Is Ethanol Really Green?

There's an interesting article over at the Grist magazine that discusses the ins and outs of the much talked about ethanol fuel and asks is it really as green as people are saying?
Having a believer in ethanol fuel like George W Bush probably meant that sooner or later, he would find a way to make a green fuel black. With the support of Bush, more and more ethanol manufacturers will be powering their plants with dirty coal, while the cleaner and costlier natural gas alternative will become a thing of the past.
Isn't this just taking one step forward and two steps back? Why bother with ethanol anyway! Why not just invade some countries and steal their oil? Oh wait, that's already happening.
Anyway, that's my rant for the day..
The article over at Grist is worth checking out..
Warts and Ethanol
"Instead of striving to produce the cleanest, greenest ethanol, however, many in the industry want to keep production costs as low as possible, and they're supported by members of Congress who also want to use ethanol's soaring popularity to bolster the coal industry. In March, the EPA -- reportedly at the behest of at least one corn-state politician -- proposed changing a rule in order to let ethanol-fuel plants more than double their air emissions, from 100 tons per year of any pollutant regulated under the Clean Air Act to 250 tons per year." Grist

>> George W Bush, Ethanol Investing

XXX Domain Names

After the recent rejection of the .XXX domain by ICANN, a Florida based company is planning to sue the US government because of the influence it had on ICANN.
Various influential groups and organizations are objecting to the xxx domain because of ideological reasons, but wouldn't it make it easier to filter these type of websites? Of course there will always be porn using .com and .net domains, but at least filtering .xxx domains would easily block a big portion of porn.
Obviously it is in the financial interests of the ICM Registry to have the .xxx domain approved as they stand to make many millions every year from them, but I haven't seen one good reason why there shouldn't be a dedicated .xxx domain for porn websites.

Domain Wars Rage On
"None of ICANN's ruling-committee members cited pressure from conservative groups or the Commerce Dept. as a reason for voting against the .xxx domain. But ICM Registry begs to differ and says a decision made on ideological grounds is illegitimate. "Commerce has been treating ICANN, an independent nonprofit, like a government agency without the authority to do so," says Stuart Lawley, Chairman and President of ICM Registry." Business Week
>> Politics

Google Frees Hens

As Google grows it is affecting more than just the internet. With 6000 employees and a big food culture at the Googleplex, they also eat a lot of eggs!
More and more large corporations are becoming responsible citizens and using their power to affect change. Changing from caged egg laying hens to free range hens is small, but welcome step. Google consumes more than 600,000 eggs a year, which means they'll now be supporting a few happier hens each year!
Google uses clout to free hens
Animal rights groups urged the switch, noting that at many large farms, six or more hens are confined in a single wire cage. For 12 to 18 months they cannot flap their wings or forage for food, and egg industry guidelines require only 67 square inches of space for each bird to live out its life -- an area two-thirds the size of a sheet of notebook paper.
"This is a matter of common decency," said Paul Shapiro, director of the factory-farming campaign at the Humane Society of the United States, in Washington D.C. "These animals are completely at our mercy. It should be a source of shame for us how miserably we treat them." Mercury News
>> Google News, Business Ethics

Ford Greener Miles

The Ford Motor Company is taking notice of the demand for all things clean and green by starting a new initiative to allow drivers to offset their carbon dioxide assault.
Ford is teaming up with Terrapass to encourage drivers to pay an annual fee, ranging from $29.95 to $79.95 to make their driving carbon neutral. For each mile you drive, you pay to offset it by supporting green projects.
According to the Greener Miles / TerrPass website..
"For our Greener Miles program, we fund two types of leading-edge projects: wind energy from farms in the American Midwest; and biomass such as dairy farm methane. All of our investments are third-party verified by Green-e, one of the country's leading authorities on renewable energy certification, so all results are measurable and every transaction is transparent."
It's a very small step forward for a very large company that plays a major role in contributing to the greenhouse gas emissions produced by vehicles in the United States (which amounts to 20% of all gases produced in the U.S.). But!, any step forward is a good step, even if it was forced upon them by consumers.
>> Ford Cars News, Environment News

Business Roundtable Report

The Australian Business Roundtable on Climate Change has recently reported that if businesses act early, they can help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at an affordable price. The report come up with the following points..

• A 60 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is possible while maintaining strong economic growth, with real GDP averaging 2.1 per cent p.a. through to 2050 if early action is taken;
• In comparison to early action, delaying action to 2022 would result in lower real GDP growth by an average of 0.2 per cent p.a. through to 2050, and concentrate any disruptive shocks over a shorter period;
• An additional 3.5 million jobs will still be created in the economy under the early action scenario over the period 2013-2050; equating to 250,000 more jobs than under the delayed action scenario.

Read more about the findings, and see some of the actions suggested over at ACF.
>> Climate Change, Major Companies