In September, Coca-Cola added six all-electric trucks to its fleet of more than 700 alternative fuel vehicles in North America. This spring United Parcel Service, with a green fleet of more than 2,300 vehicles, began its tryout of a lightweight delivery van clad in rugged ABS plastic that’s expected to boost fuel efficiency by 40 percent.

“We’re often accused of being delusional or pie-in-the-sky, but here are two organizations that are doing what we’d love to see everybody doing,” said Ned Harvey, the Rocky Mountain Institute‘s chief operating officer, at the BSR Conference in San Francisco.

RMI’s work in the national push for greener trucking is part of the think-and-do tank’s broader efforts for “Reinventing Fire,” the organization’s name for its vision to wean the U.S. off coal, oil and nuclear power by 2050.

BSR brought together Harvey and sustainability experts from UPS and Coca-Cola to talk about fuel efficiency, reducing emissions and the future of energy in transportation

Coca-Cola and UPS are major players in the drive toward greener transport. Both are members of President Obama’s new National Clean Fleets Partnership — UPS is a charter member and Coca-Cola joined this summer. Both have large and growing green fleets.

Coca-Cola’s efforts are part of a sustainability strategy that includes robust initiatives on water management, greening refrigeration, developing eco-friendly bottles and recycling — work that tends to get more headlines than fuel efficiency initiatives. Nevertheless, the company’s green fleet of heavy-duty hybrid and alternative fuel trucks is the largest in North America, said Bryan Jacob, the company’s director of energy management and climate protection. By the end of the year, the fleet will exceed 750 vehicles.

At UPS, the quest for greater fuel efficiency is core to the business and informs every aspect of the company, said Scott Wicker, vice president of corporate plant engineering and chief sustainability officer.

“We’re always searching for ways to find improvement,” Wicker said. “What we’re trying to do is future-proof our business.”

UPS operates more than 100,000 vehicles for delivery and hauling as well as the 10th largest airline. It pioneered route efficiency tactics that include no left turns, developed exacting logistics management using telematics and set up carbon-neutral shipping and responsible packaging programs. And now, Wicker said, UPS is exploring whether taking on the distribution tasks of firms and providing logistics as a service will pencil out on an environmental balance sheet as well as a line of business.

Australia has passed a carbon tax, making it the second major economy after the EU to put a cap on carbon.

The legislation sets a fixed carbon tax of A$23 (US$23.7) a ton on the country’s 500 biggest polluters, starting in July 2012. The program then shifts into an emissions trading scheme from July 2015, Reuters reports. Australia’s carbon market is expected to reach as much as A$15 billion by 2015.

The package of 18 laws passed the Senate today with a margin of only four votes, according to the Financial Times. The tax squeaked through the lower house of parliament last month by just two votes.

Along with the tax and trading scheme, the legislation provides for billions of dollars in compensation for export-exposed industries, such as steel makers, aluminum companies and zinc refiners, which will get 94.5 percent of their carbon permits free for the first three years. Australia will also spend more than A$13 billion on renewable and clean energy projects.

With the rules, Australia hopes to reach a goal of cutting emissions by five percent, from 2000 levels, by 2020. The country emits the most CO2 per capita of any developed nation, because of a high reliance on coal.

Australia has been debating the creation of a carbon tax for over a decade, and the issue helped force the fall of two prime ministers, John Howard and Kevin Rudd.

But uncertainty over the system remains because opposition leader Tony Abbott has sworn a “blood oath” to repeal the laws if elected. The minority government of prime minister Julia Gillard (pictured) holds power by a margin of just one seat, and a poll today showed conservatives leading Gillard’s Labor by 53 to 47 percent. The next election is due to take place in late 2013.

In addition to the EU carbon trading system, New Zealand runs a program similar to Australia’s, and India has a coal tax. China and South Korea are developing carbon trading systems, and South Africa is planning caps for top polluters.

The European carbon market has suffered its own problems. Permit prices have lost a third of their value since the beginning of 2011, hitting a 33-month low of 9.37 euros last week.

Despite this, the European Commission said the bloc will still offer to increase its 2020 emissions reduction target to 30 percent if other countries commit to similar reductions.

Gillard’s government hopes the carbon tax’s passage will help to push other countries into a global agreement to curb emissions, which will be discussed in Durban later this month.

By Christopher Le Coq and Barbara Lewis

BRUSSELS, Nov 7 (Reuters) – European Union nations must nearly double investment in grid building in the decade after 2020 if they are to get on the path to carbon-free electricity by the middle of the century, the European Climate Foundation (ECF) think-tank said on Monday.

The European Commission raised the goal of virtually emissions-free electricity in its 2050 road map towards a low carbon economy, published earlier this year.

