Publisher's Watch

Last week the Wall Street Journal reported that the childhood home of erstwhile presidential candidate Mitt Romney is going to be torn down under a new plan by Detroit Mayor Dave Bing. The plan calls for the razing of 10,000 vacant or abandoned homes as a way to "right size" the city due to its shrinking population. Citizens have been calling for this plan to start ridding the city of decay and blight. Currently there are 90,000 of these homes.

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Darden Restaurants, Inc., owner of Red Lobster, Olive Garden, and LongHorn Steakhouse, is taking the first steps in going green. The Orlando-based food purveyor, with over 1400 company-owned restaurants, is implementing a sustainable design program for its facilities with eight slated to complete the transition in 2011. The company's headquarters has already applied for a USGBC LEED Gold certification, and all new restaurants will be built green.

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In a play on words from an unfortunate anagram from years ago, Ford Motor Company has been at the forefront of green automobiles for nearly a decade. This is apparent not only from its advancements in automotive technology but from its return to black ink on its bottom line as well. While the other domestic car companies languished and failed on many levels, Ford is way out in front.

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There is a new development in the burning of coal and the reduction of greenhouse emissions. Recently a pilot project conducted in Pleasant Prarie, Wisconsin tested an advanced chilled ammonia process to see how much carbon dioxide(CO2) could be captured from a coal-fueled plant. The test showed that more than 90 percent of CO2 was indeed captured according to published reports. The test was conducted by We Energies, Alstom, and The Electric Power Research Institute.

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This week Nissan North America announced that it will begin taking reservations for its zero-emission electric automobile, LEAF, this coming spring. This is based on strong initial demand, with over 22,000 people contacting the company about the car since it was unveiled in August. A fully charged LEAF can travel up 100 miles at a top speed of 90 miles per hour. It seats 5 and has 5 doors. Most importantly, it does not have a gas engine and has zero tailpipe emissions.

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A new study conducted by Siemens Building Technologies Inc. and McGraw-Hill Construction reports that 76% of the largest corporations in the U.S. are working toward sustainability goals that exceed those required by law. The report was a result of interviews with corporate sustainability officers at firms such as Microsoft, AT&T, and Owens Corning.

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It's amazing how the obvious can grab one's attention. A recent study of U.S. consumers by Honeywell found that more than half of those planning to purchase a vehicle in the next two years consider fuel efficiency to be more important than it was during their last vehicle purchase. The study also found that more than 80% of American consumers were more likely to consider purchasing a turbocharged vehicle after learning that the readily-available turbocharger helps to increase the fuel efficiency of a gas engine by up to 20% without sacrificing performance or reliability. The operative line here is "after learning" turbocharged vehicles already exist and can be purchased here.

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What is it about a heat wave in New York that brings out the least green behaviors of some our retailers? Walking down Fifth Avenue on a humid ninety plus degrees day is not a wonderful experience especially among the throngs of summer tourists. I love tourists and very happy they come to visit and bring loads of money to spend. However, on this kind of hot day I'm not always as agreeable.

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In considering our need for green energy, consider the energy it now takes just to have an online social life.

Social networking is far beyond a fad and definitely more than a cultural phenomenon. Hundreds of millions of people have joined Facebook and Twitter, among others, and users have never had so many choices that require nothing more than a computer and a few peripherals -- hardware they owned before signing up. There are many discussions about whether these networks have economically sustainable business models. Like other industries with exponential growth, some are going to fall by the wayside.

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A Census data report released last week showed that migration rates across the United States plunged sharply in 2008 to levels that haven’t been seen since the Great Depression. For the period July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008, the number of people migrating away from domestic metropolitan areas with populations of 1 million or more was 336,000, versus 688,000 people during the same period in 2005-2006, according to an expert’s analysis of the data. This represents a 50 percent decline in people moving out of urban areas, and that is significant.

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Last week Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa, and U.S. Representative Doris Matsui, Democrat of California, introduced "The Complete Streets Act of 2009" to their respective Houses of Congress. If passed, this bill promises to decrease both traffic congestion and transportation costs for commuters across the nation.

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In the evolving journey towards widepread sustainability and green principles, you sometimes come across stories that seem innocuous, but actually bear closer attention. One of these happens to be an announcement by the Hunt Oil Company boasting the attainment of LEED Silver Certification for Commercial Interiors for its headquarters building in Dallas.

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When it comes to oil, the bells don't yet seem to be tolling. Although the price of this energy source has fallen far from last summer’s high of $150 per barrel, oil companies are still enjoying the financial fruits of that period. Exxon Mobil Corporation just posted its 2008 earnings: they took in $45.2 billion in profits, although in the last quarter, revenues slipped by 33 percent. This extraordinary figure broke the company’s own profit record of $40.6 billion, which was set the previous year.

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Even in these times of economic turmoil, uncertainty in the financial markets, and even more uncertainty in the energy markets, NIMBY never takes a back seat. Up in Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, some of the more wealthy vacation and now, year-round meccas, there's a huge battle brewing over a proposal to install a wind farm in Federal waters out at sea.

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When Ronald Reagan assumed the presidency in 1981, one of the first things his administration did was to take down the White House’s solar panels. These panels had been installed by President Jimmy Carter in reaction to the oil shock of 1979, and were a well-meaning attempt to show that Carter was trying to deal with escalating oil prices by investigating alternative energy sources. Unfortunately, this well-meaning measure like many of his others, never got much traction.

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In a recent op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal, economist Arthur B. Laffer suggested that energy independence is not good for America. For a small history lesson, Mr. Laffer popularized the concept of "Supply Side Economics" in the 1970s. He first proposed this idea by drawing the now well-known "Laffer Curve" on the back of a napkin at a 1974 meeting with President Ford's advisors Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. However, we're not here to discuss Messrs. Cheney and Rumsfeld or Supply Side economics. We'll leave that to the historians.

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The fact that oil prices have dropped by more than 50 percent from their summer high shouldn't mean that we can start buying Hummers to move into the garages of our McMansions. The fact that oil reached $150 per barrel is a pretty good indication that it will go there again. Regardless of the soft economy, the fact is that we still consume 25 percent of the world's oil, and China and India are still growing.

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The presidential election is now less than 30 days away, and it couldn't come fast enough. After two years of campaigning, punditry, accusations, and some really bad advertising, America could use a rest. Not that this is a big realization, but after last week's vice presidential debate it's time to get back to some sort of sensible governing. To that point, there was a question about energy policy in that debate to which Senator Biden responded that "Drill, drill, drill" is not the answer to our overall energy and environmental concerns. A measured rejoinder at best, but it could help spur a dialogue about the subject.

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For the first time in decades, Memorial Day weekend showed a decrease in travel. Although the numbers aren't in yet, the FTA announced that road travel in March was down by 11 billion miles, which is the worst decline since these statistics were first reported in 1942. Obviously, the culprit is the price of fuel, which is currently hovering around the $4.00 per gallon mark, depending on the grade you use.

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The United States Green Building Council has just announced that it is doubling its Local LEED for Homes Network. This program, which was launched in December 2007, is a national, third-party certification system that was designed to help developers, architects, and designers utilize LEED protocols in the building of new homes.

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