Facebook shares carbon footprint breakdown; Greenpeace likes it

Facebook shared the breakdown of its carbon footprint, energy mix and energy use in the previous year today, saying that it believes in the “power of openness.” Greenhouse gas emissions from the social network giant’s data centers, office space, employee commuting, employee air travel, data center construction and server transportation totaled about 285,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2011.

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Children’s book publisher Scholastic gets more than half its paper from sustainable sources

Scholastic Inc. – the U.S. publisher of the popular Harry Potter and Hunger Games series – has announced that as of 2011, 53.3 percent of the paper they use came from sustainable forestry sources. Scholastic is the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books and educational media. In January of 2008, they set a goal to increase the amount of Forest Stewardship Council-certified paper purchased for their publications to 30 percent by 2012.

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Over 260 tons of waste to be converted into energy annually by 2022 - study

Rapid urbanization and population growth bring accompanying societal problems such as energy supply shortages and increasing waste volumes. The good news is that the solution to the first problem could be found with the second one – waste can help meet energy demands. Over 260 million tons of waste annually will be converted to energy by 2022, forecasts the consulting firm Pike Research.

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Many businesses are not yet ready for a “green” future - research

Puma, Nike, Nestlé, Unilever, Natura and Ricoh – these 6 companies have taken major steps towards sustainable growth, according to a research by consulting firm Deloitte. Together with green consultancy Volans, Deloitte looked at how major companies deliver efforts to address climate change.John Elkington, Volas founder, coined the term “zeronaut” to describe people or groups...

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Dell says it reduced carbon footprint by 16 percent

Information technology company Dell Inc. has reduced its facilities’ carbon footprint by up to 16 percent, according to its 2012 Corporate Sustainability Report. The report highlights the company’s commitment to being an environmentally responsible citizen, as a member of clean technology advocate The Climate Group.

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Soybean oil used to improve Goodyear tires, reduce petroleum use

Soybeans are the key to a longer-lasting, less petroleum-hungry rubber tire. This is the finding of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company whose researchers have been working to reduce the amount of petroleum-based oils used in tires by replacing it with soybean oil. They found that using soybean oil can potentially increase tread life by 10 percent and reduce the company’s use of petroleum by up to 7 million gallons each year.

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Starbucks offering more earth-friendly hot-cup sleeve

Starbucks is now offering a new, “greener” hot-cup sleeve designed specifically to reduce the materials used in making them. “EarthSleeve” uses 34 percent less raw fiber and is made up of 85 percent post-consumer content. Starbucks worked with LBP Manufacturing and Henkel to design and produce the sleeve. “This product represents how the integration of our environmental values and collaboration with like-minded organizations can create significant impact,”

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Coca-Cola’s new water recovery system to improve water efficiency by 35%

The Coca-Cola Company developed a new commercial-scale water recovery system that will improve its water efficiency by about 35 percent and reduce its water footprint. The water recovery system will lessen the company’s water needs by reusing the water it uses in non-product activities such as bottle washing and for cleaning the interior surfaces of the manufacturing equipment, instead of discharging them.

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Hertz continues solar push, aims for 3.1 million kilowatts of energy generation

Car rental company The Hertz Corporation is continuing its push for renewable energy generation with the announcement that they are constructing two new solar installation sites to power their locations at the Newark International Airport and the John F. Kennedy International Airport.

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Apple pulls products from eco-friendly registry

Global environmental rating system Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool has announced that computers and electronics manufacturer Apple will no longer be submitting their products for rating. In a report from the Wall Street Journal’s CIO Journal, Apple asked the rating group to pull 39 of its certified desktop computers, monitors, and laptops – which included past versions of the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air – off the list of green products late last month.

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