Archives for: 2006, week 05

Payouts by PG&E could total $418 million: Company agrees to a settlement but fights fine, customer refunds

By CostBenefit on Feb 4, 2006 | In Water, Contaminated Properties, Legal, Fines, Companies,CSR,Business,Finance, Groundwater, California, Newspaper/Mag/TV/Media Story, Contamination Cost

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. could face as much as $418 million in fines, refunds and settlement costs to resolve two major disputes, one over chromium-laced groundwater and the other involving late customer bills, the utility disclosed Friday. PG&amp… more »

Maximising the natural capital benefits of habitat creation: Spatially targeting native woodland using GIS

By CostBenefit on Feb 4, 2006 | In General, U.K., Academic Study/Journal Article, Preservation & Open Space, Agriculture, Forestry and Food, Ecosystem Valuation, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Environmental Economics / Ecological Economics, Costs and Benefits

The establishment of the Common Agricultural Policy has dramatically transformed the relationship between the natural environment and agriculture in the UK. Accordingly, the Government now acknowledges that our stock of ‘natural capital’ is being man… more »

Modelling natural capital: The case of landscape restoration on the South Downs, England

By CostBenefit on Feb 4, 2006 | In U.K., Academic Study/Journal Article, Preservation & Open Space, Agriculture, Forestry and Food, Computer Software/Database/Model

Habitat suitability modelling has shown itself to be an important decision support tool for those concerned with the problem of where to target habitat and landscape restoration efforts. However, present approaches generally focus upon the biophysical ch… more »

The 2004 Top 100

By CostBenefit on Feb 4, 2006 | In Non-Environmental, Companies,CSR,Business,Finance, Newspaper/Mag/TV/Media Story, Savings, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Costs and Benefits

"If you can't measure it, you can't manage it." If this oft-used phrase is true, then this year's Training Top 100 companies have the management of workforce development programs down to a science. While many companies continue to slash training budge… more »

Function-analysis and valuation as a tool to assess land use conflicts in planning for sustainable, multi-functional landscapes

By CostBenefit on Feb 4, 2006 | In Academic Study/Journal Article, Preservation & Open Space, Agriculture, Forestry and Food, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Environmental Economics / Ecological Economics, Costs and Benefits

In order to reconcile landscape conservation with changing demands on land use and natural resources, it is essential that the ecological, socio-cultural and economic values of the landscape be fully taken into account in planning and decision-making.… more »

Shelburne Farms tries grass pellets for heating

By CostBenefit on Feb 4, 2006 | In Energy, Northeast, Newspaper/Mag/TV/Media Story, Savings

It costs Shelburne Farms about $1,000 a year to mow grass that doesn't end up as hay for the animals and simply goes to waste. Now staff at the historic farm have come up with a use for it: turn it to pellets and burn them to heat the massive main barn.… more »

Sanitary District Digs Into Water Problem

By CostBenefit on Feb 4, 2006 | In Water, Government Report, Northeast, Newspaper/Mag/TV/Media Story, Regulatory Analysis, Contamination Cost, Costs and Benefits

The Great Salt Bay Sanitary District is proceeding with a study of potential groundwater supplies as part of a proactive effort to help the Damariscotta based utility conform to federal drinking water standards. On Jan. 26, Sanitary District represent… more »

Court rules against Sunset Hills on MainStreet project

By CostBenefit on Feb 3, 2006 | In Legal, Fines, Companies,CSR,Business,Finance, Real Estate Construction Housing, Economic Development and Green Jobs, Midwest, Newspaper/Mag/TV/Media Story

A St. Louis County judge ruled against the city of Sunset Hills in a suit brought by some landowners affected by the proposed MainStreet mixed-use development, appearing to nullify tax increment financing granted in the project. In a Jan. 30 order r… more »

Light bulbs: Not such a bright : Viewpoint: Matt Prescott

By CostBenefit on Feb 3, 2006 | In Air, Energy, Climate Change GHG Carbon CO2, U.S., U.K., Newspaper/Mag/TV/Media Story, Savings

Governments are wrestling with problems of rising energy demands, rising costs and the spectre of climate change. In this week's Green Room, Dr Matt Prescott argues there is an easy first step to dealing with all three issues - banning the traditional li… more »

Hanford cleanup's costs, delays examined

By CostBenefit on Feb 3, 2006 | In Energy, Contaminated Properties, Government Report, Companies,CSR,Business,Finance, West, Nuclear, Newspaper/Mag/TV/Media Story, Contamination Cost

A faulty early estimate and an overly optimistic attitude about the uncertainty and risk of building a complex plant at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation are major factors in the recent skyrocketing costs and delays, according to a new review. The U.S.… more »

Cardiovascular Disease Cost

By CostBenefit on Feb 3, 2006 | In Health, U.S., Research Institute NGO NonProfit

The cost of cardiovascular diseases and stroke in 2005 is estimated to be $393.5 billion, according to the American Heart Association and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). This figure includes both direct and indirect costs. Direct c… more »

Launch costs sting Volvo Q4, shares plunge

By CostBenefit on Feb 3, 2006 | In Air, Europe, Companies,CSR,Business,Finance, Transportation, Newspaper/Mag/TV/Media Story, Contamination Cost

Volvo (VOLVb.ST), the world's second biggest truck maker, posted an unexpected drop in fourth-quarter pretax profit on Friday, blaming the costs of product launches and production starts at its European trucks and engines businesses. The news, plus di… more »

Recycle or shoulder costs, says council

By CostBenefit on Feb 3, 2006 | In Government Report, Waste & Recycling, Newspaper/Mag/TV/Media Story, Australia, New Zealand, Contamination Cost

Whyalla residents need to recycle or they will face rising landfill costs, according to Whyalla City Council development manager Phil Turvey. A two-bin kerbside waste collection system and greater emphasis on recycling will be introduced as part of a… more »

Canadian Companies Ready to Act on and Disclose Carbon Emissions Risks

By CostBenefit on Feb 2, 2006 | In Climate Change GHG Carbon CO2, Companies,CSR,Business,Finance, Canada, Research Institute NGO NonProfit, Costs and Benefits

Canadian companies surveyed by The Conference Board of Canada are taking action to reduce carbon emissions not just to protect the environment, but for economic advantages, according to a new report. Also, the Conference Board today launched the Carbon D… more »

GASB Calls for Pollution Clean-Up Recognition

By CostBenefit on Feb 2, 2006 | In General, Government Report, U.S., Newspaper/Mag/TV/Media Story, Regulatory Analysis, Research Institute NGO NonProfit

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board issued an exposure draft that would require governments to account for all the obligations and costs related to pollution remediation. The board said that certain costs and long-term obligations are not spec… more »

XL subsidiary sues St. Louis Cardinals

By CostBenefit on Feb 2, 2006 | In Contaminated Properties, Legal, Fines, Companies,CSR,Business,Finance, Oil/Gasoline/Benzene, Brownfield Redevelopment, Midwest, Newspaper/Mag/TV/Media Story, Contamination Cost

XL Capital’s Greenwich Insurance Company is suing the St. Louis Cardinals claiming the baseball team hid a study showing its stadium was contaminated with petroleum and heavy metals. Greenwich, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bermuda insurer XL, filed a… more »

Alinean Launches Free ROI Analyst(TM) for Consultants and IT Executives

By CostBenefit on Feb 2, 2006 | In Non-Environmental, Companies,CSR,Business,Finance, Newspaper/Mag/TV/Media Story, Computer Software/Database/Model, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Costs and Benefits

Alinean today announced the release of ROI Analyst(TM) for Consultants and IT Executives, a free online application for analyzing the ROI and TCO of proposed investments. The ROI Analyst helps decision makers assess various business and TCO opportunities… more »

Is ethanol the answer?

By CostBenefit on Feb 2, 2006 | In Energy, Companies,CSR,Business,Finance, Transportation, Newspaper/Mag/TV/Media Story, Costs and Benefits

The pitch to run our cars and trucks on alcohol fuel sounds irresistible: It would eliminate most U.S. gasoline consumption; avoid the costs, delays and environmental impact of new oil refineries; and keep control of our fuel in America and out of often-… more »

PCB Damage to South Carolina Waters Costs Texas Company $20 Million

By CostBenefit on Feb 2, 2006 | In Water, Legal, Fines, Companies,CSR,Business,Finance, PCBs, Newspaper/Mag/TV/Media Story, Contamination Cost

Schlumberger Technology Corporation, headquartered in Texas, has agreed to pay $11.8 million to federal and state agencies for damge to natural resources caused by the presence of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB’s) in the Twelvemile Creek, Lake Hartwell a… more »

Hong Kong Shipper Hit With Big Fine for "Magic" Bypass Pipe

By CostBenefit on Feb 2, 2006 | In Water, Legal, Fines, Companies,CSR,Business,Finance, Massachusetts, Newspaper/Mag/TV/Media Story, Contamination Cost

MSC Ship Management Limited, a Hong Kong-based container ship company, has pleaded guilty and was sentenced to pay a $10 million criminal fine after admitting to engaging in conspiracy, obstruction of justice, destruction of evidence, false statements an… more »

Backlash at GE: Immelt and his company have become the unlikely darlings of the environmental movement, attracting jeers from conservatives.

By CostBenefit on Feb 1, 2006 | In General, Climate Change GHG Carbon CO2, Companies,CSR,Business,Finance, Newspaper/Mag/TV/Media Story, Costs and Benefits

If you run a big, highly-visible company in America, you can't please everyone, no matter what you do. Just ask Jeff Immelt, the chairman and CEO of General Electric. In the last year or so, Immelt and GE have become the unlikely darlings of the en… more »

Justice Perceptions as Predictors of Customer Satisfaction: The Impact of Distributive, Procedural, and Interactional Justice

By CostBenefit on Jan 31, 2006 | In Non-Environmental, Academic Study/Journal Article

This article attempts to extend prior research by testing the effects of justice components (distributive, procedural, and interactional) on customer satisfaction beyond the expectancy disconfirmation paradigm. To this end, two separate field survey stud… more »

Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Goods and Services: An Input-Ouput Approach by Chris T. Hendrickson, Lester B. Lave, and H. Scott Matthews

By CostBenefit on Jan 31, 2006 | In General, Green Buildings, U.S., Computer Software/Database/Model, Research Institute NGO NonProfit, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Environmental Economics / Ecological Economics, Costs and Benefits

This is the first comprehensive guide to green design using economic input-output life cycle assessment (EIO-LCA) models. It is a must-have for companies trying to improve the environmental profile of their products and processes, for regulators attempti… more »

Towards a Multi-Criteria Methodology for Assessment of Geological Carbon Storage Options

By CostBenefit on Jan 31, 2006 | In Climate Change GHG Carbon CO2, Academic Study/Journal Article, Costs and Benefits

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) could achieve drastic cuts in the CO2 emissions associated with fossil fuels in the near to medium term and has been promoted as a significant climate change mitigation option. As the profile of this family of technologie… more »

Former Harbor Island Smelter Operator To Pay $8.5 Million In Superfund Cleanup Costs

By CostBenefit on Jan 31, 2006 | In Contaminated Properties, Legal, Fines, Government Report, Companies,CSR,Business,Finance, Groundwater, Lead, West, Newspaper/Mag/TV/Media Story, Contamination Cost

RSR Corp. and its subsidiaries, Quemetco Inc. and QRI Inc., (RSR) have agreed to pay $8.5 million to resolve RSR's liability for cleanup costs relating to the contamination of Harbor Island, the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA… more »

Sustainable Management Approaches and Revitalization Tools electronic (SMARTe)

By CostBenefit on Jan 31, 2006 | In Government Report, U.S., Real Estate Construction Housing, Economic Development and Green Jobs, Brownfield Redevelopment, Computer Software/Database/Model, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Environmental Economics / Ecological Economics, Costs and Benefits

SMARTe is a joint effort of the U.S.-German Bilateral Working Group, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Interstate Technology Regulatory Council (ITRC) Brownfields Team. The tool is intended to be used by brownfield project stakeholders fo… more »

