“Zeta Communities broke ground yesterday on a net-zero housing development in Stockton, Calif., the company announced.
The housing community, which will consist of 22 units, is being developed by the nonprofit group Visionary Home Builders of California.”
California city to get green prefab housing via Candace Lombardi – CNET News
“Arizona is burning. Texas, too. New Mexico is next. If you need a grim reminder that an already arid West is burning up and blowing away, here it is. As I write this, more than 700 square miles of Arizona and more than 4,300 square miles of Texas have been swept by monster wildfires. Consider those massive columns of acrid smoke drifting eastward as a kind of smoke signal warning us that a globally warming world is not a matter of some future worst-case scenario. It’s happening right here, right now.
Air tankers have been dropping fire retardant on what is being called the Wallow fire in Arizona and firefighting crews have been mobilized from across the West, but the fire remained “zero contained” for most of last week and only 18 percent so early in the new week, too big to touch with mere human tools like hoses, shovels, saws, and bulldozers. Walls of flame 100 feet high rolled over the land like a tsunami from Hades. The heat from such a fire is so intense and immense that it can create small tornadoes of red embers that cannot be knocked down and smothered by water or chemicals. These are not your grandfather’s forest fires.”
How the West was lost to wildfires via Chip Ward – Toms Dispatch – Grist
“Let’s be honest. Creating an environmentally sustainable business is a challenge. There are several factors that go into the green equation, from water and energy use to ecological impact, but the idea is to start somewhere and, often times, the best way to start is by tracking the sustainability footprint of your own company.
Twelve years ago, Ford Motor Company began releasing its annual sustainability report, designed to both highlight the company’s progress in sustainable practices and also show us where our efforts could be improved. Over the years, we’ve seen significant progress in reducing vehicle emissions, increasing the volume of sustainable and recycled materials used in manufacturing, and putting fuel-efficient vehicles on the road, among other things.”
Why CSR Reports Are a Useful Tool for Greening Your Business via John Viera – Ford – GreenBiz.com
“When I posted a video on how to keep bees on the rooftops of New York City, I noted that it was the lifting of the city’s ban on beekeeping that was making all this possible. Many beekeepers, however, have been at it since long before the ban—and now that they are free from prosecution, they are coming out of the closet. Check out Andrew Coté, the “guru of New York beekeeping”, as he teaches some would-be beekeepers the tricks of the trade on Brooklyn rooftops and swanky Manhattan balconies.”
More Beekeeping on the Rooftops of New York (Video) via Sami Grover – Treehugger
“It was just a few years ago that Ford, along with the rest of Detroit’s auto manufacturers, found themselves sidelined for ignoring fuel efficiency. How times have changed. These days, Ford likes to stress that theyoffer 12 vehicles which achieve best-in-class fuel economy across various market segments, and sell four vehicles that get in excess of 40 mpg. Yesterday, Jim Farley, Group Vice President of Marketing, Sales and Service at Ford Motor Company announced their future vehicle electrification plans will continue to deliver on their so called “green-pillar” commitment, further enhancing consumer choice of fuel efficient vehicles.”
Ford Announces Extension to Range of Electrified Vehicles via Phil Covington – Triple Pundit
Sterling Heights, Mich., June 9, 2011 – Ford Motor Company announced today it is tripling production capacity of its electrified vehicle lineup through 2013, further boosting volumes of its all-new C-MAX Hybrid and C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrid, which begin production next year.
“Customers have come to expect fuel efficiency with every new vehicle Ford delivers today, and now we are further differentiating our electrified vehicle lineup with something else people truly value – choice,” said Jim Farley, Ford’s group vice president of Marketing, Sales and Service. “Whether people want a hybrid, a plug-in hybrid or full battery electric vehicle, we have a family of vehicles for them to consider, providing a range of options to best meet their needs and support their driving habits and lifestyles.”
Ford is electrifying platforms – versus a single vehicle – to offer customers the most choice. Five electrified vehicles are planned for North America by 2012 – including the Transit Connect Electric, on sale now, and Focus Electric this year. The C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrid and C-MAX Hybrid will be followed by another next-generation hybrid in 2012.
Today, Ford sells approximately 35,000 electrified vehicles a year, led by the Fusion Hybrid and Escape Hybrid – the most fuel-efficient midsize sedan in America and the most fuel-efficient SUV in the world, respectively.
Ford will grow its electrified vehicle production capacity to more than 100,000 annually by 2013, thanks to growing consumer appetites for green vehicles and growing desires for stylish new Focus-sized vehicles.
The new Ford C-MAX five-passenger vehicle, which is the base for the C-MAX Hybrid and C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrid, is leaving European dealer lots at twice the rate of last year’s model. More than 100,000 of these new vehicles have been sold in Europe since its launch in late 2010, and Ford is already finding new ways to produce more European C-MAX models than originally expected at its Valencia, Spain, plant.
“European customers are snapping up our C-MAX five-passenger models, telling us they love the vehicle’s sporty appearance, driving quality, interior comfort and clever use of space,” Farley said. “We plan to be aggressive in delivering products like this that people really want and make smart decisions supporting our One Ford plan.”
Ford’s plan to invest in even more capacity for its five-passenger C-MAX electrified models for North America replaces an earlier plan of introducing the gasoline-engine-powered seven-passenger C-MAX multi-activity vehicle.
