Tag Archives: Sustainable

Importing garbage to produce energy in Oslo

An article in the New York Times (May 1,2013) describes the city of Oslo’s success in using garbage, with recyclable content removed, to generate heat and electricity. With half the city and all schools supplied by garbage generated energy, supply … Continue reading

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Differing manufacturer responses to the Bangladesh factory collapse

An article in the New York Times. (May 1,2013) describes the differing public stances by manufacturers. Bennetton, the Children’s Place and Cato Corporation distanced their link to the plant they used as a source, claiming their garments were not on … Continue reading

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Estimating the impact of new US sulfur limits on fuel on gasoline costs

An article in the Wall Street Journal (March 29,2013) describes the differing estimates of the proposed plans to limit sulfur in fuel to under 10 parts per million (ppm) from the current 30 ppm. Petroleum executives claim a price impact … Continue reading

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Lack of coordination across governmental units and pollution in China

An article in the New York Times (March 24,2013) describes pollution levels in Beijing and blames the lack of coordination between the ministries managing the environment and state owned enterprises managing the oil and power. Thus, while the pollution control … Continue reading

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Natural gas use by the US trucking industry – how fast can it happen ?

An article in the New York Times (April 22, 2013) describes the growing use of natural gas in the US trucks, with the industry consuming over 3 million gallons of diesel fuel daily. Natural gas use is estimated to cut … Continue reading

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Is exporting shale gas in the US national interest ?

In an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal (February 25,2013) , Andrew Livieres, CEO of Dow Chemical, suggests that permitting exports of shale gas, currently in abundant supply in the US, is not in the national interest. He argues … Continue reading

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Developing Greenland’s mining industry and resource impacts

An article in Bloombergsbusinessweek (February 18,2013) describes Greenland, a country protected by Denmark and with a population of 57,000, as containing 1 billion ton iron ore and the 10.5 million ton rare earth deposits that are being eyed for development. … Continue reading

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Disaster driven product supply chains

An article in Bloombergbusinessweek (February 18,2013) describes the cost of global disasters as $200 billion in 2012, while the earlier decade has an annual cost of $187 billion, caused by earthquakes, tornadoes, tsunamis etc. Given predictions that climate change will … Continue reading

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The cocoa global supply chain and looming issues

An article in Bloombergbusinessweek (February 11, 2013) describes cocoa manufacturing projected shortfalls of 50,000 tons compared to demand in 2012-13, while prices dropped 74% from 2011 to 2012. Production shortfalls were provided by a global stockpile of 1.5 years of … Continue reading

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Does “fast fashion” create safety problems for employees at global supplier factories ?

An article in Bloombergbusinessweek (February 7,2013) suggests that the fast (even two week) fashion cycles at Zara, Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) create stress on suppliers in Bangladesh who need to respond rapidly or lose the business. The corresponding stress shifts … Continue reading

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