... Selecting criteria for new green product development project: ... Taiwan consumer electronics products as an example

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652611005105

Abstract: With changes in the environment and a rise of consciousness concerning environmental protection, industry has begun to devote research and develop into products which reflect the needs for environmental preservation as well as allow them to maintain their market share and competitive advantage. This study summarizes the impact of 24 elements of the R&D of new products in Taiwan’s consumer electronics industry through factor analysis of a practical survey given to those in this industry. Factor analysis extracted four separate factors that speak to the potential for new product development. These factors are as follows: the potential for new product development, identifying the favorable internal and external factors to bolster competitiveness, the capability for R&D mastery and consumer acceptance preferences. This study calculates the corresponding weights of each factor and then proceeds with fuzzy multiple attribute decision making (FMADM) directed at green product development projects possessing the four factors stated in relation to their corresponding weights and finally compares these results with the product development project prescribed by application of the checklist evaluation model. The results prove that FMADM not only reaches the same conclusions as the policy-making checklist but also takes fuzzy uncertainty into account, giving a reflection of the real-world situation.

by Chang-Chun Tsai; Department of Business Administration, TransWorld University, No. 1221, Zhennan Rd., Douliu, Yunlin 640, Taiwan, ROC
Journal of Cleaner Production via Elsevier Science Direct www.ScienceDirect.com
Volume 25; April, 2012; Pages 106–115
Keywords: New product; Green product; Factor analysis; Fuzzy multiple attribute decision making

On the Horizon, Planes Powered by Plant Fuel

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/on-the-horizon-planes-powered-by-plant-fuel
The use of jet fuel from renewable sources is now well demonstrated, but it costs more than double what fuel made from petroleum does, according to airlines, aircraft companies and suppliers. One way to cut the cost may be to tinker with the plants that biofuel is made from.

Take jatropha, for example. Lufthansa said last week that it had completed a series of more than 800 flights by an Airbus A321 that shuttled between Hamburg and Frankfurt while burning a 50 percent biofuel mix in one of its two engines. The biofuel was derived partly from jatropha, a tropical shrub with an oil-rich nut, and it cost about two and a half times what ordinary petroleum-based fuel does.

On Monday, the United States secretary of agriculture, Thomas Vilsack, speaking at Boeing’s headquarters in Chicago, identified a major impediment to the biofuels endeavor: the cost of harvesting and delivering the feedstock for biorefineries, the factories that make fuel from plant material.

Biologists and financiers are focusing on the problem. On Tuesday, a San Diego company, SG Biofuels, plans to announce $17 million in new financing from venture capital sources to continue its work on raising the yields from jatropha.

The company is trying to do for jatropha, whose fruit is inedible, what agronomists have done for food crops like wheat and corn, swapping genes among strains to produce varieties that are hardy and higher-yielding. The company said it had already raised yields of jatropha oil to 250 to 350 gallons per acre, double the normal output.
...
It was spread around the tropics by Portuguese sailors who believed it had medicinal properties.
...
Lufthansa used a mixture of jatropha and camelina, which is widely grown in the United States, and animal fats. After six months on the 50-50 blend, the engine appeared to be functioning normally, the airline said.
...
Carbon dioxide emissions declined about 60 percent, gallon for gallon, with the biofuel, Lufthansa said....

Some airlines have reported an even higher differential.

Of the cost, 80 to 85 percent involves the feedstock....

Lufthansa said it spent $8.4 million on the six-month test, with the European Union paying about one-third of the expense.

... Billy Glover, Boeing’s vice president for environment in its commercial airplane sector, said the company hoped to stabilize its greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 by using more efficient planes and more biofuels, while still allowing air travel to grow. By 2050, he said, the industry’s goal is to reduce emissions by 50 percent.

(In theory, the Obama administration’s goal is to cut American greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by that date, although the economy is not on track to accomplish that.)

Mr. Vilsack, the agriculture secretary, has been traveling the country preaching the virtues of fueling airplanes from farms. He said that his department would help establish eight to 10 biorefineries producing both vehicle fuel and aviation fuel.