This also marks the first time North American customers will have the choice of a dedicated body style for a range of Ford electrified vehicles.
Emerging “Green” Center of Manufacturing Excellence
Both the C-MAX Hybrid and C-MAX Energi models will be built alongside the all-new 2012 Ford Focus and Focus Electric at Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Mich., the first plant in the world to produce gasoline-powered vehicles, full-electric vehicles, hybrid and plug-in hybrids under one roof.
The plant’s production is powered in part by one of the largest solar energy generator systems in the state.
The new green vehicle lineup also is bringing jobs to Ford and America.
In total, Ford is adding more than 220 green technology jobs in Michigan alone as the state becomes its center of excellence for vehicle electrification. This includes a combined 170 jobs at Ford’s Rawsonville and Van Dyke Transmission plants, plus more than 50 new engineers based in Dearborn in the past 12 months specifically for the design and development of key component for Ford hybrids, plug-in hybrids and full battery electric vehicles.
Employees at the Rawsonville Plant in Ypsilanti, Mich., are on tap to assemble advanced lithium-ion battery packs for C-MAX Hybrid, and today Ford confirmed the larger lithium-ion battery packs for C-MAX Energi also will be produced at Rawsonville. Production currently is performed by a supplier in Mexico.
Both battery packs are being designed in-house by Ford engineers. Although the battery packs differ in size, energy storage and power output, they are designed for efficient production in the same flexible manufacturing facility.
Ford’s Van Dyke Transmission Plant in Sterling Heights, Mich., also benefits from electrified versions of the C-MAX. Employees there are building the electric drive transaxles, work currently outsourced to a supplier facility in Japan for current model hybrids.
“Ford’s commitment to grow our electrified vehicle family brings good news for our customers, employees, the economy and the environment,” Farley said.
Efficiency comes standard
The new Ford C-MAX Hybrid is targeted to deliver better mpg than Fusion Hybrid and is the first of two new Ford Hybrids to use lithium ion battery technology. Lithium-ion batteries are up to 50 percent lighter and 25 percent smaller than current nickel-metal-hydride batteries and increase the amount of energy available to extend the vehicle’s driving distance and boost fuel economy.
This all-new hybrid also will travel at a higher all-electric speed than Fusion Hybrid’s 47 mph.
The C-MAX Energi, featuring a 240-volt charging system, will be able to fully recharge faster than Chevy Volt and is being engineered to deliver more overall driving range than any other plug-in or extended range electric vehicle. It is also targeted to achieve AT-PZEV status.
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About Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 166,000 employees and about 70 plants worldwide, the company’s automotive brands include Ford and Lincoln. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford’s products, please visit www.ford.com.
“Actor Mark Ruffalo, who lives in a rural New York town on the Delaware River with his family, is not one of those celebrities who parachutes into a random political cause and starts ignorantly pontificating about solutions. He has been actively involved with efforts to keep potentially disastrous hydrofracking practices out of New York State for three years, and he knows his stuff. He’s even co-founded his own initiative on water quality, Water Defense.
Now Ruffalo has banded together with some other famous friends, including Ethan Hawke and Zoe Saldana, to make a new video, “I Love My New York Water,” that he hopes will encourage people to get involved in the battle to keep New York’s water safe from the effects of hydrofracking. Fracking, in case you don’t know, is a controversial natural gas extraction process that has the potential to cause severe environmental damage (remember the flaming faucets in Gasland?). “It is a new technology, ” Ruffalo told me. “The industry is using us as guinea pigs. The more we learn about it, the uglier it looks.”
Mark Ruffalo wants you to stand up against hydrofracking via Sarah Goodyear – Grist
Jun 9
“We live in a world dominated by risk. Corporations obsess over it; governments are ruled by it. Those in power make decisions based on the likelihood of unforeseen events—sudden conflict, popular uprisings, disasters. As we enter the second decade of the twenty-first century, we’re beginning to see a new pattern, a new landscape of threat, emerging from the wreckage of Fukushima, Macondo and Misrata. A series of unexpected events have overthrown governments and brought huge companies to the point of collapse. It’s time for the decision-makers to realize that dirty energy is no longer the safe bet. Renewable energy is safer, smarter and more resilient.”
The Safe Bet: Renewables via Kumi Naidoo – The Nation
“Environmentalists have launched a global campaign against Mattel Inc., the world’s largest toy company, as part of a decade-long effort to force multinational corporations to purge their operations of any links to rain forest destruction.
On Tuesday, Greenpeace activists in turquoise vests rappelled down the face of the company’s 15-story headquarters in El Segundo and hung a giant banner depicting a frowning Ken doll with the message: “Barbie: it’s over. I don’t date girls that are into deforestation.”‘
Greenpeace stages protest at Mattel office over Barbie packaging via Margort Roosvelt – LA Times
“Reporting from Washington— Not so long ago Barack Obama and his campaign team might have masterminded the kind of conference that is unfolding in downtown Washington, D.C.
Thousands of college students and idealistic young voters came in this weekend to learn organizing techniques aimed at pushing the country toward renewable energy.
But in a measure of how much has changed since the “Yes We Can” spirit of Obama 2008, many in attendance now see him as something of an obstacle.
Frustrated by the pace of clean-energy initiatives, they are planning to use organizing techniques borrowed from the Obama campaign to pressure him to rethink his energy policy.”
For young environmental activists, Obama’s now the one to pressure via Peter Nicholas – LA Times