Toyota building $192M green-car battery plant

TOKYO (AP) — Toyota is building a $192 million plant in Japan to produce batteries for gas-electric hybrid vehicles, as it seeks to keep its lead in an intensifying race for green cars among the world's automakers. Toyota's joint venture with Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., which makes Panasonic brand products, is building the plant in Shizuoka prefecture, in central Japan, Toyota spokesman Paul Nolasco said Friday. He declined to give more details. The plant will produce nickel-metal hydride batteries, now in the company's hit Prius hybrid. The Nikkei, Japan's top business daily, reported Friday that Toyota was building another plant in Japan to make lithium-ion batteries, set to be running by 2010, for future ecological cars. Nolasco said no decision has been made on such a plant.

Source: Associated Press

HP unveils green printing strategy

HP has launched an initiative to help its customers become more environmentally responsible with their printing. The initiative includes the launch of a printing assessment service, which utilises a carbon calculator that helps firms assess the environmental impact of their printing and identify methods of both saving money and reducing carbon emissions.
HP has also pledged to improve the overall energy efficiency of its printing products by 40 per cent by 2011. Other elements of the green printing initiative include a commitment from HP to use sustainable materials in the paper it sells and the packaging it uses.
HP has also introduced an inkjet printer, the Deskjet D2545, made mostly from recycled materials.

Source: Vnunet.com

Green Star Announces Algae Breakthrough

Green Star Products, Inc. (OTC:GSPI) announced that a major breakthrough has been achieved which substantially increases the algae growth rate of certain strains of microalgae.
Algae scientists have long searched for a micronutrient formula to increase the growth rate of algae biomass. Now, Biotech Research, Inc., a consortium partner of Green Star, has confirmed a daily growth rate increase of 34% using the "Montana Micronutrient Booster (MMB)" formula. This growth rate booster can increase the total biomass quantity in a harvest algae growth cycle by well over 100%. The tests where conducted at Biotech Research's lab facility at the UABC University in Ensenada, Mexico (see press release dated Nov. 20, 2007).

Joseph LaStella, president of Green Star Products, stated, "This breakthrough formula is too important to the algae processing industry for any single company to hold for their personal use. Microalgae production holds real answers to the many serious problems facing the world today, including global fuel shortages, global warming and food supply shortages."

Source: Fox Business

Green Computing Summit 2008: Going green is no longer optional

If one message stood out among the others at this week's Green Computing Summit in Washington, DC, it was that going green is no longer just good for the bottom line; it's absolutely necessary. And it's not just the tree huggers who are saying so. Prominent business executives and top ranking federal officials are leading a green revolution that promises to radically change computer technology and the way it is managed. It may well have been skyrocketing energy prices that first got industry worried about its bottom lines and federal agencies grappling with their budgets, but concern for the escalating climate crisis was hardly an afterthought. What started as a realization that going green was the easiest way to save money has evolved into a series of federal initiatives jointly aimed at reducing energy consumption and cutting CO2 emissions. Given industry projections of computer growth, dramatic increases in online data storage and additional floor space that could be required by expanding data centers along with the resultant power and cooling upgrades, energy issues will clearly move from problem to crisis if efforts to bring energy consumption under control are not successful.

Source: ITworld

Building 'green' could mean big abatement

Companies that build environmentally friendly facilities in Harris County could get a sizable property tax break under a proposal to be considered by Commissioners Court today.
The plan would offer up to a 100 percent tax abatement for 10 years on whatever amount a builder spends to become certified under the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, program.

Source: Houston Chronicle

Restaurants push for more green

At its annual convention in Chicago, the National Restaurant Association launched an initiative to lessen the industry's environmental impact—cutting energy use, reducing waste and so on. While clad in feel-good green, such an initiative could also have long-term economic benefits for restaurants.

But in the short term, many restaurants are hurting, battling a soft economy and soaring ingredient and labor costs. The upshot: Restaurant chains with deep pockets, like McDonald's Corp., are likely to seize the moment and sink money into going green. And small operators with shrinking cash flows are more likely to hold back.

Source: The Chicago Tribune

Road Warriors Going Green

A growing number of business travelers are seeking out hotels that have adopted recycling, energy-efficient lighting and other green practices, according to a recent survey by Deloitte. Of 1,155 business travelers surveyed nationwide, 34 percent said they purposely looked for environment friendly hotels, while 28 percent said they would be willing to pay more for green lodgings, the New York-bases research firm reported this week. Most respondents said they expected hotels to have basic green practices, like recycling or energy-efficient lighting. Nearly 60 percent said they sought out hotels with energy-efficient windows, while nearly half said they expected hotels to use green cleaning products. All told, more than 70 percent said the lodging industry in general was "only somewhat green" in their opinion.

Source: The New York Times