Forbes.com / Tara Weiss (15th May 2007) ==================================

Every Monday morning Ushma Pandya packs a suitcase and flies to San Antonio for a portion of the workweek. All that flying helps her rack up lots of frequent flier miles. But it also takes a toll on Mother Nature.
That's why she and many of her fellow business consultants at Katzenbach Partners try to be eco-friendly when they travel for work. These days, it's not that hard to do. With a growing number of companies urging their employees to travel more sustainably, there are plenty of vendors marketing their "green-ness."
Hotels have been quick to advertise their environmental efforts, from laundry to light bulbs. Car rental agencies tout the availability of hybrid cars, and organizations that sell carbon-offsetting options are increasingly educating companies about how to do their part. Even travel Web site Orbitz.com is joining the effort with its recently launched eco.orbitz.com, where one of the main features is a listing of "eco-friendly" hotels.
In Pictures: Eco-friendly Business Travel Tips "This is about changing the economics of energy without taxes, regulations or laws," says Eric Carlson, executive director of Carbonfund.org, a group that educates about the economic effects of climate change. "This is a market-driven way of changing business. My hope is, in five to 10 years we'll look back and realize these companies made it happen."
The direct effect humans have on the environmenteverything from how much carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere during travel to the waste they produce while using bottles, paper and plasticis referred to as an ecological footprint.
Carlson says airline travel leaves one of the most significant footprints, since it releases carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping gas that stays in the atmosphere for about 50 years. That gas creates a blanket above the Earth that locks in heat, which many have argued is responsible for global warming and can adversely affect glaciers, the North and South Poles and Antarctica, as well as bring about changes in weather patterns and sea levels.
Business travel has a significant impact on all of that. U.S. business travelers rack up about 240 billion passenger miles each year, according to Scot Case, a vice president at Terrachoice, an environmental marketing agency. Planting a tree will help absorb about 50 pounds of carbon dioxide to offset the total numbers of business flights each year, about 3.2 million trees need to be planted, he says. That's called carbon offsetting, and an increasing number of companies are considering whether to pay for it as a matter of policy.
It's something Arnold & Porter, a Washington, D.C., law firm, started doing last year. "The firm travels in the millions of miles per year in total," says Jonathan Martel, a partner in Arnold & Porter's environmental practice. "It's not easy to reduce the amount of travel lawyers do for clients, but it is something we could offset."
The firm calculates the amount of miles its employees fly, and it purchases carbon offsets from Carbonfund.org, which uses that money to plant trees and build windmills.
Katzenbach's leadership team is meeting this month to determine whether the company will pay for carbon offsetting. Currently, employees can purchase their own. That's what Pandya does: She calculates the amount of miles she travels for each project and purchases them accordingly.
And that's not the extent of her eco-friendly travel. It starts when she leaves her apartment each week by bringing a travel coffee mug to Texas so she doesn't have to use Styrofoam or paper. She also stores bottles of toiletries, such as shampoo and conditioner, at the hotel so she doesn't need to use the mini plastic bottles the hotel provides. Next, she always takes advantage of the card asking her to hang her towels on the rack if she wants to reuse them instead of having fresh ones delivered. That saves on water and detergent.
"Last week I was at a hotel, and they weren't doing what they said they would dothey kept bringing fresh towels," says Pandya. "I had a conversation with the head of housekeeping and explained that one of the reasons I stay here is because they recycle towels."
Pandya also rents hybrid cars when on business and urges her fellow teammates to travel with her instead of renting their own cars. When on the West Coast she rents from EV Rentals, an agency that provides only hybrid vehicles. She also turns off the air conditioning when she isn't in her hotel room and leaves a note to housekeeping so the staff also won't turn it on.
"Everyone needs to figure out what's important to them and decide what they can do to travel more eco-friendly," says Pandya, a project manager for Katzenbach who sends out periodic e-mails to the staff about ways to be more environmentally friendly. "Some people feel comfortable doing more, and for some it's small steps. Behavior change won't happen overnight."

