Carbon Footprints

Conscious Livings Scott McCulloch investigates the hottest issue facing the planet, global warming, and the phenomenal response that may determine our future.

First came organic foods and fair trade products. Now, it seems, Americans are on the cusp of thoroughly embracing electric cars, planting more trees and going solar. Cynics say it’s a bid to soothe their collective conscience over global warming. But environmental proponents insist they’re doing their bit to reduce their “carbon footprint” – emissions that contribute to global warming – and save the planet. 

 

Carbon-caring Companies

American consumers are increasingly conscious of the social and environmental effects of their lifestyles. Fortunately, corporate America has taken notice and a virtuous circle between both entities is taking hold. DuPont has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 55% since 1991, saving an estimated $2 billion in the process. General Electric is doubling its investment in clean technologies, having already seen a fourfold growth in its wind power business. And PepsiCo’s commitment to diversity is central to its business strategy of developing and selling new products in growing markets, resulting in increased sales of over $100 million. Granted, not all companies have seen the business logic behind corporate responsibility. Exxon continues to thumb its nose at scientific facts regarding climate change, resisting pressure not only from Greenpeace but increasingly from the insurance industry, banks, and anyone else with a stake in a stable climate. But the oil company is fast becoming the exception.

Consumers and corporate America rarely dovetail on green issues, but if America’s retail giant Wal-Mart is anything to go by convergence is on the cards. Just by wrapping four kinds of produce in a polymer derived from corn instead of oil, the company claims it can save the equivalent of 800,000 gallons of gasoline. “Right-sizing” the boxes on just one line of toys – redesigning them to be just large enough for the contents – saves $3.5 million in trucking costs each year, and (by its estimate) 5,000 trees. Overnight, the retailer recently became the largest purchaser of organic cotton for clothing, and it will likely have a comparable impact on organic produce as well. This is in line with chief executive H. Lee Scott’s goal of reducing the company’s carbon footprint by 20% in seven years. If the whole country could do that, it would essentially meet the goals set by the Kyoto treaty on global warming, which the US, to the dismay of its European allies, refuses to sign.

The Big Picture

Even as “green” products make inroads among Wal-Mart’s budget-conscious masses, they are gathering cachet among an affluent new consumer category which marketers call “Lohas”: Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability. “The people who used to drive the VW bus to the co-op are now driving the Volvo to Whole Foods,” says David Brotherton, a Seattle consultant in corporate responsibility. Brotherton estimates the Lohas market, for everything from organic cosmetics to eco-resort holidays, at up to $200 billion. This is the market targeted by AOL founder Steve Case, who has poured much of his fortune into a “wellness” company called Revolution (it will own eco-resorts and alternative health-care ventures), and by Cottages and Gardens, a publishing company that has launched an upscale sustainable-lifestyle magazine called Verdant.

That’s a snapshot of America. In many ways Europe is miles ahead in the race to go carbon-neutral. When HSBC, Europe’s biggest bank, flies its executives around the world, it pays for the carbon dioxide emissions of every flight in the form of offsets, or investments in non-polluting energy projects. The busy London-Hong Kong route, for example, produces 2.76 tonnes of carbon dioxide per passenger, which the company offsets for roughly $4.45 a tonne, adding around $25 to the ticket price. (The amount varies with the price per ton of emissions.) Of the bank’s total carbon emissions this year, 10% will come from business travel, resulting in a fee of $310,000 in offsets. HSBC will pay $3 million more in offsets to achieve carbon neutrality, the first major bank to do so.

Meanwhile, a small town in England has gained attention in its effort to become the first carbon-neutral village in that country. According to the Ashton Hayes website, residents reduced their carbon emissions just by installing energy-efficient light bulbs, using their dryers and other appliances less and insulating their attics.

An Eye on America

Could Uncle Sam be doing more? Among American cities, few are as progressive as Austin, Texas, which recycles waste so assiduously that residents generated only 0.79 tonnes of rubbish per household last year, down from 1.14 tons in 1992. Austin’s city-owned electric company estimates that “renewable” power, mostly from west Texas wind farms, will account for 6% of its capacity this year, nearly doubling to 11% by 2008. Beginning in 2001, customers were allowed to purchase wind power at a price guaranteed for 10 years. But since it was more costly than conventional power, most people who signed up did so out of conviction – until last autumn, when rising natural-gas prices meant that conventional customers were paying more, and suddenly the company was overwhelmed with new converts to sustainable power.

Environmentalism waxes and wanes in importance in American politics, but it appears to be on the upswing. Membership in the Sierra Club, an environmental protection organisation, is up by one-third, to 800,000, in four years, and Gallup polling data show that the number of Americans who say they worry about the environment a “great deal” or “a fair amount” increased from 62% to 77% between 2004 and 2006. (The 2006 poll was done in March, before the attention-getting release of Al Gore’s global-warming film, An Inconvenient Truth.) Americans have come to this view by many routes, sometimes reluctantly.