Carbon-free generation is regarded as the easiest means to an 80-95 percent cut in carbon that scientists say is needed by the middle of the century to stave off the worst effects of global warming.

“Only by setting a clear policy direction to 2030 will it be possible to achieve the decarbonisation goal,” said Johannes Meier, CEO of the European Climate Foundation, speaking at the launch of the report in Brussels.

“What this report finds is that the grid is the glue that will hold together our decarbonised power system. We must be more efficient to deliver this in the most effective way.”

Already to meet 2020 goals to cut carbon by 20 percent and increase the share of renewable energy to 20 percent, member states need to increase transmission lines by 14 percent, or 42,000 km.

The total investment in the system, including grid and generation, would be 628 billion euros ($872.7 billion) over this decade.

For the next 10 years, investment climbs to 1.2 trillion, said the ECF’s report — Power perspectives 2030: on the road to a decarbonised power sector in Europe.

FIFTY PERCENT RENEWABLES BY 2030

In what it labels an “on track” scenario, based on the EU managing fully to implement its plans up to 2020 and projects in 2030 in line with targeted emissions cuts, it anticipates a power mix in 2030 made up of 50 percent renewable energy.

The rest would include 34 percent fossil fuels, plus a further 8 percent abated by carbon capture and storage, and 17 percent nuclear.

Perfecting the transmission system is crucial to optimising available renewable energy, which tends to be concentrated on the fringes of Europe.

The ever steeper challenge could require innovative approaches, especially to financing: for instance, selling asset-backed bonds to institutional investors.

The Commission has confirmed plans to launch European project bonds as part of its infrastructure financing plans to the end of this decade.

While power grids require huge investments, gas infrastructure could be adequate until around 2040 — provided the planned investments to 2020 go ahead — as renewable power, rather than carbon-emitting gas provides the solution to emissions reduction.

Beyond 2030, the report finds gas can only be “a significant destination fuel” if commercially viable ways of reducing its carbon emissions are in place.

For gas supplies, the European Union is looking at bringing in alternatives to Russian gas through a southern corridor where rival projects include the highly ambitious Nabucco pipeline with an annual capacity of 31 billion cubic metres.

Philipe Lowe, director general of the European Commission’s energy department, said future demand estimates for gas varied.

“We may have a different view on that (from the ECF),” he told Reuters.

“In any case, from a strategic point of view, the European Union is extremely concerned that there should be a diversification of supplies, as well as of routes.”

The ECF’s report was researched in collaboration with Imperial College in London, consultants, Royal Dutch Shell and a range of utilities and technology manufacturers.

by Bart King

November 4, 2011—California regulators are taking another shot at creating “green chemistry” rules to protect consumers from toxic substances as ordered by a 2008 state law.

The state Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) on Monday released an informal rewrite of draft rules that first appeared in the summer of 2010. The earlier draft was withdrawn after receiving intense criticism from industry and consumer watchdog groups.

The new draft appears to be stronger in that it expands the number of so-called chemicals of concern from 800 to roughly 3,000; expands compliance requirements to importers and product designers (not just manufacturers); and significantly lowers the minimum acceptable levels for some particularly hazardous chemicals in consumer products.

The new draft also contains concessions for industry concerns, by applying the new regulations to a very limited number of product groups for the first several years. DTSC has yet to choose the two to five types of products that will be affected but said it will likely focus on products designed for infants and the elderly.

UC Berkeley scientist Michael Wilson, a member of the state’s Green Ribbon Science Panel and an open critic of the 2010 draft, told the San Francisco Chronicle he is impressed by the scope of the new regulation, which “appears sound and scientifically based.”

Debbie Raphael, the new director of the DTSC said the goal of new regulations is to encourage companies to replace dangerous chemicals in their products with safer alternatives, or provide consumer warnings and safeguards.

DTSC hopes to have a formal draft finished in the first quarter of 2012, and final regulations could be in place as early as next fall.

At the federal level, there is a growing interest in updating the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), which is widely viewed as outdated after going unchanged for more than 30 years. In addition, EPA chief Lisa Jackson has made the review of toxic substances an agency priority, but the agency is already stretched thin by budget and political issues and Congress is unlikely to pass any new regulations on businesses in the near future. If California creates a successful green chemical regulatory system, it will set a precedent for the whole country and continue to lead in consumer protection.

Dr Mieke Van Hemelrijck will tell the 2011 European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress in Stockholm that there had been contradictory results from previous, smaller studies investigating the link between cancer and blood pressure. However, her study, which included 289,454 men and 288,345 women, showed that higher than normal blood pressure was statistically significantly associated with a 10-20% higher risk of developing cancer in men, and a higher risk of dying from the disease in both men and women.