---

Forbes / Michael Patrick Brady (4th September 2008)
==========================================
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. - The high-definition television is one of modern life's most highly desired amenities, but for environmentally conscious consumers, HDTVs can present a serious dilemma. With both the ecological and economic costs of energy consumption a major concern, it's not always easy to tell what kind of an impact your new HDTV is going to have on the environmentor on your electric bill.
Furthermore, with gigantic factories in China, Japan and South Korea cranking these flat panels out at a breakneck pace and shipping them overseas, the carbon footprint of the manufacturing process isn't something you can easily check by looking at a product's specifications in your local store.
Fortunately, there are ways to evaluate a high-definition television's green quotient, and big-name manufacturers are trying to make their products more environmentally friendly and their assembly lines greener.
Energy efficiency is the most obvious way to reduce an HDTV's impact on the environment. Though liquid crystal display (LCD) televisions draw much less power than similarly sized cathode ray tube (CRT) sets, few people replace their old tube televisions with a similarly sized flat panel. Upgrades are the norm, often doubling or tripling the screen size and, in turn, canceling out any potential energy savings.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star program, a typical 42-inch LCD television will draw nearly four times as much power as a CRT television under 30 incheswhich is the kind of TV most consumers are looking to replace. Plasma televisions are major energy hogs. Their large screens and affordable price tags can be quite alluring but ultimately won't save you money or save the earth. For the biggest benefit, consumers need to consider rear-projection digital light processing (DLP) televisions, which have big screens but small energy needs.
Available only in big-screen sizes, DLP TVs provide enormous, high-definition pictures while drawing much less energy than plasma or LCD TVs. A 60-inch DLP television requires, on average, only 250 watts, while a typical LCD would use 400 watts and the plasma would eat up close to 500 watts.
Even with this significant improvement in energy consumption, many DLP TVs are not entirely environmentally friendly. Many use mercury-filled light bulbs to illuminate the screens, which must be replaced periodically. This presents a potential pollution hazard when it comes time to dispose of the bulbs.
Samsung has taken steps toward eliminating this possible pollutant by replacing the mercury bulbs with a light source that uses light-emitting diodes (LEDs), which not only enhance the power savings of the DLP but should last for the lifespan of the set. The Samsung HL61A750 ($1,999), for instance, is a well received 61-inch DLP powered by LEDs. Consumers have praised its ability to render sharp images and vivid colors. The maximum energy draw of the HL61A750 is 170 watts.
Flat-panel LCD televisions are also benefiting from LED technology. The Philips 42-inch 42PFL9803 replaces the traditional fluorescent backlight with LED illumination and the energy savings are stunning. When in use, the 42PFL9803 draws only 75 wattsnot much more than a conventional light bulb and roughly half of what a typical 42-inch LCD would require. There is one drawback, however: the 42PFL9803 is a lot more expensive. When it debuts in September, it'll be stuck with a huge price tag of $4,400.
Some brands are introducing green concepts into their manufacturing process. The Sony (nyse: SNE - news - people ) KDL-32JE1 ($1,400) is a 32-inch LCD television that, in addition to being extraordinarily energy efficient, is made of recycled plastics from other Sony products. But this isn't some Frankenstein monster of a TV the KDL-32JE1 is brand new. Sony just uses as feedstock reprocessed materials that would otherwise have found their way to a landfill. In use, the KDL-32JE1 only needs 89 watts of power to operate. Though it's currently only available in Japan, this design is sure to go worldwide very soon.
Sharp has gone so far as to make their HDTV manufacturing plant green. The Kameyama plant in Japan has been designed specifically with the environment in mind, and Sharp has gone to great lengths to ensure that the facility lives up to its reputation as the "Super Green Factory."
The Kameyama plant is powered by a combination of liquid natural gas and photovoltaic solar cells, which Sharp claims reduces the carbon dioxide output of the factory by 40. Nearly 9,000 tons of daily wastewater produced by the factory is captured and treated so it may be used again. According to Sharp, none of the nearly 125,000 tons of waste produced by the Kameyama plant in 2007 was sent to a landfill. Instead, leftover phosphorous, glass and other byproducts were recycled and repurposed. Although it's tough for the consumer to know such details about HDTVs and the manufacturers, particularly when shopping in a big store, the U.S. government is gradually trying to put such details front and center.
The government originally devised its Energy Star ratings for TVs to measure a set's standby power consumption, not the amount of power a set consumes when in use. Televisions draw a small amount of power in standby mode (what normal people would call "off"). The government originally reasoned that most televisions are "off" more than they are "on."
That's an unusual rationale at bestand one the Environmental Protection Agency has finally rethought. Starting in November, Energy Star ratings will measure an HDTV's in-use power. That means televisions with Energy Star stickers are expected to be at least 30 more efficient when operating than those without stickers. The new methods of measuring energy efficiency are more stringent, more logical and should be more help for curious consumers this winter.
Enjoying a high-definition television and maintaining a "green" lifestyle are not mutually exclusive propositions. With the right knowledge and preparation, it's possible to minimize the ecological impact of an HDTV and still get a high-quality entertainment experience. While an HDTV might make our homes a lot more livable, consumers owe it to the world, and themselves, to shop smart, avoid potential wastefulness and ensure that the planet stays livable, too.

