I don’t usually refer to articles on Techcrunch, since it is a tech/web 2.0 blog, but this was a good reference that was green related.  In the chart above, you can see that Clean tech investments have gone up significantly. It was no surprise, but at least we have evidence from the National Venture Capital Association(NVCA) and Thomson to back it up. In the first three quarters of 2007, clean tech investments make up 10 percent of all funding with 168 deals at $2.6 billion, while internet investments has 15 percent.  Out of the 168 deals, 149 are in the US with California accounting for 68 of them while Massachusetts was second with 11 deals. Solar energy was the biggest sub-sector with 35 deals while alternative energy had 33 and power supplies industries had 25 deals. We have not seen too much hype and attention to too many new clean tech startups and companies but it will interesting to see what will come out of this. I don’t see it as a bubble since it has just started but it will be exciting to see what happens in the next few years. If we do not see any results from all this clean tech boom, then investors would probably stop investing in them, so come on clean tech companies, let’s see some results!

via Techcrunch and NVCA

Nintendo was given a zero of out a possible 10 points in the Greenpeace ranking of 18 leading electronics companies. The environmental organization says that Nintendo has made no effort in providing information to its consumers about the substances and materials that are used in its manufacturing. Microsoft also scored poorly and ranked 16th. The most green companies on the Greenpeace list were Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications and Samsung Corp. There was an estimated  62.7 million units of game consoles sold last year and that number continues to grow. Every few years, companies come out with a newer, better, faster game console and most of the time, the old consoles will get retired. As the world consumes more electronic products every year, it is important to dispose of e-waste properly and making sure that both the manufacturing as well as the substances used in the products are more environmentally friendly.

via SFGate

Google announced that they will be spending hundreds of millions of dollars in developing renewable energy as part of a plan to clean up the environment. The project, “Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal,” has the goal of looking for a green energy alternative to coal. This is going to help Google’s image as they continue to become a greener company. Google also hopes to license any technology that comes out of this project and it will be probably be another source of revenue for the company. The company is hiring engineers and looking for investment financing for solar technologies. Google is currently one of the biggest energy customers in the Silicon Valley and it hopes to run its data centers one day with the new technology. With all the money that Google is making, it is good to see that the company continues to do things that will benefit everyone. At the rate this company is growing, they could very well take the lead in coming out with some breakthrough green technology.

via Reuters

Starting this Tuesday, grocery stores in San Francisco can no longer use plastic bags. Retail businesses and smaller grocery stores will still be allowed to use the bags.  An estimated 180 million plastic bags are handed out in the city of San Francisco each year and many of it ends up as garbage and contamination. Oakland already has a similar ban that will go into effect next year and London and Paris will also have a similar ban. Stores are only allowed to use bags that are made of 40% recycled paper. Not too long ago, SF grocery stores were charging customers 5 cents for a plastic bag, but now they are going to give away free paper bags. Wouldn’t it make more sense to charge people 5 cents for a paper bag? I am not sure I get the idea behind this new ban.

So are paper bags really better for the environment as opposed to plastic bags?

It takes about four times as much energy to produce a paper bag as opposed to a plastic bag but paper bags can also hold the same volume as about 4 plastic bags. Most kraft paper is made by heating wood chips under pressure at high temperatures in a chemical solution and that solution can contribute to more air and water pollutants than plastic bags. Plastic bags are a by-product of oil refining. It also takes 91% less energy to recycle one pound of plastic than it takes to recycle a pound of paper. People however, tend to recycle about 10-15% of paper bags and 1-3% of plastic bags. Research also shows that paper in today’s landfills does not necessarily degrade at a faster rate than plastic because of the conditions in our current landfills. Paper bags can be recycled but it goes through a long process of using chemicals to break down the paper into pulp and then washed with water to remove any ink. Plastic bags can be recycled but they do not compost and if left in a landfill, it can stay there for thousands of years.

Obviously from the above, neither are really that great for the environment. Paper consumes more resources to produce, but it can be composted. Plastic however, takes less energy to produce and is more efficiently produced while also slightly easier to recycle. We all know that humans can be very incompetent and assuming everyone ends up throwing their bags away anyways, paper bags would be a better option since they will eventually decompose. Paper bags, however, take a lot more effort to produce and to recycle. The simple answer is to use reusable bags as the best solution. They are usually made from renewable resources and are more durable and you also get to save 3-5 cents per bag you bring to the grocery store.

There are plenty of debates of whether paper vs plastic is better for the environment. You can read more about how paper and plastic bags are made at Greenfeet.com, and at this site by Rachel Decker, as well as all over the Internet.

via SFGate and ReusableBags.com

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