ATLANTA, Georgia, May 18, 2009 (ENS) – For some of its beverages, The Coca-Cola Company is introducing a new type of plastic bottle made partially from plants.

The world’s largest beverage company says its new PlantBottle™ is recyclable, has a lower reliance on a non-renewable resource, and reduces carbon emissions compared with petroleum-based PET plastic bottles.

PET plastic bottles are made from petroleum, a non-renewable resource. The new bottle is made from a blend of petroleum-based materials and up to 30 percent plant-based materials such as sugar cane and molasses.

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President Obama talked about green jobs and rebuilding America in many of his speeches throughout the 2008 Presidential Campaign. Now it is time for a real look at what he is proposing in his stimulus plan.

Chief among Obama’s green committments are money for heat insulation and energy conservation in low income homes; an initiative to modernize federal buildings; a new and improved power grid, and R&D money to build more renewables. All of these are present in the Obama stimulus plan. So far the new President seems to be a man of his word.

Obama’s stimulus plan even seems to deal with fine nuances that most people would not assume a Government would cover. For instance, the development of new electric battery technologies for hybrid cars and purely electric cars is included in the plan.

All of these details are incredibly important for the short-term and especially the long-term health of the U.S. economy. In the short term, as contracts are awarded to private companies to fulfill various government agencies imperatives laid out in the stimulus plan, these companies will have to hire more people to fulfill their contractual obligations. In turn, the companies that provide parts or raw materials will also have an increased demand for their products. This will all result in more and more jobs as time goes on. This process will take 6 months to a year to really get going however, so be patient and remember, miracles do not happen overnight.

In the longer-term, green technologies may be to the 21st century American economy as automobiles were to the majority of the 20th century economy. If America can start to produce cutting edge green technology, we can export this technology all around the world and reap in the profits. It will be a long road, but the payoff is worth it.

Shai Agassi courageously works to change the nature of transportation in Israel; Mr. Agassi’s company has the eventual goal of expanding their operations to countries all around the world. As founder and CEO of Project Better Place, Mr. Agassi created his business based on the idea that consumers can support a shift from fossil fuel cars to electric cars. This blog writer agrees heartily with Shai Agassi that consumers would love to support a green technology if it were made affordable to them.

In order to provide these commercial options to every day people, there are some deals that need to be made with car manufacturers, electricity suppliers and even some incentive programs within the Israeli government.

Project Better Place worked with car manufacturers to get them to produce a special line of electric cars. So far, they have gotten Nissan to agree to manufacture an electric car. Hopefully all the auto makers will jump on board soon.

The next step was convincing the Israeli government to create special tax subsidies that would reward purchasers of electric vehicles. These tasks accomplished, the last step is to insure that there is an energy infrastructure in place so that people can charge up their new electric vehicles with ease.

Electric cars have one notable limitation: the fact that they rely on batteries that need recharging. Project Better Place is working on creating a network of recharging stations and battery swapping stations so that people can easily “charge up” their vehicles. While this step is by far the most expensive part of the electric car solution, it is also a business opportunity ripe for the picking; electric charging stations will cost money to run, but they will also be able to charge their customers for the service. Since customers will be able to charge their batteries anywhere, these charging stations would be advised to hook themself up to the electric grid in general, so that they can also sell energy on the grid for domestic use, thereby shielding themselves from sales slumps where their customers simply charge up at home.

Check out the full episode of ECO HEROES with Shai Agassi.

In order to get a geographic appreciation of Project Better Place, make sure to check out Shai Agassi’s Map Marker [www.sundancechannel.com] on Eco-mmunity Map.

Feel free to leave comments on this post and click the following link to find Project Better Place [www.projectbetterplace.com].

Discover More ECO HEROES using the links below:

Jonathan Demme [www.sundancechannel.com]

Ira Ehrenpreis @ Technology Partners [www.sundancechannel.com]

Jerry Fiddler @ Solazyme [www.sundancechannel.com]

Sarah Gitlin @ Dalton High School [www.sundancechannel.com]

Shai Agassi @ Project Better Place [www.sundancechannel.com]

Sherry Strong [www.sundancechannel.com]

Zem Joaquin [www.sundancechannel.com]

Adam Green [www.sundancechannel.com]

Robert Thurman [www.sundancechannel.com]

Joanna Opot @ Starting Bloc [www.sundancechannel.com]

James Wells @ Sustainable South Bronx [www.sundancechannel.com]

ROUND ROCK, Texas, April 8, 2008 (ENS) – Computer giant Dell is serious about meeting its commitment to become carbon neutral this year.

Dell announced April 2 that its entire 2.1 million square-foot global headquarters campus, home to more than 10,000 employees, is now powered with green energy.

“It’s time for our industry to take a lead role in creating a clean energy future,” said Paul Bell, president, Dell Americas. “Today, we are challenging every technology company to work with their suppliers and partners in integrating green power and energy-efficient strategies into their operations.”

Powered by renewables now, Dell’s headquarters
building no longer uses fossil fuels.
(Photo courtesy Dell)

In September 2007, Dell announced it would make company owned and leased facilities “carbon neutral” in 2008 through a strategy of improving energy-efficiency in its operations and maximizing the purchase of renewable power. Being carbon neutral means zero total carbon release, brought about by balancing the amount of carbon released with the amount sequestered or offset.

This commitment is part of the company’s climate strategy which also seeks to minimize carbon impact of supplier operations and customer product use.

To run its operations, Dell is using all of the power generated from Waste Management’s Austin Community Landfill gas-to-energy plant, meeting 40 percent of Dell headquarters’ campus power needs.

The remaining 60 percent comes from existing wind farms and is provided by TXU Energy.

“Powering an entire campus with green power, in partnership with these two leading companies, is an important step in becoming the greenest technology company on the planet and the right thing to do for our shared earth,” said Bell. “At the same time we’re using green technology to drive operating expense down.”

Dell also announced today it is increasing green power use for its Austin Parmer Campus, provided by Austin Energy, from eight to 17 percent. The company participates in Austin Energy’s GreenChoice® power program.

In addition, Dell is powering its Twin Falls, Idaho, facility with 100 percent green power, 97 percent of which is wind power and three percent solar.

The company expects to save nearly $2 million annually in operating costs and cut CO2 equivalent emissions by nearly 12,000 tons per year with energy efficiency changes already in place on the Texas campuses.

Dell says the purchase of green power gives the company “price certainty on its operational costs for power,” and the company expects it may see cost benefits to using green power in the future.

David Steiner, chief executive officer of Waste Management, Inc. said the Dell project is a key part of his company’s environmental initiative to increase the production of waste based energy. “Today, we create enough energy for the equivalent of one million homes each year and by 2020 we expect to double that output, producing enough energy for the equivalent of more than two million homes,” he said.

“This is yet another example of TXU Energy’s commitment to offering renewable power choices that are good for business and the environment,” said Jim Burke, TXU’s chief executive.

“TXU Energy is dedicated to improving our use of renewable power and encouraging greater energy efficiency, both of which help preserve our environment,” he said.

“For Dell to partner with Waste Management and TXU to source renewable energy on this scale is great news,” said Steve Howard, CEO of The Climate Group, an independent nonprofit that works with government and business leaders to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy.

“Greening the company’s Texas operations not only underpins Dell’s bold carbon neutral commitment but helps drive clean energy investment and tackles climate change.”

View This Story On Eco–mmunity Map.