Dr Van Hemelrijck, a research associate in the Cancer Epidemiology Group at King’s College London (London, UK), and her colleagues analysed data on blood pressure and cancer incidence and death in a prospective study that included seven groups of participants in Norway, Austria and Sweden.

They used figures on mid-blood pressure for their calculations. Mid-blood pressure is defined as systolic blood pressure plus diastolic blood pressure, divided by two. The average mid-blood pressure in this study was 107 mmHg for men and 102 mmHG for women. The results were divided into five groups (or quintiles), so that people with the lowest mid-blood pressure were in the first, and those with the highest mid-blood pressure were in the fifth quintile.

After an average of 12 years of follow-up and excluding the first year, 22,184 men and 14,744 women had been diagnosed with cancer, and 8,724 men and 4,525 women died from the disease. The overall risk of developing any cancer increased by 29% between men in the lowest quintile and those in the highest. The researchers also found that, as blood pressure rose, the risk of oral, colorectal, lung, bladder, and kidney cancers, melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers rose in men. In women, increased blood pressure was not statistically significantly associated with the overall risk of developing any cancer, but was associated with an increased risk of cancers of the liver, pancreas, cervix and endometrium and melanoma.

In both men and women, there was an increased risk of dying from cancer; men in the fifth quintile had a 49% increased risk of dying compared to those in the first quintile, and women in the fifth quintile had a 24% increased risk compared to those in the first.

Dr Van Hemelrijck explained: “This means that we found that men with mid-blood pressure in the highest fifth had an absolute risk of developing cancer of 16% compared to an absolute risk of 13% for those with mid-blood pressure in the lowest fifth. Men in the highest fifth had an absolute risk of dying from cancer of eight percent, compared to an absolute risk of five percent for those in the lowest; and for women, those in the highest fifth had an absolute risk of dying of five percent compared to an absolute risk of four percent in the lowest fifth.

“Our study shows that blood pressure is a risk factor for incident cancer in men and fatal cancer in men and women. Although the relative and absolute risk estimates were rather modest, these results are important from a public health perspective since a large proportion of the population in many western countries suffers from hypertension.”

The researchers adjusted their results to take account of age, sex, body mass index, smoking and random errors in the exposure classification of blood pressure (errors that occur due to inaccuracy in blood pressure measurements or due to an individual patient’s variations in blood pressure, which can be corrected by using data from several examinations).

Dr Van Hemelrijck warned that, as the study was observational, it could not show that blood pressure was the cause of the increased cancer risk. “We cannot claim that there is a causal link between high blood pressure and cancer risk, nor can we say that the cause of cancer is a factor related with high blood pressure,” she said. “However a healthy lifestyle, including sufficient physical activity and a normal weight, has been shown to reduce the risk of several chronic diseases. For instance, high blood pressure is a known risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and our study now indicates that high blood pressure may also be a risk factor for cancer.”

The researchers are unsure why men with high blood pressure appeared to have a higher cancer risk than women. “Our study, which to our knowledge is the largest and the first to take into account random error, showed that the association between hypertension and incident or fatal cancer is stronger for men than for women. In contrast, the second largest study previously found a higher cancer risk for women than for men. The differences in findings might be explained due to our larger sample size, slightly older population, adjustment for random error, or lack of information on anti-hypertensive treatment,” she said.

The Metabolic syndrome and Cancer project (Me-Can) was set up in 2006 to investigate the relationship between various metabolic conditions and the risk of cancer using data from health examinations carried out on patients between 1972-2005. Two of its initiators, Dr Tanja Stocks and Professor Pär Stattin at Umeå University, Sweden, analysed these data on blood pressure and cancer together with Dr Van Hemelrijck.

ECCO spokesperson, Professor Jan Willem Coebergh, from the Eindhoven Cancer Registry (The Netherlands), said: “This extensive, population-based study of the role of concomitant hypertension shows that it has a modest effect on the risk of certain cancers, especially of the kidney and colorectum, but it is probably a smaller effect than that caused by diabetes and various vascular conditions.”

ESMO spokesperson, Dr Franco Berrino, from the Istituto Nazionale Tumori in Milan, Italy, said: “There is increasing evidence that metabolic syndrome is associated with a higher risk of developing cancer as well as other chronic diseases. As an unhealthy lifestyle is a major determinant of hypertension, these results from the highly productive MeCan project add to the evidence that lifestyles affect both the risk and prognosis of cancer.”

The study, presented at the European Respiratory Society’s Annual Congress in Amsterdam, found that drinking 1-6 units of alcohol a week could reduce the risk of developing the condition.