---

by JIM GORZELANY, ForbesAutos.com (30 June 2008) ===========================================

Diesel sport utility vehicles and super-high-powered luxury cars dominate our list of the most environmentally incorrect vehicles. But even the biggest polluters today are far cleaner than the average car 30 years ago.
The Hummer H2 might be an obvious target for environmentalists, but unless it’s caked in mud, the hulking sport utility vehicle isn’t the filthiest ride on the road. That distinction goes to another SUV: the Volkswagen Touareg V10 TDI.
The Hummer H2 does make the fifth spot on our list of top 10 worst polluters, thanks to its overall heft and gas-guzzling V8 engine, but what pushes Volkswagen’s Touareg V10 TDI to the very top of the ranking is its large turbo-diesel engine. It dumps so much exhaust into the atmosphere that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gives this midsize SUV its lowest air pollution score of 1.
The EPA ranks vehicles on an air pollution scale of 1 to 10, giving a 1 to those that pollute the most and a 10 to those that pollute the least. Most vehicles get an air pollution score of 6. Highly efficient models like the Ford Escape Hybrid, Honda Civic Hybrid and Toyota Prius earn a 9.5, which is currently the highest rating any vehicle gets. (Click here to see other clean machines in the Top 10 Least-Polluting Vehicles.)
The EPA’s air pollution score is the main criterion for our ranking. It represents the amount of health-damaging, smog-forming airborne pollutants a vehicle emits. These primarily include nitrogen oxide, which combines with hydrocarbons to create smog carbon monoxide, a colorless, odorless, poisonous gas particulate matter that creates the black soot that lodges in lungs and deposits on buildings and formaldehyde, a lung irritant and carcinogen.
Some heavy-duty pickup trucks and vans pollute more than the Touareg TDI, but they’re intended primarily for commercial use and weren’t included in our consumer-focused list. We also excluded exotic Bentleys, Ferraris and Lamborghinis because they're produced in such limited quantities and so few consumers would consider buying one.
Five other diesel-powered SUVs are right behind the Touareg TDI in our ranking of worst polluters. These include the Jeep Grand Cherokee CRD, the second worst polluter the Mercedes-Benz GL320 CDI, which is third and the Mercedes ML320 CDI and R320 CDI, tied for fourth. All of them get an air pollution score of 1.
Not all of the ties on our list were avoidable, but to help break some of them we looked at each vehicle’s carbon footprint, which is the EPA’s way of quantifying other automotive emissions called greenhouse gases. These include carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane. Many scientists believe greenhouse gases contribute to global warming.
The primary greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide, but nitrous oxide and methane are also part of the mix.
The Volkswagen Touareg V10 TDI has a carbon footprint of 12.4, which means it emits 12.4 tons of greenhouse gases annually, according to the EPA’s standard calculations based on 15,000 miles of driving per year. Burning one gallon of gasoline emits 20 pounds of carbon dioxide, the EPA says.
The second-place Jeep Grand Cherokee CRD has a carbon footprint of 11.1 annual tons of greenhouse gases and the third-ranked Mercedes GL320 CDI puts out 10.6 tons annually.

Getting Cleaner
==============
Auto emissions are 75 percent to 90 percent cleaner than they were before more stringent federal emissions standards were enacted in 1970, says EPA spokesperson Catherine Milbourn. “Even the worst polluters on the road today are far cleaner than most vehicles were a few decades ago,” she says.
The worst polluter on our list, the Volkswagen Touareg V10 TDI, emits 83 percent less nitrogen oxide and 89 percent less carbon monoxide than the average vehicle built in 1970, according to EPA historical data.
Widespread use of catalytic converters, exhaust gas recirculation, particulate filters and reformulated fuel are the main reasons today’s vehicles pollute far less than their predecessors.
And things will only get better: Some of the biggest polluters on our top 10 list will be cleaning up their acts for the 2009 model year, thanks to the advent of new diesel engine technology.
A new version of Volkswagen's Touareg is among a group of next-generation diesel vehicles from Audi (owned by Volkswagen), BMW, Mercedes-Benz and others. These new and improved diesels will include special catalytic converters and a system that injects urea into the exhaust stream to neutralize pollutants and drastically reduce emissions. (Click here to see a slideshow of the diesels that are in the works and read more about them.)
They will start hitting the market late this year and are expected to receive an EPA air pollution score of 6. That’s enough to pass California’s stricter emissions standards, which so far have kept diesel vehicles from being sold there and in other so-called “green" states that have adopted California’s emissions laws: Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