Financial Incentives

No matter. The number of tree-huggers is growing, especially when financial incentives come into play. A government rebate programme to encourage small renewable energy projects has, in its first year and a half, awarded nearly $4 million to 400 homes and businesses in greater Boston – fuelling a trend towards energy independence that is becoming increasingly common in the region. At Sassafras Hill Farm in Plymouth, the roof is tiled with solar panels that provide more than enough hot water to heat the house, so the horses get warm showers. At Steve MacAusland’s century-old farmhouse in Dedham, solar panels and an efficient oil burner have freed him from electricity bills. By next year, Extrusion Technology Inc in Randolph plans to start using 192 solar panels mounted on its roof to supply 5% of the supply for the energy-intensive aluminium extrusion process.

“It’s the aggregate we’re concerned about,” says US Representative William Delahunt, who is working to establish an “energy independence corridor” that would focus on making biofuels available in Massachusetts. “I think in many respects, people not only see this in terms of respecting the environment. I think {quotes}there’s a growing consensus that we have to wean ourselves from our dependence on foreign oil.{/quotes}”

Oil is often at the core of US environmental debate. Pollution is inextricably linked. That’s because American motorists produce a staggering 1.7 billion tons of carbon per year. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, if every American household replaced one incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light, it would be the combined equivalent of preventing the pollution of a million automobiles.

Environmentally Friendly Cars

Better bulbs may be a good idea but America’s environmental enlightenment is unlikely to take on a fluorescent hue. So worried are Americans than rather than end their love affair with the automobile, they are embracing alternative fuels. Jim Press, president of Toyota Motor North America, says US motorists realise “hybrids” are a simple way to make an important difference in curbing foreign oil dependence, air pollution and greenhouse gases, all at once. “Plus, they are a heck of a lot of fun to drive,” he says. The popularity of hybrid vehicles, which use less fuel and increase efficiency by combining a small gasoline engine with a battery-run electric motor, has risen in recent years amid consumer concern over fuel prices and pollution. Some analysts expect that to continue with gasoline prices in the US now averaging about $2.80 per gallon and threatening to go higher in the event of a supply crisis.

Toyota has sold more than 351,000 hybrids in the US since first introducing the Prius hybrid in 2000. Last year Ford unveiled ambitious plans to accelerate its production of gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles – an area dominated by Toyota – reflecting broader anxiety at many US companies over Japan’s advantage in hybrid technologies. The carmaker intends to offer hybrid systems on half its models. If demand warrants, Ford says it will build up to 250,000 gasoline-electric hybrids a year by 2010, a tenfold increase from its current production. Still, that figure would only match the number of hybrids Toyota expects to make this year.

Meanwhile, General Motors says it will offer a new hybrid system on its Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon models beginning next year. But GM has not stated volume targets for hybrid vehicles, nor disclosed plans to offer the systems on as wide a range as Ford outlined. But hybrid cars still face hurdles, despite their popularity. They cost around $5,000 more each than standard models, and add weight and bulk which detract from performance and passenger space. Toyota’s rivals claim its hybrid vehicles do not deliver the fuel economy they promise.

Global Warming at the Office

Cars are not the only culprit. Buildings are a major contributor to global warming. According to a report from the Pew Center,buildings contribute a larger share of America’s carbon dioxide emissions than transportation does. {quotes}About half of all emissions from buildings, 21% of the nation’s total output, stem from home-energy consumption. (Think oil-fired furnaces and electrically powered air conditioning.{/quotes}

While cars and buildings still have room for improvement in the sustainability stakes, US agriculture is being reshaped by growing demand for corn to produce ethanol – which can be blended with gasoline to stretch supplies, or can power on its own the growing number of so-called flex-fuel cars. Four billion gallons will be produced this year, a doubling since 2003. Dave Nelson of Belmond, Iowa, now devotes as much land to growing corn for fuel as for food and after the starch is extracted for fermentation, the protein left behind gets fed to his pigs, which produce manure to fertilize the fields. “Not a thing is wasted,” says Nelson.

So where does the Bush administration come in to all of this? Peter Krull, a financial services expert, believes the US government could do more to encourage consumers to change their wasteful ways, “If you install a solar electric system in your home, you receive a $2,000 tax credit,” he explains. “That seems good until you realise that the system costs $20,000.” Krull is pushing for a 50% tax credit. “You could then justify spending $20,000, knowing you’ll recover half in tax advantages and the rest in lower electric bills. Any revenue losses should be offset by repealing coal company subsidies.” The US government gives car buyers a federal tax credit of $3,150 towards hybrid cars: mere crumbs, says Krull. “Is that enough incentive to get you to choose a Prius over a traditionally powered car?” he wonders. “Every American should be given the opportunity for a substantial tax credit of 25-33% of the cost of a hybrid.” Until that day comes, perhaps a new fluorescent light bulb will do the trick.