The research examined 19,349 twins between the ages of 12 and 41 yrs of age. All participants completed a questionnaire at the start and end of the study to compare alcohol intake with the risk of developing asthma over 8 yrs.

The results showed that the lowest risk of asthma was seen in the group which had a moderate intake of alcohol, as less than 4% of those who drank 1-6 units per week developed asthma.

The highest risk of asthma was observed in people who drunk rarely or never, as they were 1.4-times more likely to develop the condition. Heavy drinkers also had an increased risk of asthma development and were 1.2-times more likely to develop asthma.

The results also suggested that a preference for beer drinking was associated with an increased risk of asthma when compared with no preference.

Previous studies have found a link between excessive intake of alcohol and asthma attacks; however, this is the first study of its kind to show a link between alcohol intake and the onset of asthma for adults over a long period of time.

Sofie Lieberoth, from the Bispebjerg Hospital in Denmark, said: “Whilst excessive alcohol intake can cause health problems, the findings of our study suggest that a moderate intake of 1-6 units can reduce the risk of developing asthma. By examining all the factors linked with the development of asthma, we can understand more about what causes the condition and how to prevent it.”

A study in the Oct. 1 issue of the journal Sleep recorded the bedtimes and wake times of 2,200 Australian participants, ages 9 to 16, and compared their weights and uses of free time over four days. Children who went to bed late and got up late were 1.5 times more likely to become obese than those who went to bed early and got up early. Furthermore, late-nighters were almost twice as likely to be physically inactive and 2.9 times more likely to sit in front of the TV and computer or play video games for more hours than guidelines recommend.

“The children who went to bed late and woke up late, and the children who went to bed early and woke up early got virtually the same amount of sleep in total,” said co-author Carol Maher, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow with the University of South Australia. “Scientists have realized in recent years that children who get less sleep tend to do worse on a variety of health outcomes, including the risk of being overweight and obese. Our study suggests that the timing of sleep is even more important.”

Maher said mornings are more conducive to physical activity for young people than nights, which offer prime-time TV programming and social networking opportunities. This relationship between time of day and available activities might explain why more sedentary and screen-based behaviors were observed with later bedtimes, she said. At a time when research is showing that teenagers have a natural tendency to stay up late and wake late, the results of this study could stand as a warning.

“It is widely accepted that the sleep patterns of adolescents are fundamentally different from children and adults, and that it is normal for adolescents to stay up very late and sleep in late in the morning,” Maher said. “Our findings show that this sleeping pattern is associated with unfavorable activity patterns and health outcomes, and that the adolescents who don’t follow this sleep pattern do better.”

Other findings from the University of South Australia study:

       Early-bed/early-risers went to bed 70 to 90 minutes earlier, woke up 60 to 80 minutes earlier and accumulated 27 minutes more moderate to vigorous physical activity each day than late-risers.

       Late-bed/late-risers watched TV, played video games or were online 48 minutes longer each day than early-bed/early risers, primarily between 7 p.m. and midnight.

       Only 12 percent of late-bed/late-risers had an average of two hours or less screen time per day, which is recommended for children and teens by the Australian Department of Health and Aging. In comparison, 28 percent of early-bed/early risers met the recommendation for screen time.

       On a broad scale, late-bed/late-risers replaced about 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity with 30 minutes of sedentary behavior each day, relative to the early-bed/early-rise group.

       Body-mass index (BMI) scores were higher in late-risers than early-risers, and late-risers were more likely to be overweight or obese.

       Late-bed/late-risers tended to have few siblings, live in major cities, come from lower household incomes and have a part-time job.

The Australian Food and Grocery Council contributed financially to this study.

Between January 2009 and March 2011, researchers studied 982 stroke patients (264 smokers and 718 non-smokers) at an Ottawa prevention clinic. They found the average age of stroke patients who smoked was 58, compared to age 67 for non-smokers.

“The information from this study provides yet another important piece of evidence about the significance of helping people stop smoking,” said Dr. Andrew Pipe of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, one of the study’s authors. “It also alerts the neurology community to the importance of addressing smoking in stroke patients.”

Smoking causes a build-up of debris on the inside of blood vessels, a condition called atherosclerosis, and it contributes to a higher likelihood of clots forming, said Dr. Pipe.

The Ottawa Hospital study, led by principal investigators Dr. Mike Sharma and Dr. Robert Reid, found smokers have double the risk of a stroke caused by a dislodged blood clot (ischemic stroke) and four times the risk of a stroke caused by a ruptured blood vessel (hemorrhagic stroke) than the non-smoking population.