The feedstocks will be specific to the region where the refineries were built — in some places, the nonfood parts of the corn plant, and in others, algae or switchgrass, he said. The department will subsidize the price of feedstocks to help bring the cost closer to competitive levels for the airlines, he said. The Navy has been lined up as a customer.
...
by Matthew Wald
FOR FULL STORY GO TO:
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/on-the-horizon-planes-powered-by-plant-fuel
The New York Times Green Blog http://green.blogs.nytimes.com
January 17, 2012

High Prices Will Limit Sales of Electric Vehicles in 2012

http://www.pikeresearch.com/newsroom/high-prices-will-limit-sales-of-electric-vehicles-in-2012

Many potential buyers will hold off on purchases of electric vehicles (EVs) during 2012 due to the premium pricing of the vehicles, according to a new white paper from Pike Research. Nissan raised the price of the Leaf for 2012, and while the 2012 Chevrolet Volt will sell for $1,000 less, the car comes without several features that were previously standard but are now options.  According to data from Pike Research’s annual Electric Vehicle Consumer Survey, the optimal price for a plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) to engage consumers is $23,750.  With the 2012 Toyota Prius PHEV ($32,000), the Honda Fit BEV ($36,625), and the Ford Focus EV ($39,995) all north of $30,000 (before federal incentives), consumers hoping for an affordable EV ride have been left wanting.  These relatively high selling prices will constrain the market for PEVs in 2012.  The white paper, which includes 10 predictions about the EV market in 2012, is available for free download on Pike Research’s website.

“Vehicles on sale in 2012 will not benefit from recent cost reductions in batteries,” says research director John Gartner.  “The batteries in these vehicles were ordered before 2012, so any flexibility in reducing vehicle pricing will not occur until 2013 or 2014 at the earliest.  Nevertheless, the global market for plug-in electric vehicles will grow to more than a quarter million vehicles in 2012 – a number sufficient to put an end to the ‘are they for real?’ speculation that has surrounded this market.”

Pike Research’s industry predictions for 2012 include the following:

• Car-sharing services will expand the market for EVs and hybrids.
• Battery production will outstrip vehicle production.
• The Asia Pacific region will become the early leader in vehicle-to-grid (V2G) systems.
• Third-party EV charging companies will dominate public charging sales.
• Employers will begin to purchase EV chargers in large numbers.
• EVs will begin to function as home appliances.

Pike Research’s white paper, “Electric Vehicles: 10 Predictions for 2012”, analyzes ten key trends that will influence the development of the electric vehicle market in 2012 and beyond.  Conclusions and predictions in this paper are drawn from the firm’s ongoing Smart Transportation research coverage, with forecasts included for key market sectors.  

During 2012, Pike Research estimates that global PEV sales will surpass 257,000 units.

The market for vehicles that can provide power to a building or the grid will be in its infancy in 2012 and will be driven primarily by fleets that can derive the most value from a vehicle’s battery. Asia Pacific (47% global share in 2012) will dominate this market because the higher penetration of PEVs in the region will create a sufficient amount of power potential for the grid.

A full copy of the white paper is available for free download on the firm’s website.

Pike Research www.PikeResearch.com
Press Release dated December 16, 2011

Another Pike release on December 19th at http://www.pikeresearch.com/newsroom/the-market-for-electric-vehicle-telematics-will-reach-1-4-billion-by-2017 entitled "The Market for Electric Vehicle Telematics Will Reach $1.4 Billion by 2017" noted that:

For early plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs), one of the key features for customers is not a component of the drivetrain, but rather, the telematics package.  Giving the driver the ability to check on the battery and the rate of charge, telematics serve as a lifeline of sorts to help alleviate concerns over the limited range of electric vehicles (range anxiety).  In addition, many manufacturers are developing applications that can provide details on where the closest charging stations are within range of the current battery level of charge.  According to a new report from Pike Research, nearly nine out of ten PEVs sold this year will include at least a basic telematics package, and that percentage will likely grow to 94% by 2017.  Annual revenue from worldwide sales of electric vehicle telematics will total $1.4 billion by 2017, the cleantech market intelligence firm forecasts.

A key group of players in the EV telematics supply chain will be wireless equipment manufacturers coming from outside the automotive industry, who are accustomed to more compressed product development timeframes than the carmakers use.

“The hardware manufacturers are experiencing a bit of a culture shock,” says senior research analyst Dave Hurst, “as automotive development generally targets an 8 to 10-year lifespan, compared to a 2 to 3-year lifespan for other wireless devices.  For this reason, despite the fact that much of the data being transferred in PEV telematics can be done easily with a slow GSM connection, most hardware manufacturers are targeting 3G services with their modems to ensure compatibility with the wireless network long term.”