Examining the Factors Influencing Environmental Innovations

By CostBenefit on Jan 30, 2006 | In General, Europe, Academic Study/Journal Article, Research Institute NGO NonProfit, Environmental Economics / Ecological Economics, Costs and Benefits

Technological innovation is a key factor for achieving a better environmental performance of firms and the economy as a whole, to the extent that it helps to increase the material/energy efficiency of production processes and to reduce emission/effluents… more »

Texas engineers develop fuel cell using cheaper, more durable material

By CostBenefit on Jan 30, 2006 | In Energy, Academic Study/Journal Article, Texas, Newspaper/Mag/TV/Media Story, Savings

Mechanical engineers at the University of Texas at Austin have identified a material they believe will make cheaper, longer-lasting PEM fuel cells without compromising their energy production. Professor Arumugam Manthiram and colleagues reported recently… more »

Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World 2006

By CostBenefit on Jan 30, 2006 | In General, Companies,CSR,Business,Finance

The Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World is a project initiated by Corporate Knights Inc., with Innovest Strategic Value Advisors Inc. a research firm specializing in analyzing “non traditional” drivers of risk and shareholder value incl… more »

Axe to fall on rail network: Dozens of lines may shut as ministers draw up action plan for closures. Document reveals scheme for cuts as Treasury pushes for massive cash savings

By CostBenefit on Jan 29, 2006 | In General, Air, Government Report, U.K., Transportation, Newspaper/Mag/TV/Media Story, Regulatory Analysis, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Costs and Benefits

Ministers are preparing ways of closing or "mothballing" large sections of the railway network, according to an official document which was slipped out without publicity last week. Dozens of branch lines and secondary routes could shut, in what would… more »

Satisfaction with Democracy and the Environment in Western Europe: A Panel Analysis

By CostBenefit on Jan 29, 2006 | In General, Air, Climate Change GHG Carbon CO2, Europe, Academic Study/Journal Article, Environmental Economics / Ecological Economics

Alexander F. Wagner and Friedrich Georg Schneider construct a panel of satisfaction with democracy (SWD) and economic, institutional, and environmental variables for 1990-2001 for fifteen European countries. In this sample, controlling for a number of fa… more »

Small distributed generation versus centralised supply: a social cost–benefit analysis in the residential and service sectors

By CostBenefit on Jan 29, 2006 | In General, Air, Energy, Europe, Academic Study/Journal Article, Computer Software/Database/Model, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Environmental Economics / Ecological Economics, Costs and Benefits

This paper aims at measuring the social benefits of small CHP distributed generation (DG) in the residential and service sectors. We do this by comparing the social costs of decentralised and centralised supplies, simulating “ideal” situations in which a… more »

Developer's father left a polluted site in Ellsworth: Now, condo project touted as eco-friendly

By CostBenefit on Jan 29, 2006 | In Green Buildings, Contaminated Properties, Real Estate Construction Housing, Brownfield Redevelopment, South, Newspaper/Mag/TV/Media Story, Computer Software/Database/Model, Contamination Cost

A developer who touts his proposed Lake Charlevoix condominium project as environmentally friendly has family ties to an Ellsworth Superfund site where taxpayers paid millions to clean up after an abandoned steel plant. Fred Taylor, a Georgia business… more »

Advisers at forefront of environmental construction

By CostBenefit on Jan 29, 2006 | In Water, Energy, Green Buildings, Companies,CSR,Business,Finance, Newspaper/Mag/TV/Media Story, Savings, Southwest--AZ,TX,NM, Costs and Benefits

When Charles Popeck and Mark Wilhelm talk about light bulbs going off in people's heads, they are referring to compact fluorescent light bulbs, of course. The two are partners in an environmental-building consulting firm that is trying to ride the wav… more »

Rising construction costs fuel price hikes

By CostBenefit on Jan 29, 2006 | In General, Companies,CSR,Business,Finance, Real Estate Construction Housing, Florida, Newspaper/Mag/TV/Media Story

Commercial real estate in Tallahassee and surrounding areas is expected to slow a little in 2006, primarily because of rising construction costs, incomplete permit applications and higher rents, officials say. "I think one of the big stories is the co… more »