Tips for Polluting Less
====================
The easiest way to minimize your carbon footprint with your next car purchase is to choose a model with the best fuel economy possible. But you don’t necessarily have to choose the most frugal car on the lot to do your part for the environment.
Experts say that realizing even minor improvements in fuel economy among the worst polluters on the road is the most efficient way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions overall. For example, choosing a base GMC Yukon with a 5.3-liter V8, which gets 16 mpg overall, instead of the high-end Denali version and its 14-mpg 6.2-liter V8 would save more than 130 gallons of gasoline per year for the typical driver, and eliminate 1.7 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, says Therese Langer, transportation program director for the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.
The EPA currently provides consumers with air pollution scores, fuel-economy estimates and greenhouse-gas-emission ratings for all passenger cars and light-duty trucks at www.fueleconomy.gov and www.epa.gov/greenvehicles
A few states have enacted regulations that will require automakers to post labels on vehicles detailing the amount of greenhouse gases each one emits, along with how that model compares to the average of all cars and trucks from its model year. California and Connecticut will begin requiring such labels beginning with 2009 models, and New York will follow suit for 2010 vehicles.
Europe is ahead of the U.S. in requiring that such information be readily accessible to consumers. “In Europe, vehicle specifications now regularly list a model’s CO2 emissions,” says Francois Gravigny, an advisor for market research firm R.L. Polk and Company in Southfield, Mich. “Everybody in Europe knows what their vehicles’ CO2 emissions are.”
Although American consumers are becoming more aware of environmental issues, they’re a long way from choosing vehicles for purely altruistic ecological reasons. “By and large most people believe that they have a right, a God-given American right, to drive whatever car they want and can afford,” says Dr. Charles Kenny, a psychologist and president of The Right Brain People, a psychology research firm based in Cordova, Tenn. “Americans still have a love affair with their vehicles, which are associated in their minds with freedom and independence.
BMW and Mercedes-Benz are the only manufacturers with cars on our worst-polluters list. The rest are big trucks and SUVs, many of them from non-luxury automakers.
Super-high-output versions of Mercedes’ full-size CL-Class coupes and S-Class sedans tied BMW’s M5 sedan and M6 coupe for 10th place. All of those models have a decent air pollution score of 6. But their carbon footprint of 14.1 annual tons of greenhouse gases is among the highest of any non-commercial passenger vehicle.
enerally speaking, the lower the fuel efficiency of a vehicle, the higher its carbon footprint will be. So it’s the Mercedes’ massive V12 engines and the BMWs’ race-bred V10 engines — built to chug fuel for top acceleration and speed — that are their downfall. These engines get an estimated 11 miles per gallon in the city and 17 miles per gallon on the highway, which in turn creates the high carbon footprint. Diesel engines tend to be more fuel-efficient than comparably sized gasoline engines. So the Jeep Grand Cherokee CRD and Volkswagen Touareg V10 TDI actually create smaller carbon footprints — 11.1 and 12.1, respectively — than the BMW and Mercedes performance cars because their diesel engines get better mileage: 17 mpg city/22 mpg highway for the Jeep and 15 mpg city/20 mpg highway for the Volkswagen.
But these same diesel engines put the Jeep and Volkswagen SUVs at the top of the worst-polluters overall because they emit more smog-forming emissions, earning the EPA’s lowest possible air pollution score. The EPA says air pollution scores are more critical than carbon footprints because they quantify exhaust emissions that directly impact human health, as opposed to greenhouse gas emissions, which affect climate change.
The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels increased by 1.6 percent nationwide last year, amounting to nearly 6 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide accumulating in the atmosphere.
Motor vehicles are the largest source of carbon dioxide emissions, accounting for 51 percent, according to the EPA.

Slow-Selling Polluters
===================
Many of the vehicles on our list are sold in relatively small numbers.
Volkswagen expects the V10 TDI version of its Touareg SUV to account for only about 10 percent of all Touareg sales for the 2008 model year, says Keith Price, a Volkswagen spokesperson. Most Touaregs are sold with gasoline-powered V6 or V8 engines. Only 2,835 Touareg V10 TDI models were sold in the United States through the end of March, according to Volkswagen sales data.
Likewise, the BMW and Mercedes-Benz cars on the list are low-volume high-performance variants of more common models, which get better gas mileage and pollute less. BMW sells between 7,000 and 15,000 high-performance "M" models a year — only about 2 percent to 5 percent of the company's total sales.
Mercedes sells around 10,000 high-performance AMG cars each year, equal to roughly 4 percent of sales nationwide.

About Our Ranking
=================
Our list of Top 10 Worst Polluters is based on the EPA's air pollution score — a scale of 1 to 10 where higher is better — and carbon footprint ratings, which measure "annual tons of greenhouse gases." The air pollution scores take precedence because they measure the most harmful emissions. We used the carbon footprints as tie-breakers.
Some vehicles on the list are offered with various engines and transmissions. The variants listed have the worst scores Interested in being a reseller of innovative green products??!