In addition, while basic telematics packages that offer simple data connections for emergency services, breakdown calls, charging station locations, and diagnostics/vehicle monitoring will be standard features on most PEVs by 2017, many consumers will want more elaborate, connected vehicle telematics, which can provide live traffic, weather, streaming content, and cloud computing-based applications.  Pike Research’s analysis indicates that, by the end of the forecast period, 80% of PEVs will come with connected vehicle systems installed.  Those costlier packages will push average revenue per user (ARPU) for electric vehicle telematics to $13.27 by 2017, up from $10.65 today. 

Pike Research’s report, “Electric Vehicle Telematics”, analyzes the market opportunity for telematics in plug-in electric vehicles, including market forces, technology, government influence on the market, and key drivers of the growth and profiles of key market players.  The report includes plug-in electric vehicle sales, sales of basic and connected vehicle telematics, and global revenue forecasts through 2017, segmented by world region.  An Executive Summary of the report is available for free download on the firm’s website.

A Pike release on December 13th at http://www.pikeresearch.com/newsroom/electric-vehicle-charging-equipment-sales-to-reach-4-3-billion-worldwide-by-2017 entitled "Electric Vehicle Charging Equipment Sales to Reach $4.3 Billion Worldwide by 2017" noted that:

Sales of electric vehicles are expected to accelerate strongly over the next few years, and along with them will come rapid growth in deployment of charging equipment for the vehicles.  Two years from now, more than 80 different models of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) will be found on roadways across the globe, and by 2017, more than 5.1 million PEVs will be sold globally.  In many markets, the majority of customers who purchase a PEV will purchase charging equipment for their home.  At the same time, many cities and states are promoting the use of PEVs and installing EV charging systems as a means of reducing urban emissions.  According to a recent report from Pike Research, more than 1.5 million locations to charge vehicles will be available in the United States by 2017, with a total of 7.7 million locations worldwide.

This will translate into revenues of more than $4.3 billion for makers of electric vehicle charging equipment by 2017, the cleantech market intelligence firm forecasts, up from $400 million in 2011, representing a compound annual growth rate of 49%.

“Prices for EV charging equipment will fall by 37% through 2017 as costs are driven down by competition from large electronics companies as well as volume production,” says research director John Gartner.  “With each new electric vehicle model that gets launched, makers of charging equipment, city planners, and retailers gain an increased sense that EVs are here to stay.  This will encourage both the production and purchase of charging systems.”

The deployment of EV charging equipment will also have implications for electric utilities’ business models.  The impact of power delivered through EV charging units could shorten the lifespan of some neighborhood distribution equipment, such as transformers or power lines.  Some utilities are offering less expensive EV charging rates and time of use (TOU) pricing, with power purchased overnight costing a fraction of the peak power price.  The benefits of off-peak charging will encourage nearly all equipment purchases to be smart charging units that can be programmed remotely.  A number of pioneering utilities are beginning to invest in information technology (IT) and other smart grid equipment to accommodate the increased load.

Pike Research’s report, “Electric Vehicle Charging Equipment”, examines the growing global market for electric vehicle charging equipment and provides market analysis and forecasts for residential, workplace, public, and private charge points.  The study also analyzes the key emerging sectors of direct current (DC) charging equipment and wireless EV charging stations.  Key industry players are profiled and detailed charging equipment forecasts, segmented by world region and key countries, extend through 2017.  An Executive Summary of the report is available for free download on the firm’s website.

Userful to Demo Ultra-Low-Cost School Computing Solution at BETT 2012

http://userful.com/press/bett-multiseat-linux

Userful, "the world leader in Linux desktop virtualization", will be demonstrating the next generation of their Userful MultiSeat™ solution which turns one Linux computer into multiple high performance independent computer stations using the HP t200 thin client device, a multiseat device that can be connected either via USB or Ethernet using Userful's software. Userful MultiSeat enables schools to deploy more than twice as many computers for the same cost, while enabling multiple users to use different applications at the same time from one host computer, each with their own monitor, keyboard, and mouse. The new product truly redefines the cost of a full featured high performance computer.

Userful MultiSeat enables schools to quickly deploy large numbers of computer stations for a very low cost, whether in the classroom, computer lab, or school library. It is easy to set up, use and maintain, and provides teachers with the tools they need to give their students a high quality computer-based education. It dramatically reduces electricity use, paying for the computers in power savings alone in 4 years or less, and reduces environmental heat, noise and pollution at the same time. It also reduces infrastructure costs, by requiring fewer cables and fewer electrical outlets, and enables schools to reinvest by starting new computer labs with the computers recovered as a result of a MultiSeat computing upgrade.