In addition, smokers have a greater chance of having more complications and recurrent strokes. Patients who have had a minor stroke are 10 times more likely to have a major stroke, especially if they continue to smoke, said Dr. Pipe.

“It’s scandalous that Canadians continue to die in large numbers from stroke, heart disease, cancers and a host of other diseases for which the tobacco industry is responsible,” Dr. Pipe said.

If a person stops smoking, their risk for stroke or heart disease decreases. Within 18 months to two years of quitting, the risks of stroke are about the same as for non-smokers, said Dr. Pipe.

Some of the initiatives Dr. Pipe hopes to see enforced are to:

       reduce tobacco access to minors

       ensure tobacco is appropriately priced

       act more aggressively to deal with contraband tobacco

       be more systematic, from a health system’s point of view, in terms of helping those who are smokers quit

       create an integrated smoking cessation unit within the health community

“Stroke is preventable,” said Dr. Sharma, Deputy Director of the Canadian Stroke Network. “This study highlights the sizeable role smoking has on stroke. Quitting smoking, controlling blood pressure, following a healthy diet and being physically active significantly reduce the risk of stroke.”

According to the Heart and Stroke Foundation, more than 37,000 Canadians will die prematurely each year due to tobacco use. Heart and Stroke Foundation spokesperson Dr. Michael Hill notes that this study reinforces the importance of education, prevention programs, and legislation. “It is critical for governments to continue to wage the battle against tobacco industry products,” says Dr. Hill. “This includes the renewal of the Federal Tobacco Control Strategy, which is set to expire next spring, and ensuring that Canada adopts plain and standardized tobacco packaging.”

The Scottish Executive has unveiled its Zero Waste Regulations in a bid to make Scotland one of the highest performing countries for recycling in Europe.

The regulations will have a significant impact on local authorities and businesses, with a complete ban on all municipal biodegradable waste sent to landfill by 2020 – the first of its kind in the UK.

There will also be a ban on all material collected for recycling going to landfill or incineration and new requirements to remove key recyclables from unsorted waste prior to incineration. In addition, businesses will be required to have all recyclable material collected from their premises.

Announcing the regulations, Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead said: “We have consulted widely on these regulations, responding carefully to points raised by stakeholders and working with them to reach an amicable compromise.

“On food waste collections, for example, we are providing more time for small businesses and local authorities to adapt to the new requirements.
“This will allow local authorities time to develop new services and engage with the public and in the case of small businesses it gives them more time to change how they manage the waste they produce.”

Scotland produces more than 17 million tonnes of waste, with around £100m worth of untapped resources estimated to lie in household and business waste. These regulations will help stimulate more than £1bn worth of new investment to process Scotland’s waste into a resource.

Steps to pioneer energy-efficient vessels, make greater of use renewable energy, and design ships that can be reused or recycled are all today included in a new roadmap designed to achieve a “step-change” in the industry’s carbon intensity through to 2040.

The document, a “Vision for 2040,” will be published later today by think-tank Forum for the Future’s Sustainable Shipping Initiative (SSI) and has been endorsed by some of the shipping industry’s biggest operators, including Maersk Line, Rio Tinto, Wärtsilä, and BP Shipping.

Each of the 15 signatories has agreed to communicate the work they are doing to curb their environmental impacts and open this up to SSI scrutiny as part of a biannual reporting process.

They also all acknowledge that work to cut emissions must begin immediately if the 2040 vision is to be achieved.

Emissions from the sector account for just over 3 percent of the global total, but are predicted to rise by between 150 and 250 percent over the next 40 years.

“The anticipated, radical changes in the external operating environment indicate an urgent need to reshape the way in which shipping business is conducted,” the report says. “Our vision sets out our aspirations for 2040. But we cannot wait until 2040 to become sustainable; we need to act today.”

While international negotiations have resulted in technical efficiency standards designed to lower emissions between 25 and 30 per cent by 2030 the SSI says further progress will require a global “beyond-compliance” standard and has tasked members to produce this new measure.

Other stakeholder groups in the SSI will work towards changing the way ships are designed and operated to incorporate more technologies that reduce energy consumption and cut emissions.

Reducing the life-cycle impact of ships will also be considered, while the SSI is aware a new set of financial mechanisms may be needed to ensure “the wider industry can get faster access to the technology available and that the most important new innovations are supported.”

The SSI document comes in the same week the Committee on Climate Change is expected to publish its long-awaited review of U.K. shipping emissions.

The shipping industry remains largely divided on how best to tackle the sector’s environmental impacts with some firms and national chambers of shipping calling for demanding new international regulations to curb emissions, and others arguing such measures would drive up shipping costs and damage the global economy.