company.

Through the Global Social and Sustainable Enterprise master’s degree program, students have created Powermundo, which is a for-profit organization that aims to connect sustainable products of companies such as Envirofit with the people in developing nations who need them. The students are working with Tom Dean, a Business Professor, and DeFoort.

The master’s degree is an 18-month program that teaches students to use entrepreneurial, sustainable approaches to address great global challenges of poverty, environmental degradation and poor health. The degree requires three months of field work in a developing nation or area that lacks resources to build sustainable businesses.

The goal of the master’s degree program is ultimately to help some of the world’s three billion people who live on less than $3 a day.

“Though the Clean Energy Supercluster is really young, here’s an example of how it’s investing across the spectrum,” DeFoort said. “We have these students who have launched a company and they were greatly enabled by Supercluster funding. The Supercluster spans the spectrum from early stage R&D to later-stage commercialization.”

Colorado State University – and companies like Envirofit – are capitalizing on these opportunities ahead of other higher education institutions, DeFoort said.

“There aren’t Envirofits out there,” he said. “The approach in the developing world has only recently turned entrepreneurial. We’ve got a five-year headstart.”

To learn more about the Colorado State University Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory and its successful startup companies, please visit http://www.eecl.colostate.edu/ or contact Emily Wilmsen at (970) 491-2336. For more information about Colorado State University’s leadership in renewable energy and environmentally sustainable initiatives, go to http://www.green.colostate.edu/.

Collaboration Powerhouse

Lessons From The Largest Grassroots Solar Event in History

A solar thermal house near Minneapolis uses the sun’s energy to heat water. There were nearly five thousand homes like this one on the ASES National Solar Tour. Photo: Innovative Power Systems

through this coordinated effort we’re demonstrating that solar power is already in use and making a difference from coast-to-coast.”

When Charlie Garlow opened his solar-powered home to a hundred strangers he knew he was in good company. His home was one of about 5,000 across the U.S. on the ASES National Solar Tour, the largest grassroots solar event in the world.

The ASES National Solar Tour, which offers open-house tours of homes and buildings across the U.S., highlights how neighbors are using solar energy and other sustainable technologies to reduce monthly utility bills and carbon emissions. Some 140,000 guests participated in 49 states last year, and the Tour is expected to reach all 50 states this year.

“People have been touting the promise of solar energy for years,” said Garlow, “but through this coordinated effort we’re demonstrating that solar power is already in use and making a difference from coast-to-coast.”

And it’s not just the use of renewable energy that’s noteworthy – it’s also the effective use of collaboration that helps power this event. An early ad for the ASES National Solar Tour highlights the events initial focus on homes off the electrical grid. With 99% of today’s solar installations on buildings tied to the electrical grid, the Tour has since broadened its focus to a variety of renewable energy and energy efficient technologies. Photo: American Solar Energy Society.

Coordinated nationally by the non-profit American Solar Energy Society (ASES), the National Solar Tour consists of more than 200 local and regional tours throughout the U.S. These tours are run by passionate solar supporters, almost all volunteers, who work together to help share real-world insight about renewable energy and energy efficiency.

“The Tour is truly a grassroots, viral event,” said Richard Burns, who manages the Tour for the American Solar Energy Society. “The Tour could not happen if it included just a few random individuals opening up their homes.

The roots of the ASES National Solar Tour can be traced to a collaborative effort that started years ago. In the 1970s the Real Goods organization in Hopland, California sold some of the first solar panels in the world. Their goal was to help families in Northern California live more independently, off the electrical grid. By 1994 the Real Goods organization started inviting its customers to share their experiences with neighbors in the first ‘National Tour of Independent Homes’. Homeowners from 40 states got involved to demonstrate how they were powering their homes with the latest technology.

There is strength in numbers. Organizations that work together ultimately create a stronger force to achieve their common goals.”

As the event grew, Real Goods turned to the American Solar Energy Society to help reach a wider audience. ASES, which also produced the National Solar Conference and SOLAR TODAY magazine, was well-positioned to grow the event through its national network of solar professionals and grassroots advocates. More than a decade later, the event continues to grow.

“People want to get involved,” added Burns. “Collaboration is about painting a common vision and finding how to best tap into talents for a satisfying and rewarding experience.” Of course, passion for that vision certainly doesn’t hurt.

Consider the experience of Kiril and Sarah Lozanova. When the young Chicago-area couple was about to get married they pondered how to create a sustainably-minded lifestyle together.

“As we curled up to create our wedding gift registry, we talked about the kind of life we wished to lead,” recalled Sarah Lozanova, a renewable energy specialist at Solar Service Inc. in Illinois. “We thought about the clean, healthy world we value, and concluded that the only thing we really wanted was a solar system,” she said. So for their wedding, instead of registering for dishes and silverware like many couples do, they invited guests to contribute to their ‘solar gift registry’ to help fund the 1.7-kilowatt photovoltaic solar system they wanted. They set up a blog to educate their wedding guests about this solar system and importance of living a sustainable lifestyle.

After reading of the couple’s plans, the majority of their 75 wedding guests happily contributed to their solar fund. A state rebate and federal tax credit covered about 50% of the cost of the $12,300 system, and what started as a creative idea soon turned into reality. Not only did Sarah and Kiril raise enough funds to install their solar system, but they also included their home as part of the Tour in 2008.

“We were proud to be part of the National Solar Tour,” said Sarah. “We had nearly 100 curious visitors stop by our home, which gave us a chance to share our passion for solar energy.”

Sarah and Kiril are not alone in their passion, but with thousands of other homeowners on the Tour, coordinating such a large event is not without its challenges. Richard Burns recalled some of the approaches that worked well, noting that, “we conduct monthly organizer calls with local Tour leaders from across the nation, not only to share good ideas, but to reinforce our vision to create the largest grassroots solar event in history. The amazing diversity from these regional tours – from metropolitan areas to rural ones – highlights the differing needs from across the group. The key is to weave that common thread that connects us all, to help everyone stay focused on why we’re all working together.”

Without that common thread it’s easy to lose perspective and slip into tunnel-vision thinking. People often view other organizations exclusively through a competitive lens. This narrow approach can put otherwise good organizations at a competitive disadvantage, precluding the possibility of working with partners. In today’s economy, strategic collaboration is critically important and needs to be part of the organizational toolkit.

The ASES National Solar Tour provides a good illustration of the exponential success that can come from coordinating efforts to achieve a worthwhile vision. This event could hardly exist without collaboration – and it’s helping to change how a nation thinks about its energy choices, one person at a time.