"Userful is shaping the future of economically and environmentally sustainable educational computing," said Tim Griffin, President of Userful. "We've already done the world's largest ever desktop virtualization deployment, and one of the largest digital inclusion initiatives in the world. Userful is the perfect solution for anyone who wants the benefits of desktop virtualization, without the price tag."

More than 50,000 schools worldwide are already using Userful MultiSeat to provide millions of students with computer access. Userful has proven to be the computer solution of choice for governments with digital inclusion mandates to provide school age children with computer access, on limited budgets. Countries such as Brazil, who have already successfully deployed over 500,000 Userful computer stations to schools in every municipality, have shown that with the combined cost savings of Userful MultiSeat, Linux, and open source software, it is feasible to provide every student with a comprehensive education using computers, regardless of whether they live in a city or a remote indigenous village with little infrastructure. The Brazilian Ministry of Education has reported saving 60% in up-front costs, and 80% in annual power savings as compared to their previous PC-per-station solutions.

Userful MultiSeat Linux allows each student to individually control their own computer station and applications. To the students, it seems like they each have their own dedicated computer. In reality they are all sharing the resources of a single host computer. It's high performance, and set up is Plug-And-Play. Ten students can engage in multiple activities such as watching a full-screen video, exploring Google Earth, conducting research on the internet or using a word processor. It is easy to add new computer stations and teachers can easily expand the number of stations in their lab or classroom in minutes. Since it's Linux based, hundreds of educational software applications are available at no charge, including classroom computer management software for teachers. Teachers also don't need to worry about downtime. In the event that a host computer fails, teachers can simply move (hot-swap) the station cable to one of the other computers in the lab/classroom and the students can resume working.

Every ministry of education worldwide is eligible for a free 90 day pilot so that educators can easily experience first hand the high performance, and ease of use of the solution.

To arrange a demo, meeting, or interview at BETT, please e-mail karl@userful.com, or phone +1.403.289.2177 x218

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
For more information, visit http://userful.com/products/userful-multiseat-linux

For more information on the HP t200 multiseat device, visit: HP t200 Product Information
http://userful.com/press/bett-multiseat-linux
Press Release dated January 3, 2011

An App to Kill the Printed Catalog

http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/12/killer-app-catalog-spree-beating-printed-catalog/ 
The holiday season is the shopping season. It is also the catalog season, with tens of millions of glossy catalogs sent out to encourage people to shop. Although there’s nothing new about it, this year we can finally say there is a light at the end of the catalog tunnel. I’m talking about Catalog Spree, “the ultimate digital catalog shopping experience for the iPad.”

... It’s convenient, user-friendly, provides customers with a fun and easy shopping experience and retailers with an effective way to engage with customers, not to mention a better ROI. In other words, it’s a game changer.

... Printed catalogs [are] ... one of the most vivid examples for the unsustainability of the existing economic model. Think about it – each year, about 19 billion catalogs are mailed to American consumers. It means that every American receives more than 60 catalogs every year on average. Why? Because according to the Direct Marketing Association, printed catalogs provide a 7 to 1 ROI and an impressive direct order response rate of 2.24 percent....

... The only reason printed catalogs generate such ROI is because retailers don’t pay for their environmental impacts. These externalities include, according to Catalog Choice, 53 million trees that produce 3.6 million tons of paper, 5.2 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions, and 53 billion gallons of wastewater. If you would add these elements to the bill, I doubt how attractive the ROI of catalogs will look then.

In the last decade or so we have seen endless efforts to reduce the number of catalogs. Organizations and activists fought fiercely against retailers, tried to educate both the public and retailers why catalogs are bad for planet, created innovative tools such as Catalog Choice to help people opt out, supported legislation to ease the opt-out process, and so on. There were few victories here and then, but in all the number of printed catalogs continued to be stable.

The only thing that has put a dent in what seemed to be an unbeatable system is the economy. Rising production costs together with the sluggish economy got some retailers like Bloomingdales, Nordstrom and J. Crew to stop mailing catalogs to their customers and start showing them on their website. The digital shopping experience they provided was nice but not that great. Something was still missing there. Then came the iPad....

