January 14, 2008

Transmission developers may be in for a jolt. A proposed project to supply power throughout the East has come under fierce opposition. As it stands now, the 240-mile, 500 kilovolt line will get rejected by at least the West Virginia Public Service Commission, which will have jurisdiction over 114 miles of it.

It's a prickly ordeal. PJM Interconnection, which operates the transmission grid for much of the East Coast, says that the proposed Allegheny Energy power line is necessary to accommodate an annual growth in electricity consumption there of 1.6 percent over the next decade. But West Virginia's citizen activists and environmentalists are arguing that property values will drop while pristine surroundings will get ruined -- and all for the benefit of those in other states.

Companies should be preparing for carbon labeling, according to the latest edition of MIT’s Supply Chain Strategy newsletter, developed by the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics. In response to the green trend of environmental responsibility, the newsletter says that companies may soon be required to show consumers how much carbon their products have generated.

"The supply chain is an integral part of these labeling systems, because it is here where much of the basic information carried on labels is gleaned," Edgar Blanco and Anthony Craig write in the article. "Research is under way to find a robust methodology for defining this information. Supply chain leaders need to keep abreast of this work and understand the intricacies of carbon labeling before their products come under the microscope."

December 17, 2007

Global climate change and overpopulation are combining to threaten fresh water supplies. To avert vast shortages, scientists are trying new ways to desalt seawater to bring clean drinking supplies to communities all over the world.

While desalination technologies are advancing they still remain cost prohibitive. A number of methods now exist to purify saltwater that include solar power and fossil fuels. But nuclear energy might be a more efficient method of removing contamination and saltwater because it can do so efficiently and on a large-scale basis without adding to concerns over global warming.

December 5, 2007

Water resources across the Southeast are being re-evaluated as an historic drought reigns over the region. Because utilities use more fresh water than any other entity, they are coming under increasing scrutiny.

The problem is that droughts across the United States have decreased the pool of water now available to all concerns. Not only do utilities use it. So does big industry and small residential households. To compound the matter, the demand for electricity in this country is expected to rise by 2 percent a year over 20 years. Governments and businesses alike are now calling for concerted conservation efforts. Another approach being pushed is the development of new utility technologies that require less water.

December 3, 2007

Almost everyone is familiar with "Kyoto." But in due time, the name "Bali" will eclipse that 1997 global warming pact. While the Kyoto Protocol set the stage to curb greenhouse gas emissions through 2012, the next phase of negotiations will carry on until 2050. The initial discussions will begin this December in Bali, India.

The United Nations has set the stage, having just released its findings on climate change. The study, written by more than 2,500 scientists from around the globe who were appointed by their respective governments, is definitive in its determination that humans are causing rising temperatures that could lead to environmental devastation. It lays the blame on excessive use of fossil fuels by power plants and major industry.