“Just like farmers, these Tour hosts are laying solar seeds all throughout America,” said Burns. “Some sprout quickly. Some grow slower. But what each of these individuals is doing is laying the groundwork for a sustainable energy economy and lifestyle. Once they catch this vision, they see how their actions have a tremendous impact.” And that’s an approach that can energize a nation.

Neal Lurie is Director of Marketing & Communications for the American Solar Energy Society, a non-profit organization that’s been leading the renewable energy revolution for more than fifty years. Learn more about ASES or the National Solar Tour: www.ases.org.

SolaRover

By: John F. Spisak Issue: Energy & The Environment Section: Collaborator Profile

New Value Equation for Solar Energy

Alternative energy has been making a comeback worldwide and capturing the public spotlight with solar and wind energy leading the way. The new Obama Administration and the 111th Congress have made alternative energy a centerpiece of business and tax policy and rule making in a concerted attempt to move it into the national mainstream and begin the process of reducing foreign carbon fuel dependence and effecting climate change. The 2009 stimulus package and the 2008 Troubled Assets Relief Program both extended existing incentive programs and added significant new ones to push alternative energy to the forefront with solar as one of the leaders.

In order for any technology and new business to achieve long term success and acceptance, it must achieve economic viability within the niche or arena in which it is implemented. The same will hold true for solar energy even though it is currently advantaged with tax credits, subsidies, grants and strong political backing. Solar energy and other alternatives face the competitive realities of the marketplace in which fossil fuels are still inexpensive overall where the national grid system has not been upgraded to handle the intermittencies of alternatives, and where the national transmission system will have to be significantly modified to accommodate these large alternative projects currently being planned. In the current worldwide economic environment, addressing all of these costly issues in a timely manner will be problematic. Eventually, alternatives will begin to lose their subsidy and tax advantages as they will begin to compete with other social and political imperatives which are a normal part of societal evolution.

As admirable as the goals and results of “green” energy are, they must also make economic sense at the end of the day and that means that there must be a tangible “value-added” component.

Within this context of alternative energy’s resurgence and the complexities of world geo-politics, SolaRover concluded that if solar power is to be successful in the short and mid-term, that it must provide real value beyond simple power generation and the replacement of CO2 and hydrocarbon emissions.

That is why SolaRover has created special engineered mobility and portable energy storage as the key value-added equation that will move solar to the forefront today.

Remote locations in Africa, Central and South America and Asia-Pacific can benefit enormously from portable, clean sun-powered energy for village clinics, school houses, communications and clean water systems.

Mobile Solar in the Developing World

This value equation has three distinct parts. The first is the most obvious. Mobile solar energy can provide powerful value to those remote parts of the world that are most in need of reliable, clean and adaptable electrical energy.

These areas of the world have plentiful sunshine and are in great need of alternatives to non-existent infrastructure, insurgent-interrupted infrastructure, heavily polluting and health-damaging wood and coal cooking and unreliably supplied diesel. Mobile solar units can be readily moved as needed and can supply critical services where they are needed most. A mobile solar unit can run a clean water treatment unit and pump during the day, and with its fully charged batteries, can run the village lights and cooking plates at night. Mobile solar units can also carry internet satellite capability and cell phone communications. Since solar-produced electricity is pure, clean sine wave power, there is no need for power cleaners or filters that are required for diesel generated (dirty, noisy) power and for much grid-produced power. Laptops, communications and sensitive medical devices can all use clean solar electricity directly.

SolaRover recognizes that many developing countries have neither the financial means nor (in some cases) the political will to provide the most needy members of their population the type of support that will allow the introduction and use of mobile solar power systems. Therefore, SolaRover will be joining forces with a foundation so that monies can be collected for the sole purpose of purchasing mobile solar power systems for the areas of the world that need them the most. Through this foundation, SolaRover will provide its mobile solar power units at a discounted price and SolaRover will also donate $5000 per unit to various foundations that assist the developing world’s children through medical, food, clothing and educational support. Anyone interested in helping SolaRover in supplying clean, mobile solar energy to the world’s most needy can contact [email protected].

Mobile Solar in Disaster Zones

The second part of the value equation is found in the perennial need for emergency and restored power that cities and states which are in the path of regular hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes and ice storms cannot depend on today. Mobile solar power provides a plethora of solutions to a series of intractable problems that face millions of people in the U.S. every year.

When a major natural disaster strikes, there is inevitably major and protracted damage to the power grid. Neighborhoods, cities, emergency services and general commerce all find themselves without power for weeks on end. The cost in human health, life disruption, loss of commerce, further damage and suspended activity is incalculable.

Major response agencies like FEMA, the National Guard and state emergency services agencies are primarily reactive and days typically pass before damage is assessed, disaster declarations are made and the logistics of relief start to engage.

The ability to immediately (within 24 hours) restore power to critical activities such as emergency clinics, police, fire, and ER facilities, refrigeration storage units, street lights to mitigate looting and begin to restore rudimentary commerce is absolutely critical in reducing the total cost of the disaster and preventing significant collateral and follow-on damage that typically results in the aftermath of these events. Recent storms and disasters have proven over and over that reactivity is inefficient, late and not nearly as effective at being fully prepared with contingencies in place. Mobile solar power units can be ubiquitously distributed across a city or town in virtually any conceivable location where they can and will be immediately available for emergency use when needed. Also, as opposed to diesel and fuel-fired generators that have to be stored, fueled, resupplied and kept clean and tuned, mobile solar units can continuously generate clean, quiet pure power between events, even if those events are years apart. There is no need for emergency planners to try to guess where to store generators and their fuel hoping that they guess right. Facilities that mount fixed foundation solar systems on buildings, do not have to worry what will happen if their structure is severely damaged during an earthquake or hurricane and power is needed two miles away at an emergency clinic. A mobile solar unit can simply be unplugged and quickly moved to the location of most need. If smaller cities and towns across the U.S. Gulf Coast were alternatively equipped with mobile solar units, they would act as a reserve of clean, quiet power always within a couple of hours of any city that finds itself devastated by a major storm.

This distributed disaster insurance policy will also provide unique benefits to the local utility, grid manager and states that have enacted RPS standards. Highly distributed power units, like mobile solar units, don’t burden the grid in ways that large fixed systems do. Furthermore, with mobile units there is no additional transmission infrastructure investment required.

The benefits of reduced greenhouse gases and particulate pollution can be achieved today instead of waiting 5-12 years for these major projects to be cited, permitted, built and integrated. Tax incentives, carbon credits and grants can be realized today.

Electricity can be managed to maximum benefit. For instance, the batteries can be fully charged during the day and all of the power can be drawn off during the peak load evening hours. And of course, if there is a major disaster, power is in place where it is needed the most. Solar panels can be easily washed or swept off, while diesel fuel that is contaminated with water or mud is a major problem. The same sets of arguments readily apply to earthquake prone areas with even more urgency as damage there is typically more severe and can be prolonged. Mobile solar power can provide the security and the solutions.

Mobile Solar for the Military

The third part of the value equation is the support of military units flung far and wide. The military must never be without power - as lives are in danger. Alternatives will never supplant conventional power sources nor will they ever gain a dominant position with forces whose mission it is to defend and protect peoples and resources worldwide. However, alternatives – especially solar – can play a critical and important role in reducing the military’s dependence on hydrocarbon fuels and saving lives. The cost of getting fuel into a generator at remote forward field and combat positions approaches $100 US/gallon. This is because the fuel can be lost or stolen and it must be transported, defended in convoys, and protected in storage bunkers on site which must be secured and guarded. Further, it takes significant numbers of soldiers to defend those targeted convoys, defend those bunkers and defend the other soldiers who regularly fuel, service and maintain the diesel generators. These are soldiers directly in harm’s way.

Should mobile solar power generators merely supplant 30% of all of the military’s forward position fossil fuel needs for power, billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of troop exposure days would be saved. SolaRover has adaptive military designed units that are rugged and durable, can be tough in the field, easily moved and adapted to hybridization with existing diesel units designed to save the military fuel and soldiers. Given the current cost being expended on forward position fuel for power, SolaRover units can achieve a payback within 16-18 months against current conventional systems – a good value for the American taxpayer.

Thus, mobile solar energy can be brought to remote locations, distributed everywhere in cities and towns for immediate clean power benefits without dependency on upgraded grids and transmission systems and can provide vital insurance to those who need it the most against natural disasters.

SolaRover firmly believes and is committed to the business model that there is an enormous worldwide opportunity for distributed mobile solar power with substantive value added components. SolaRover believes that there is a confluence of politics, demand, need and history that makes this particular period ideal for a major development in the area of renewable energy, especially solar. The challenges facing everyone in the alternative energy industry today are those that derive from the economy and credit crisis and ironically enough, the stimulus package itself. The lack of credit and worldwide slow down are obvious. The stimulus, with all of its changes, lack of current clear interpretation and yet to be determined rulemaking has acted in concert to stop many projects and investments in their tracks until some semblance of stability and clarity of impact is achieved. For the sake of this tremendous opportunity in alternative energy, SolaRover hopes that these problems will be quickly resolved.

John Spisak is President of SolaRover, an early stage company that has perfected a “universal mobile design” that can be mass produced and fit into standard international shipping containers. SolaRover produces fully engineered complete “turn-key” mobile solar energy generation systems that are very mobile, rugged, can travel anywhere, require virtually no training to operate, can be fully deployed in under 5 minutes and carry a full suite of batteries for power at night or for surge. SolaRover is working with governments, agencies and key decision makers to make distributed, value added solar power a reality across the world. Please contact Sharon Linhart of Linhart PR in Denver: # 303-620-9044 or John Spisak of SolaRover in Lone Tree, CO: 303-810-6602.

Re-Skilling Labor

By: Maury Dobbie Issue: Energy & The Environment Section: Collaborator Profile

Collaborative, Industry-Driven Workforce Development

This is the year of opportunity!

Yes, there are many dismal reports of how our global, state and regional economies are hurting. No one is more aware of how this recession is affecting them than families, business owners, employees, unemployed, non-profits, governments, educational institutions, on and on. In Northern Colorado we’ve been working for two years on creating a workforce model that is industry driven and will re-skill and train our workforce for the ever-changing global economy.

Colorado State University Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory researchers work with Solix Biofuels to design a photo bioreactor economically to cultivate algae for the production of biodiesel, August 1, 2006.

We’re using a common sense and practical approach never before tried in our region. We’ve fostered a collaborative attitude that focuses on listening and being inclusive. The Northern Colorado Workforce Initiative is an example of an initiative that is proactively working to stem the negative tide of this economy. In 2007, the Northern Colorado Economic Development Corporation (NCEDC) led the charge to bring three groups into the room to talk about workforce issues: Educators, Businesses & Workforce Service Providers.

Today, this effort is driven by the Collaborative Advisory Team from both Larimer and Weld counties. We realize that one of the ways that makes our region strong is the workforce we share. This team will serve as the hub for communication and coordination in the development of a strategic plan for workforce development in the Northern Colorado region.

We don’t want to stop there, however. As we test our collaborative model in Northern Colorado, we desire to share best practices with other regions in the state. A strong state economy is one of our goals.

We’ve connected “three dots” – education, primary employers and service providers that touch workforce. Service providers such as Workforce Centers, Chambers of Commerce, Economic Development organizations, non-profits, government from both counties are now mapping how this initiative will be created for the long term alongside our primary employers and educational institutions.

For the initiative to be successful, we have to be industry driven, listening to our employers about their workforce skill gaps then acting upon that data as quickly as possible.

The workforce initiative realizes we can’t be all for everyone as we lay the foundation details. We’ve agreed to focus first on the “Energy” workforce in Northern Colorado. This includes clean and renewable, traditional energy, conservation and power industries. The future will include other industry sectors – all industry driven.

While there is optimism, there is a reality in creation of new jobs in renewable energy and energy efficiency areas. We are working with our education partners in curriculum development that will create entry-level positions up to high paying positions. Look for the official announcement of the two-year degree programs launched through Front Range Community College and the smart grid training programs through CSU. We are blessed with forward-thinking institutions and primary employers in Northern Colorado.

We realize the importance of creating career paths whereby anyone can enter the training and education path to re-skill. It is also obvious in this present economic climate there is an urgent need to get people back to work. Here is our vision and mission:

The Northern Colorado Workforce Initiative mission is to create and maintain a collaborative system among key entities (employers, educators, government, non-profits, current employees, job seekers and students) in Northern Colorado that increases our capacity for strategic workforce development.

Below are our assumptions:

Competition for jobs is global.

Availability of talent and labor supply expansion is one of the most critical factors in corporate location decisions.

The willingness of a region to integrate talent development into a comprehensive economic development approach creates a systematic advantage to business health and attracting new business.

In order to remain competitive, regional workforce talent development will need to be responsive and employer-driven.

Ongoing and frequent identification of the numbers and skill sets required by current and future employers is essential to providing useful guidance to the organizations which make up the workforce development system for curriculum development and delivery strategies.

Future demographic changes in the regional workforce will be rapid and profound. An appreciation of the pace and magnitude of these changes, cultural impacts on workforce development, and the diversity of the workforce, are crucial to developing strategy and allocating resources.

Personal, government, corporate, and institutional financial resources will be constrained by economic conditions for the foreseeable future. As workforce development demand continues to increase, future solutions will require strategic use of limited public and private resources.

Decision authority of key players in the workforce development system is, and will continue to be, widely dispersed. Effective collaboration within a non-hierararchial structure using shared decision-making is essential.

The future deliverables for this team will be to initiate a number of industry work groups with the focus on “energy” jobs. A strategic plan should be written and complete by spring 2009. In tandem to this important foundational work, curriculum is being developed with the help of employers.

While there are many opinions that abound when it comes to the stimulus package being voted on from Washington, DC I haven’t heard anyone disputing the need for families accessing good paying jobs. Those who understand business, support the notion that small business is the backbone of our country and companies of all sizes need a skilled workforce.

All jobs and all industry sectors are important to Northern Colorado. When you hear many of us talking about the opportunities in the “green collar” industry, we also know the importance of a thriving diversity in multiple industries in our region. Many states are claiming they are or will be the capital of clean and renewable energy. Colorado is focused on the energy economy as one of our strong sectors. Northern Colorado has an excellent opportunity to be a large player in creating the businesses in the energy economy as well as the workforce that will be needed.

The renewable energy and energy efficiency industries represented more than 9 million jobs and $1,045 billion in U.S. revenue in 2007. 95 percent of the jobs are in private industry. This is according to a new report offering the most detailed analysis of the green economy by the American Solar Energy Society (ASES) based in Boulder. ASES partnered with Management Information Services, an internationally recognized economic research firm based in Washington D.C. to print the new ASES Green Collar Jobs report.

According to this report, the renewable energy industry grew three times as fast as the U.S. economy. Solar thermal, photovoltaic, biodiesel and ethanol sectors lead the way, each with 25%+ annual revenue growth. Their conservative estimates believe the green job forecast is for more than 16 million jobs and $1,966 billion in revenue in the U.S. by 2030.

Northern Colorado is well poised to benefit.

The hot job areas include electricians, mechanical engineers, welders, metal workers, construction managers, accountants, analysts, environmental scientists and chemists. Hey, this may give many of you hope for future jobs!

Here’s another plus. Renewable energy and energy efficiency can create millions of well-paying jobs, many of which are not subject to foreign outsourcing. The good news is these jobs are in two categories that every state is eager to attract – college-educated professional workers and highly skilled technical workers.

The Northern Colorado Workforce Initiative is working diligently to re-skill workers. We are well positioned for training our workforce in a cluster industry that is gaining considerable attention. We also know the need is urgent in these times.

While there is plenty of bad news, there is also a lot going on in our state and region with positive implications. Let us focus on what we can control and affect. We optimistically believe this is the year of opportunity. Additionally, we believe in the “can do” spirit of cooperation and collaboration. None of us can accomplish such a big task as workforce development alone. All parties must be at the table discussion what can be done to shape the future of our state’s economy.

Stay tuned and stay positive – we need each other!

Maury Dobbie is President/CEO of the Northern Colorado Economic Development Corporation. To learn more about the Northern Colorado Workforce Initiative visit http://www.ncedc.com/industry_workforce_initiative.html.

Greenprint Denver

By: Rebecca Saltman Issue: Energy & The Environment Section: Collaborator Profile

Helping Build A Sustainable City One Collaboration at a Time

Through the inspiring leadership of Mayor John Hickenlooper, the City of Denver has long been a front-runner in developing sustainability techniques. In 2006 Greenprint Denver was introduced. Greenprint is defined as “an action agenda for sustainable development for the City and County of Denver that demonstrates local government can be an effective force for innovation and leadership to improve the environment.” Mayor Hickenlooper explains this collaborative agenda from a more personal viewpoint: “As an exploration geologist-turned-small businessman, I have always maintained what I considered a healthy perspective on the need to balance environmental and economic considerations in my decisions. I learned early on in my career in business that the best solutions often combine economic, social and environmental considerations.”

Greenprint outlines an aggressive mission and principles to accomplish this balance to which the mayor refers. Greenprint Denver sees its mission as a collaboration providing leadership and solutions that ensures a prosperous community, where both people and nature thrive symbiotically. At the Mayor’s office of sustainability, the initiative was formed to create innovative programs and tools, as well as to provide resources to citizens that allows them to make smart, sustainable choices in their lives.

Guiding Principles

Communicate sustainability as a public value and expand the concept of the city as a steward of public resources.

Denver utilizes goat herds to help eliminate invasive weeds and manage brush in natural areas in a cost-effective, non-polluting manner. By grazing on vegetation and trampling plants with their hooves, the goats create natural mulch, add organic matter to the soil, and distribute seeds. The innovative program has received worldwide attention as an environmentally-friendly alternative to mowing and pesticides.

Support sustainability as a core business value to improve efficiencies in resource use, reduce environmental impact, and invoke broad cultural changes.

The city’s use of 420,000 gallons of B20 biodiesel fuel in a pilot study in 2005 supported local economies and reduced air pollution and dependence on foreign oil. In 2007, all diesel-powered fleet vehicles began running on the cleaner-burning fuel.

Incorporate “triple bottom line” analysis (seeking to balance economic, social and environmental considerations) into all city policy and program decisions. Clear metrics are then set to report on their progress moving forward through annual report cards.

Denver was honored as one of the Top Green Cities in the United States in 2006 by The Green Guide. The magazine scored cities on 11 criteria, including air quality, electricity use and production, environmental perspective, environmental policy, green design, green space, public health, recycling, socioeconomic factors, transportation, and water quality. Partner with community organizations, cultural institutions and businesses to achieve broad impact.

Greenprint continues to build on its initial partnership with the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation to interest regional businesses in energy efficiency measures. Their current collaborative efforts include identifying ways to engage businesses in new strategies and then quantifying their progress (i.e. membership/awards program).

In 2007, Mayor Hickenlooper announced the city’s first Climate Action Plan, which included the goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent – taking the entire Denver community to 1990 levels by 2020.

In 2009, Greenprint will focus its attention on a number of issues: energy and water conservation, implementing a bike share program, expanded recycling, solar installations, and neighborhood outreach.OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Greenprint has already participated in some incredibly innovative activities. For example, if you were in Denver during the Democratic National Convention, you probably heard about the Freewheelin’ bike share program. Throughout the downtown area, bicycles were available to check out from several kiosks as an alternate transportation option. Given Freewheelin’s success (over 26,000 miles ridden in just four days), this innovation left a legacy imprinted on the minds of many Denverites and visitors alike.

Beginning this summer, Denver will become one of the first cities nationwide to launch a comprehensive, citywide bike sharing program called Denver B-cycle. 500 bikes will be available to the public at 30 stations throughout the city. The program is expected to double in size by spring 2010.

“The positive feedback we received from the bike sharing program during the DNC was remarkable,” Mayor Hickenlooper said. “We are confident Denver B-cycle will prove equally popular while improving our fitness levels and our environment. Our 358 miles of bike routes and trails combined with our 300 days of sunshine make Denver the perfect city in which to launch a citywide bike sharing system.”

Access to Denver B-cycle will be made through annual memberships sold to residents and frequent users, while daily, weekly and short-term usage for visitors and tourists will be enabled through credit card transactions. While not finalized, the current model proposes that the system allow the first half hour of Denver B-cycle use to at no charge, with nominal charges thereafter.

Greenprint continues to develop innovative ways to support the city’s recycling programs and waste reduction, and this year will work to ensure that all city events will have recycle bins available for the public. In addition, Greenprint will continue to work with the local business districts to increase the number of on-street recycling bins.

Another component of waste reduction includes the elimination of plastic bag use, and replacing them with reusable bags. In December 2008, the Denver Public Library joined this effort by eliminating plastic at all library branches. This bold yet simple move has been a huge success with citizens in general and patrons in particular. Grocers King Soopers, Safeway, Vitamin Cottage, and WalMart have committed to the city that they will make reusable bags available in their stores with the hope of dramatically reducing the use of plastic.

As a recipient of a Solar America Cities grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, Greenprint plans to capitalize on Colorado’s progressive government programs and tremendous solar potential by establishing solar as a mainstream energy resource option. Greenprint is committed to developing programs which remove the two largest barriers to solar market penetration: the high upfront cost and a lack of public awareness regarding the inherent benefits of solar technology.

The City of Denver is taking a leadership role in this commitment by increasing the number of solar installations on City buildings.

Denver International Airport is home to the nation’s most visible airport solar photovoltaic system, while the Colorado Convention Center, the Museum of Nature and Science, and the Denver Human Services buildings are also equipped with significant solar arrays.

Given that the citizens of Denver are the true foundation of the city, outreach is an important component of Greenprint’s programs. Through the collaborative partnership of several city and non-profit agencies, Greenprint is coordinating a grassroots approach to improve energy efficiency in Denver neighborhoods.

Launched in October 2008 in Sunnyside, the Neighborhood Weatherization Collaborative (with partners including the Governor’s Energy Office (GEO), Energy Outreach Colorado (EOC), Sun Power, Mile High Youth Corps, Groundwork Denver, LEAP, and the Departments of Environmental Health, Economic Development and Denver’s Office of Strategic Partnerships) began canvassing the neighborhood offering immediate upgrades with CFLs, free recycling registration, reduction of junk mail, and the offer of a free energy audit to every household. GEO also provides funding for income-qualified residents to receive weatherization at no cost, and non-income qualified households receive significant rebates. Initial data indicates that residents are receiving up to $600 savings in utility costs with proper weatherization upgrades. width=

In this uncertain economic climate, this program directly improves the neighborhood’s quality of life while showing an immediate impact on the city’s carbon reduction goals.

These are just a few examples of the city’s commitment to improving our quality of life and balanced environment. To learn more about the Greenprint programs and about how you can get involved, please visit www.greenprintdenver.org.

Rebecca Saltman is a social entrepreneur and the President and Founder of a Foot in the Door Productions an independent collaboration building firm designed to bridge business, government, non-profits and education.

Environmental Sustainability

By: Mary Beth Callie, Ph.D. Issue: Energy & The Environment Section: Collaborator Profile In the inaugural issue of ICOSA, publisher Gayle Dendinger describes his vision: the magazine will serve as a forum where those working for positive change can share knowledge, experiences, and ideas; it is a place for case studies, where leaders - with “vision,” passion, and “the ability to pull people together, and do something to make a situation better and to improve lives”- can share how they created that change.

So far, the magazine has provided a space where companies and organizations have showcased their best work and practices. Through free distribution of the magazine to business schools, companies, and organizations across the country, readers of this and past issues have had the opportunity to read about how others have connected and collaborated for social, educational, and environmental goals.

When I was approached to write for this issue, themed around environmental collaboration, I was hesitant about my angle. Everyday, throughout our broadcast, print, and Internet media, major companies communicate their efforts to green their products and services. In this more public relations version of the story, however, we usually don’t hear about the situations that motivated companies to diversify their practices and project a greener image in the first place. Often, the initiating and ongoing interactions — sometimes disputes with community and nongovernmental organization stakeholders — gets downplayed or left out of the story. We may hear about the outcomes, but we don’t know about the processes behind them, nor the perspectives of all those involved and affected.

We may hear about the outcomes, but we don’t know about the processes behind them, nor the perspectives of all those involved and affected. For example, on its website, Kennecott Utah Copper highlights its environmental stewardship, in terms of energy and land use, air quality, and reducing waste. In this issue, Rio Tinto, Kennecott’s parent company, describes its dedication to sustainable development in Salt Lake county, Utah, through “two very diverse businesses” that it owns: Kennecott Utah Copper (KUC, operating the Bingham Canyon Mine) and Kennecott Land (KL, Daybreak residential building), which redevelops, or “repurpose(s),” once active mining land. Rio Tinto details its goals “to assure that decisions are made for the best possible social, environmental and economic outcomes” and laudable efforts in constructing LEED certified buildings, in conserving energy and water in the Daybreak Community, and in joining the U.S. Climate Action Partnership.

Yet, this focus on the partnership of two Rio Tinto companies does leave us to wonder about the involvement and perspectives of other stakeholders, particularly communities, governments, and nonprofit groups. In November, for example, the Salt Lake Tribune explained that Salt Lake county and Kennecott had come to an agreement that enabled Kennecott to search for minerals and possibly mine Rose Canyon Ranch, land that the county had purchased for open space last year. Even though the county had property rights, Kennecott’s mining claims trumped those rights under federal law. In the agreement, Kennecott agreed to restore any land damaged by prospecting and to purchase or provide alternative land if the company goes on to mine the land.

This agreement suggests an opportunity to hear each perspective and to learn more about the processes by which stakeholders came together to settle the dispute. More opportunities abound: at the end of February, for example, the Tribune reported that a new bill could strengthen Kennecott’s mining rights to the Oquirrh Mountains, broadening the company’s power “to grow its mine and places the interests of prospectors above those of homeowners, hikers and horseback riders.” Likewise, in the Michigan Upper Peninsula, environmental and community groups, such as Save the Wild UP, are currently challenging Kennecott’s efforts to secure mining permits in the Yellow Dog watershed.

Inclusive Policy Dialogues

As an assistant professor at Regis University, specializing in media studies and public policy, I teach core and major courses centered on public journalism, civic engagement, and common good issues. Inspired by our Jesuit mission of “how ought we to live?,” my students, colleagues, and I have had the opportunity to learn more about the processes by which we can define and make decisions about community well-being and sustainability

Headquartered in Keystone, CO, with offices in Washington, D.C. and Denver, the Keystone Center for Science and Public Policy mediates conflict over core “sustainability dilemmas.” As Keystone’s President and CEO Peter Adler, explains, environmental disputes reflect the struggle over the ‘triple bottom line’ of sustainability: the health of our environment, the vitality of our commerce, and the endurance of our communities.” In the United States and globally, the Keystone Center facilitates “policy dialogues,” which bring diverse stakeholder groups to the table, to work on practical solutions to complex issues.

From 2005-07, the Keystone Center teamed up with an in-country partner, Tanorama, Inc, to facilitate a need-based negotiation process to address the effects of river contamination by the Ok Tedi Mine in Papua, New Guinea (PNG).

Considered one of the worst environmental disasters in the world, the case also illustrates a “true sustainability dilemma”: while the mine constitutes 20 percent of the country’s GNP, its waste has damaged the traditional food webs and lives of more than 50,000 people. As the report puts it, “vast economic benefits and advantages stand squarely against decades of environmental degradation and perceived injustice.”

Keystone and Tanorama facilitated a Working Group to review and redress criticism of the outcomes of an earlier negotiation process. Nine regional groups, representing 158 villages along the river corridor, selected community delegates to participate in the new 50-member Working Group, which also included representatives from the mining company (OMTL) and its shareholders (including the Papua New Guinea Sustainable Development Program, Inc, owners of 52% of shares), government, and non-government organizations (NGOs), that gave voice to environmental and social concerns, especially pertaining to women and children.

The two-year long negotiations, which included six working group meetings and hundreds of facilitated local meetings, aimed at “trust-building, information exchange, fact-finding, deliberation, and ‘interest-based’ bargaining.” The final deal, or Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), called for structural changes to compensate families, increase village level planning; provide for future advocacy, monitoring of environmental and health conditions; and to increase the participation of women in decision-making processes.

Due to the inherent messiness of democratic negotiation, the Keystone mediators focused on establishing an inclusive, transparent process, which included training and including as much stakeholder participation in the design process itself. They also stress the importance of the participation of NGOs and women at the negotiating table.

Democratic Collaboration

The Keystone Center’s Ok Tedi negotiations provide an alternative to the dominant way of dealing with public interest conflict: litigation. The term “adversarial legalism,” as coined by scholar Robert Kagan, sums up that conflict-oriented, expensive, and legalistic process.

Over the past several days, marine biologist Riki Ott has visited our university, to share the experiences of the Cordova, Alaska community in recovering from the 1989 Valdez oil spill. Ott interprets these experiences as illustrative of a “democracy crisis”—in which Exxon, from the beginning, put its own corporate economic interests over human and environmental values.

Through surveys and peer listening groups, sociologist J. Steven Picou has identified the “corrosive” effects of the spill, and Exxon’s litigation-centered response, on the Cordova community (Last year, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Exxon, reducing the once $5 billion in punitive damages to $500 million). Ott and others in the Cordova community, however have begun to collaborate on a core vision for Cordova that meets human/social, environmental, and economic goals.

There are alternative ways to address these dilemmas, however. In “Technological Disasters, Litigation Stress, and Alternative Dispute Mechanisms,” Brent K. Marshall, J. Steven Picou, and Jan R. Schlictmann provide three examples of alternative dispute resolution: court-ordered scientific damage assessment in Livingston, LA (toxic spill); a negotiated partnership between community and companies in Groton, MA (contaminated groundwater); and a “standstill agreement” and mediated settlement between families and chemical companies in Toms River, NJ (childhood cancer and contaminated drinking water). In the Toms River case, Eric Green of Resolutions LLC facilitated the exchange of information and views in a non-adversarial context, as an alternative to complex litigation.

Community Collaboration

Through six in-depth case studies of community collaborations and 46 additional studies, David D. Chrislip and Carl E. Larson have identified elements that need to be built into the process from the beginning. These “lessons of experience” include a sense of urgency and clear need, strong stakeholder groups, broad-based involvement from several sectors (government, business, community groups), and a credible, open process. In Collaborative Leadership, they remind us that the concept of “collaboration” goes beyond communication, cooperation, and coordination. Derived from its Latin roots, the word means “to work together”:

Collaboration is more than simply sharing knowledge and information (communication) and more than a relationship that helps each party achieve its own goals (cooperation and coordination). The purpose of collaboration is to create a shared vision and joint strategies to address concerns that go beyond the purview of any particular party.

Shared vision and joint strategies, writes Kettering’s David Mathews in For Communities to Work, necessitate an “engaged public” - “a committed and interrelated citizenry rather than a persuaded populace”. Moreover, high-achieving communities start from a spirit of learning and experimentation: “they are voracious learners, like students who read everything the teacher assigns, go to the library to see what’s there, and then bring two new books to class.”

As a teacher, community member, and citizen, I hope that my students can experience this spirit of learning and engagement, examining and learning from ever-present environmental and democratic dilemmas. Even though we encounter the outcomes of those dilemmas, or may hear about green products and services, we often don’t know the experiences of all those involved and affected, or the processes behind the decisions. The work of Keystone and Kettering, illustrate that alternative paths to the “triple bottom line” of sustainability: through mediating, needs-based, inclusive processes; engaged citizen participation; a sense of shared values and choices; and collaborative leadership.

Thank you to Peter Adler, CEO and President of the Keystone Center for Science and Public Policy, and Paul Alexander, director of the Institute on the Common Good at Regis University, for taking time to meet and talk through these ideas.

Mary Beth Callie, Ph.D. is an assistant professor of communication at Regis University in Denver.

Controlling Climate Change

Washington No Longer Asking “Why” But “How?”

It’s progress of a sort. Policymakers in Washington now seem determined to address climate change, if not this year then probably next.

Now the tougher question is, how?

President Obama noted there are “a number of different ways to go after this problem,” but they essentially boil down to three. Congress and the Administration can tax carbon dioxide (CO2) and create an incentive not to produce it. They can reduce CO2 by federal regulation – a command-and-control approach in which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would set an emission limit for each broad category of industrial source. Or they can control CO2 with a European-style cap-and-trade system.

No option is perfect; all will be expensive, with estimates rising into a trillion dollars or more. But the betting in Washington is that a cap-and-trade system, already a part of the Kyoto Treaty in Europe, is the best way to reduce emissions and cost to consumers and industries.

Under cap-and-trade, government essentially would “cap” total CO2 emissions. Power plants that reduce their emissions below this ceiling could “trade” or sell CO2 allowances to plants that cannot reduce theirs. By limiting the number of allowances available to power plants and other sources of emissions, cap-and-trade essentially puts a price on emitting CO2 and thus provides an incentive for reducing this greenhouse gas. Plants wouldn’t need to buy allowances if they reduce their share of CO2 below the ceiling. electricity

In theory the market for trading allowances will lead to the most efficient reductions. As companies find ways to get “under the cap,” they can sell rather than buy emissions allowances, giving them an added incentive to innovate.

Another advantage of cap-and-trade is that some of the revenue collected from allowance sales can be used to finance the costly technologies capable of reducing power plant emissions. The Obama Administration suggests we need as many as five of these advanced power plants to demonstrate how so-called carbon capture and storage technology would work. This technology has not yet been tried on the scale needed for power plants, but experts from the International Energy Agency to professors at MIT insist it is essential for controlling global warming. That’s because most greenhouse gas emissions no longer come from rich countries like ours, but from fast-growing developing countries unwilling to develop the expensive technology themselves.

Finally, cap-and-trade has the advantage of setting a firm limit on emissions. With the emissions ceiling in place, companies can decide how best to get under it without being told by bureaucrats in Washington, and environmentalists would know that greenhouse gases would be reduced by a set amount.

Alternatively, a direct tax on carbon would also lead to reduced CO2 emissions. Making something more expensive typically reduces its use. And by making the carbon price certain, tax advocates say it would help to make business conditions more certain, too. But tax critics warn of the loopholes and complexity that would inevitably accompany any attempt to tax every source of CO2 – from the corner drycleaner to the municipal power plant. And the administrative overhead needed to manage such a vast new tax would itself be very costly, perhaps rivaling the IRS.

The third option for reducing CO2 emissions, federal regulation, appears to be the least attractive. EPA may soon take steps to regulate carbon emissions, placing responsibility for an enormously complex and expensive mandate in the hands of unelected technicians. These bureaucrats are unlikely to understand, let alone appreciate, the differing regional impacts caused by reductions in carbon-heavy fuels. Southern and Midwestern states that rely heavily on coal, for example, would suffer from higher electricity costs, while coastal states would feel relatively little impact.

Regulation also seems the poorer option because the Clean Air Act is a crude tool for regulating a pervasive gas like CO2. Congress never intended the Act, now more than 40 years old, to cast such a broad regulatory net over virtually the entire fossil energy economy.

Representative John Dingell, the Michigan Democrat who has long championed the interests of the auto industry, said EPA regulation of CO2 could set off a “glorious mess” felt nationwide. Wyoming Republican Senator John Barrasso warned that using the Clean Air Act to address climate change would be a “disaster waiting to happen.”

So expect Washington to finally grapple with climate change. Just don’t expect this to happen very quickly.

Luke Popovich is Vice President, External Communications at the National Mining Association.

Biomass To Energy

Range Fuels Invents Low-Carbon, Renewable Fuel

In the United States, vehicles use more gasoline each year than the entire U.S. oil industry produces. Fleets and personal vehicles are ultimately responsible for most of the pollution and damage caused by the oil extraction industry. As the U.S. actively tries to alleviate its dependence on foreign oil, many groundbreaking new fuel solutions have surfaced. Many argue that U.S. energy independence can never be achieved. Then, there are those who vehemently believe that the solution to the imported oil problem, and its inherent threats, could be just around the corner.

Realistically, it will take time to solve a problem that has perpetuated itself over decades, but David Aldous, an energy industry veteran and CEO of Range Fuels, believes it can. He says,

He goes on, “Clean fuels create a significant economic opportunity for the U.S. It brings independence and security to the U.S. with a clean fuel supply. It also creates jobs and mitigates a substantial transfer of wealth out of the U.S.”

Cellulosic Biofuels: The Zero Carbon-Footprint Fuel

“Addressing climate change is important. It is no longer a debate about the science anymore, but a discussion on what we are going to do to address it.”

Concern about the environmental and political costs of our nation’s 140 billion–gallon a year gasoline addiction has never been higher. Recent polls have found that 91 percent of Americans believe our nation is facing an energy crisis and 86 percent say they want their government to help develop alternative energy sources.

In the U.S., transportation is the largest single source of air pollution - producing nearly two-thirds of the carbon monoxide, a third of the nitrogen oxides, and a quarter of the hydrocarbons in our atmosphere. Transportation consumes nearly 21 billion barrels of oil annually – of which 60 percent is imported.

Addressing these concerns will take time, however, many companies are developing and introducing fuel alternatives – biofuels and other clean burning fuels derived from non-food biomass sources - that could cut emissions significantly and quickly.

Denver-based Range Fuels has created a low-carbon fuels company focused on the production of cellulosic ethanol that considers… “Everything we do, everything we use, and everything we create is evaluated by one simple question: have we taken no more than we have returned?”

Range Fuels’ fuel-grade ethanol, one of the company’s renewable fuel products, is targeted specifically at the transportation industry.

The company converts biomass – from plant and plant-derived materials such as wood, switch grass, corn stover, and even olive pits - using clean energy technologies, to produce ethanol that has no net greenhouse gas effects.

Furthermore, their plants are expected to use less water than typical corn ethanol plants.

The company produces cellulosic biofuels using its proprietary two-step thermo-chemical process which uses heat, pressure, and steam to convert biomass into synthesis gas or syngas. The syngas is then passed over a proprietary catalyst to ultimately create ethanol for blending with gasoline as a transportation fuel, methanol and other alcohols.

The company’s approach to building facilities near biomass sources minimizes transportation energy from the equation. This is the case with Range Fuels’ first commercial cellulosic ethanol plant located near Soperton, Georgia, which is positioned near significant and sustainable supplies of wood and wood waste. This plant will initially use wood and leftover wood residues from nearby timber operations. Construction on the first phase of the plant is expected to be completed in early 2010 with operations following in the second quarter of 2010. At full capacity, the Soperton Plant is permitted to produce over 100 million gallons of ethanol and methanol annually.

Petroleum to Biofuels: The Challenges and Potential Benefits

Range Fuels Soperton Plant, Soperton, Georgia Recently, the Natural Resources Defense Council suggested that, “by 2050, biofuels – especially those known as cellulosic biofuels – could reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 1.7 billion tons per year.” That’s equal to more than 80 percent of current transportation-related emissions or the equivalent of more than three times as much oil as we currently import from the Persian Gulf. And if combined with better vehicle efficiency and smart-growth urban planning, biofuels could virtually eliminate our demand for gasoline over the next 35 – 40 years.

And because ethanol does not need to be drilled or pumped, it leaves America’s coasts and wildlands unscathed. It is produced from fully renewable and fully sustainable resources – a fuel we can find at home and recover from our own fields, forests, and farmlands, or even from our own garbage dumps.

However, ethanol’s critics have suggested that demand for the fuel could outstrip the agricultural land available to grow the corn to make it. That objection vanishes when cellulosic sources are factored in.

Additionally, energy crops grown to produce cellulosic ethanol yield two to three times more biomass per acre than corn. That means far less land is needed to produce far more cellulosic ethanol. Researchers from the Rocky Mountain Institute explain it this way: “Cellulosic ethanol will typically have twice the ethanol yield of corn-based ethanol, at lower capital cost, with far better net energy yield.”

Another challenge facing expansion of the biofuels industry rests with the lack of availability of vehicles capable of using higher blends of ethanol with gasoline (E85 or a mix of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline), and the lack of infrastructure to deliver E85 to the market. There are approximately 240 million cars in the U.S., but only about six million, or a little more than 2%, are “flex-fuel” or “dual-fuel” vehicles, which can run on both conventional gasoline and E85. And, because only about 1% of the filling stations in the U.S. offer E85 (1,900 of approximately 170,000 filling stations), access to E85 for those with flex-fuel vehicles is limited.

Although E85 availability is limited, research indicates that the impact of E85 use on greenhouse gas emissions is impressive. Fueling a car with E85 with the ethanol made from corn reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent, according to studies by Argonne National Laboratory. However, the benefits will increase as larger amounts of ethanol are produced from cellulosic sources, such as agricultural waste that is currently burned or left to decompose.

A joint U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Department of Agriculture study completed in 2005 estimated that the nation’s forest and agricultural lands could sustainably produce 1.3 billion tons of biomass each year – enough to produce biofuels to meet more than one-third of the demand for transportation fuels.

Furthermore, when compared to other alternative fuel processes - like sugar platforms - the thermo-chemical conversion process Range Fuels utilizes to convert non-food biomass into cellulosic biofuels has a number of value-added features including lower front-end processing costs, greater conversion efficiencies, greater feedstock flexibility, lower water consumption, faster process time, and fewer by-products.

The Economy & Biofuels

When E85 with cellulosic ethanol is used, cellulosic ethanol can reduce greenhouse gas emissions per vehicle mile traveled by 89 percent.

Right now, the U.S. economy is something of a detriment to many companies in the “new energy” sector, In fact, access to capital, federal grants, and the credit crunch have caused a slowdown in construction within the industry due to lack of capital. Aldous says, “Even though there is interest in our technologies outside of the U.S. by energy importers, we are only focused on a national plan due to limited funding sources.”

Range Fuels is on a journey to dominate the biomass to energy business by creating a cost competitive, low-carbon fuel alternative to gasoline. It is not an experimental or theoretical technology.

Ethanol is a burgeoning American industry that has already attracted a high level of investment and ingenuity. It recycles waste, revitalizes agriculture, and reduces air pollution. It can help us reverse global warming and achieve energy independence. Ethanol is ready to power the engine of environmental and economic sustainability.

All we have to do is put it in our cars and drive off into the future.

The President's Economic Recovery Plan

An Opportunity for Conservation

A national economic crisis might not seem to be the time for Americans to build a conservation legacy for the future.

But history tells us otherwise. In fact, some of the greatest strides in conserving our nation’s unique landscapes for future generations occurred during times of war and economic crisis.

In the middle of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln signed the first legislation setting aside the beautiful Yosemite Valley in California as a protected area. The idea of a national park was born, and today we have 391 units in our National Park System.

During the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt created the Civilian Conservation Corps and put hundreds of thousands of young people to work at national parks and on other public lands, planting trees, constructing roads and visitor facilities, and undertaking a wide swath of other projects.

Americans today still benefit from this work done in the 1930s. For example, the Corps constructed the breathtaking “Going to the Sun” Road in Glacier National Park and the 105-mile Skyline Drive through the Blue Ridge Mountains in Shenandoah National Park.

The president’s economic recovery package illustrates the old adage that crisis and opportunity are two sides of the same coin. The president’s economic recovery package illustrates the old adage that crisis and opportunity are two sides of the same coin. America now faces the worst economic crisis since those dark years of the Great Depression. We can use this as an opportunity to make an investment in conserving America’s timeless treasures – our stunning natural landscapes, our monuments to liberty, the icons of our culture and heritage - while helping working families and their communities prosper again.

Once again, we have an opportunity to put people to work on conservation projects to renew our national parks, wildlife refuges, and other public lands.

The economic recovery package passed by Congress includes badly needed funding for projects at the Department of the Interior. It will create as many as 100,000 new jobs in communities across America.

This funding would allow for investment in projects that could be undertaken immediately on our public lands across the country.

In central California, for example, the National Park Service would finally be able to make long overdue upgrades to important infrastructure and invest in improved fire protection at the Ash Mountain Complex at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park. These projects would repair and rebuild $13.8 million in basic park infrastructure, such as replacing water tanks and installing new fire alarms. They will stimulate the economy by providing business for contractors and suppliers, and generating jobs in the local community. Equally important, the projects will provide a safer, healthier experience for the more than 900,000 people who visit the Ash Mountain complex each year.

Or in Colorado, for example, the recovery package will provide more than $3.8 million to help restore our national wildlife refuges and national parks. The investments will go to fixing fences, rebuilding roads, and improving interpretive facilities at the Baca, Alamosa, and Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuges. At Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, the economic recovery plan will allow the National Park Service, among other projects, to reclaim abandoned sand and gravel pits near the beautiful Sand Creek, so that we can help restore native trout to the park.

Yes, we are in a time of crisis. But yes,

Americans are proud to have the finest network of public lands dedicated to conservation and recreation in the world. The recovery legislation provides the opportunity to make our national heritage even more grand for our children and grandchildren.

We must not – and will not - miss it.