... In 2011 we have seen a growing number of companies and websites that are offering catalog apps...

Catalog Spree ... enables users to flip through catalogs from 150 retailers such as Coldwater Creek, JCPenney and American Girl. The app ... already has more than 150,000 users. Its business model is based on revenue share with some retailers and payments for traffic from others. It’s not clear if the company is profitable yet, but it secured a $6.1 million investment in Series A funding, led by Comcast Ventures, with participation from BlackBerry Partners Fund and El Dorado Ventures.

... Printed catalogs is a $300 billion industry and you start to see why they decided to invest money in Catalog Spree.... Filston [spends] .... $1 million ... on printed catalogs....

By Raz Godelnik, co-founder of Eco-Libris, a green company working to green up the book industry in the digital age and adjunct professor in the University of Delaware’s Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics.
FOR FULL POST GO TO:
http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/12/killer-app-catalog-spree-beating-printed-catalog/
Triple Pundit www.triplepundit.com 
December 23rd, 2011

According to https://www.catalogchoice.org/environmental-facts each year, 19 billion catalogs are mailed to American consumers. What's the impact?

• Number of trees used - 53 million trees
• Pounds of paper used - 3.6 million tons of paper
• Energy used to produce this volume of paper - 38 trillion BTUs, enough to power 1.2 million homes per year
• Contribution to global warming - 5.2 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions, equal to the annual emissions of two million cars
• Waste water discharges from this volume of paper - 53 billion gallons of water, enough to fill 81,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools

Environmental impact estimates were made using the Environmental Defense paper calculator.

The costs can be estimated crudely through a variety of sources.

According to the National Tree Benefit Calculator at http://www.treebenefits.com/calculator/  the value of a 24 inch maple tree in a park or vacant area in the North is $146 http://www.treebenefits.com/calculator/ReturnValues.cfm?climatezone=North.  According to http://www.arborday.org/trees/benefits.cfm the average value of a street tree is $525.  For 15 productive trees http://www.arnatural.org/forestry/timber.htm assigns a value of $239.74 or $15.98 per tree.  We have utilized a value of $16 per tree.

According to RISI PPI Pulp and Paper Week at http://www.cliffordpaper.com/cpidesktop/pulpandpaperlatest.pdf prices for coated paper in December ranged from $795-$1,350 per ton.  We conservatively used a price of $900 per ton.

According to a March 10, 2011 Federal Register Notice entitled "Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products: Representative Average Unit Costs of Energy" by the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office available at http://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2011/03/10/2011-5501/energy-conservation-program-for-consumer-products-representative-average-unit-costs-of-energy Representative Average Unit Costs of Energy per million BTU Electricity were $34.14 (11.65¢/kilowatt hour (kWh), for Natural Gas $11.01 ($1.101/therm or $11.29/MCF) and for Heating Oil $24.59 or $3.41/gallon.   We have utilized an estimate of $22.50 per million BTUs.

According to a February 10, 2010 Technical Support Document: "The Social Cost of Carbon for Regulatory Impact Analysis Under Executive Order 12866" available at  http://www.epa.gov/otaq/climate/regulations/scc-tsd.pdf an Interagency Working Group on the Social Cost of Carbon (SCC), United States Government with participation by the Council of Economic Advisers, the Council on Environmental Quality, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, the Department of Transportation, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Economic Council, the Office of Energy and Climate Change, the Office of Management and Budget, the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Department of the Treasury selected four SCC estimates for use in regulatory analyses. For 2010, these estimates are $5, $21, $35, and $65 (in 2007 dollars). The first three estimates are based on the average SCC across models and socio-economic and emissions scenarios at the 5, 3, and 2.5 percent discount rates, respectively. The fourth value is included to represent the higher-than-expected impacts from temperature change further out in the tails of the SCC distribution. The central value is the average SCC across models at the 3 percent discount rate. These SCC estimates grow over time. For instance, the central value increases to $24 per ton of CO2 in 2015 and $26 per ton of CO2 in 2020.  Based upon this we conservatively apply a value of $20 per ton.

According to http://www.co.lancaster.pa.us/toolbox/lib/toolbox/ruralww/muniwastedisposalmin.pdf centralized wastewater treatment facilities can cost anywhere from $20-$40 per gallon or more, depending on the size, the level of treatment required, the economy, and whether the project is a private job or a government job.

Tallying the costs results in the following: