April 10, 2012 We are coming up soon on the 2nd anniversary of the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico. While the oil spill has been capped, the beaches cleaned, and most businesses returned to normal (or so we’re told), it is important to examine the lessons learned. While petroleum engineers [...]

March 27, 2012 One interesting area that makes sustainability unique is its necessary integration of business concepts as it addresses environmental issues. While in science we look at a wastewater discharge or an air emission by its characteristics, in sustainability we have the opportunity to take a more holistic approach to material and energy usage [...]

Becoming more sustainable or “going green” has been shown to be economically beneficial in a number of ways (see my article on the 9 Purely Business Reasons to Go Green). One pitfall that holds back some companies is the upfront costs. Although a smart sustainability program will provide ROI over time, many companies are hard-pressed [...]

February 7, 2012 The CCES Blog often contains tips to reduce your energy usage and therefore greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as cost effectively as possible. Here’s another such tip. Take a hard look at your mechanical equipment, mainly pumps. If they are more than a decade old, they may well be oversized for its function, [...]

Changing one’s ways or implementing new initiatives is difficult. It’s inconvenient. This seems especially true in the U.S. in recent years. Thus, the reluctance to implement smarter, cleaner strategies. Businesses in other nations have demonstrated that clean approaches – in operations and also in business strategies – have been successful in meeting the challenges of [...]

On Dec. 2, 2011, the USEPA released for public comment draft changes of final rules for reconsideration for industrial, commercial and institutional boilers under the MACT Hazardous Air Pollutant (HAP) program. These will be 40 CFR Part 63, Subpart DDDDD (“5 D’s”) for boilers at major sources for HAPs and Subpart JJJJJJ (“6 J’s”) for [...]

November 22, 2011 Thanksgiving and the year-end holidays are a time for big meals, family, etc. But we should always keep the thanks in Thanksgiving. Here are some statistics to drive home the importance of sustainability and for Thanksgiving. You probably heard the news story about a month ago that the Earth’s population has just [...]

November 2011 According to the USEPA, energy use in commercial and industrial buildings costs U.S. companies about $200 billion per year. And for many businesses, energy costs (with unit prices rising every year) are among their largest expenses. Therefore, the direct financial benefits of reducing energy use should drive all companies – even non-“smoke stack” [...]

Sept. 6, 2011 The roles of the renewable energy and green manufacturing sectors, the so-called “Clean Economy”, are set to be major issues in next year’s national elections and perhaps even sooner. While some, such as the Tea Party and other conservatives attack anything to do with climate change and environment (funny, those two concepts [...]

July 5, 2011 I hate to bring up this issue on Independence Weekend when we should celebrate the many great things about America. But we are falling behind the rest of the world in one area of great importance to us, and that is, clean energy and energy efficiency. The U.S. has an estimated 120 [...]