Nissan: 1.5 Million Clean Cars By 2016
Under the plan, the car maker aims to have cumulative sales of 1.5 million units of
Also outlined in the Green Plan is an initiative to launch products that improve fuel efficiency by 35 percent over the 2005 models. Specifically, the company is looking at the release of an all-new front wheel drive hybrid model, an all-new plug-in hybrid model and a next-generation variable transmission model.
Along with changes to its cars, part of the plan is to lower the company’s corporate carbon footprint. The company says it plans to introduce the use of renewable energy alternatives at its manufacturing and corresponding facilities. It also plans to recycle materials and parts for use in new vehicles and achieve a recycled resource usage rate of 25 percent by 2016.
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Wind And Solar Wars
By Justin Guay, Sierra Club
If anyone needed proof that clean energy is the future we need, look no further than the recent trade disputes the US has filed against China over wind and now solar power. Nations simply do not fight over unprofitable, unviable sectors. Instead they do exactly what China, India, the EU, and the US are all doing: positioning themselves to capture as large a portion of the booming market as they can.
With the distributed solar segment alone forecast to explode to $150 billion by 2015, it’s clear that now is the time to get the solar boom right. Debilitating trade wars and evisceration of manufacturing in key economies only serves to weaken the industry. This is something the world can ill afford, because at the end of the day, the much bigger game is already underway: dislodging the entrenched fossil fuel industry.
image via Shutterstock
Part of the problem is optics. Just days after the US trade dispute was filed, India was forced to defend the domestic content provisions of its solar mission at the World Trade Organization largely due to concerns of future disputes from the US and the EU. However, despite heavily criticizing India for protecting domestic manufacturers through local content rules, important exceptions (thin film, for instance) have created tremendous opportunities for US companies. Domestic content rules clearly do not necessarily preclude wider benefits to the industry as a whole.
Missing the forest for the trees
As the Chinese trade dispute now spreads to Europe, it is important to remember that this industry will continue to experience tremendous growth. As Forbes suggests, the real race (or game, if you like) is to ensure solar, and all clean energy, is able to dislodge the fossil fuel industry by eliminating dependency on subsidies and becoming as cheap as possible. While subsidies and grid parity are important, the real issue here is political muscle.
The fact is that technological innovations occur in political economies. Important innovations do not automatically translate into changed market places (though price decreases, high rates of innovation and less reliance on subsidies are of course tremendously important). They don’t, because the playing field is incredibly lopsided– a fossil fuel lobby on one side with over a hundred years head start and obscene levels of subsidies (so big we can’t even count them all), and an incredibly young, and immature industry starved for even basic political and financial support (except, it seems, in China).
This game of realpolitik leads to US policy-making dominated by fossil fuel lobbyists attempting to gut the clean energy industry. In India it drives massive investments in new coal-fired infrastructure despite a coal crisis that is getting worse every day and producing expensive power state electricity boards don’t want to buy.
Without a robust clean energy industry, the fossil fuel lobby will continue to extract rather than add value, and politicians will be just fine with that regardless of how irrational this support may seem. So as unappealing as it may seem, the fact that China is playing to win threatens US clean energy manufacturing and, by extension, the much bigger fight.
Clean energy industries in India, the U.S., and throughout the world need serious domestic political muscle that requires this important link in the value chain. In the short term this may mean domestic content provisions are necessary (Not just for the US but for India and other major economies as well). If we want coal fired power plants and internal combustion engines to go the way of the dinosaur, we need a robust locus of political power in these key economies. Without that, we lose the real war.
Editor’s Note: This column comes to us as a cross post courtesy of Sierra Club. Author credit for this column goes to Jusin Guay.
The Week in Animal News: Javan Rhino Officially Extinct, Hawk With Nail Through its Head, and More (Slideshow)
Image: TreeHugger
This week, we received the sobering news that the Javan Rhino is officially extinct: The last of its species was killed by poachers for its horn.
We also have news on a hawk with a nail shot through its head, humpback whales making a comeback, Toronto's ban on shark fin products, Chicago's spider invasion, and more in the Week in Animal News.
Guess: Does the U.S. Have More ‘Bad’ Bridges Or More McDonald’s Restaurants?
Graphic (bad bridges within 10 miles of San Francisco are in red) via Transportation for America....Read the full story on TreeHugger
5 Amazing Structures Made from Plastic Bottles
1. EcoARK
The innovative and very impressive EcoARK in Taiwan is a monument to recycling. The three-story tall building, complete with an amphitheater and exhibition hall, was constructed using 1.5 million plastic bottles. Embedded solar power helps to run the building’s magnificent LED light displays at night. The Far Eastern Group, which commissioned the building, wanted to highlight the importance of reusing and recycling in a country where, according to The China Post, the plastic bottle recycling rate is only four percent.
2.Plastiki
Last year, Plastiki, the boat made from 12,500 plastic bottles, crossed the Pacific Ocean – from San Francisco to Sydney – in about four months. The boat was made from mostly recycled materials, including the plastic bottles, reclaimed aluminum irrigation pipe and hand-made PET cloth, which was used for the sail.
3. Hug It Forward
Hug It Forward does many things, but one fundamental aspect of their community empowerment focus is the bottle school. The organization works with communities in Guatemala to collect littered plastic bottles and build schools out of the waste. Not only does this program help clean up the environment, it also helps communities join together and build something with long-term positive potential. Learn more about Hug It Forward and their bottle schools here.
4. Midwest Floating Island
Midwest Floating Island uses recycled plastic bottles in their water purification systems, which are basically little islands “designed to support vegetation above the waterline and beneficial microbial habitat below,” according to the website. So, not only do these islands reuse plastic bottles, they also provide habitat and clean the water. Recently, the floating islands were used to help clean Spring Lake in Minneapolis.
5. Sustainable Communities Initiatives
Sustainable Communities Initiatives in Scotland designs and helps build greenhouses made from plastic bottles. This project has been incorporated especially in schools, because the children learn not only how to built the structure, but also the importance of reducing and reusing. But anyone can do it; you just need hundreds of plastic bottles, a little know-how and a few hours of hard work.
Editor’s Note: Earth911 partners with many industries, manufacturers and organizations to support its Recycling Directory, the largest in the nation, which is provided to consumers at no cost. The International Bottled Water Association is one of these partners. Article originally posted on Earth911.com.
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