MORE NEWS, 10-6: WHO OWNS THE WIND?; GREENEST CELL PHONES…; …AND GREENEST CELL PHONE COMPANIES; GARBAGE IS ONE ANSWER

WHO OWNS THE WIND?
Wyoming Considers Nature Of Wind Rights
Matt Joyce, October 4, 2009 (AP via CBS4 Denver)

"As developers pursue the construction of wind farms in Wyoming, some questions linger about the nature of wind rights and how they relate to land ownership.

"Wyoming lawyers generally agree that whoever owns the surface of the land also owns the rights to develop wind resources. But the Wyoming Legislature has not addressed whether landowners can sever wind resources from their property, as state law allows for mineral resources…"

Actually, they're both PLENTY feasible, which is why the law needs to be clear about the rights of the landowners on which the sun shines and the wind blows. (click to enlarge)

"Federal law doesn't address whether wind rights can be severed from surface estate. Some nearby states, including South Dakota, North Dakota and Nebraska, have enacted laws tying wind resources to the surface estate. Nebraska passed its law this year, while North Dakota addressed the issue in 2007 and South Dakota in 1996.

"When wind rights are severed, it can be burdensome to the landowner…[The owner losses] control over the surface of the land…[I]t could be complicated to negotiate land access between a surface owner and a different party with ownership of the wind resource…[If one party owns both, the incentive is to optimize all uses]…"

With wind assets like this, it's obvious why Wyoming needs to get these legal niceties settled. (click to enlarge)

"Ronald Lehr, western representative for the American Wind Energy Association, a trade group, said wind developers are accustomed to dealing with restrictions on land they lease to build wind farms. The association recommends that landowners get a lawyer to make sure their rights are protected when negotiating with developers…

"Dennis Stickley, a professor of energy law at the University of Wyoming, said he's heard of examples in Wyoming of landowners splitting their surface and wind rights. He said the Wyoming Legislature should address the question of whether that should be legal…[but the] chairman of a [Wyoming] legislative task force studying potential wind laws said he doesn't believe the Legislature [is knowledgeable enough to] tackle wind rights during this winter's session…"


GREENEST CELL PHONES…
Mobile phone companies rated "greenest" in Greenpeace study
Damian Koh, October 5, 2009 (CNET Asia)

"At least a handful of "green" handsets were unveiled in the last three quarters. While most of these devices are still concepts or prototypes, their growing numbers compared with previous years point to a rising interest in environmentally friendly solutions.

"Companies we spoke to including Apple, Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson weren't able to provide figures on the return on investment for their green initiatives or what percentage this takes up of their overall budgets. But we do have an idea of how the companies stand in a recent report by Greenpeace."

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"In Greenpeace's Guide to Greener Electronics released last month, Nokia was ranked as the greenest company due to the success of its take-back program for used phones as well as providing information to users on what to do with their discarded devices.

"Samsung garnered second position and performed relatively well on all criteria, while Sony Ericsson scored third for its toxic chemical management, let down only by a weak score on waste and recycling issues."

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"Among the key phone-makers, LG's position dived (from 4th to 11th place) after delaying its commitment to remove PVCs and BFRs from all its products including TVs and monitors by end 2010. Now, only mobile phones will be free of these toxic substances from 2010.

"The study, begun in 2006 and updated every few months, ranks electronics companies based on their toxic chemicals and recycling policies, as well as how they deal with electronic waste and climate change…While this gives an estimate scale of how green a company is, it's worth noting that there is still no one agreed standard involving environmental and carbon footprint issues…"


…AND GREENEST CELL PHONE COMPANIES
How Green Is Your Mobile Phone Company?
Jim Witkin, October 5, 2009 (NY Times)

"In the crowded field of North American mobile phone companies, AT&T Wireless leads its competitors in efforts to reduce its environmental impact, according to [North American Green Carrier Matrix], a technology market research firm…Sprint Nextel ranks a close second, while Verizon placed a distant third…

"Global computer and telecommunications networks account for 2 to 3 percent of annual greenhouse gas emissions, according to A.B.I., but mobile phone networks only contribute 10 percent of this amount — or 0.2 percent."

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"Still, with mobile phone companies spending close to 80 percent of their energy dollars on powering their vast, nationwide networks, lowering their consumption can have a huge bottom-line impact…

"Efficiency gains in mobile network equipment have had the greatest impact on reducing energy consumption…[M]obile companies can now do more with less, reducing the amount of equipment in their networks, without sacrificing service to customers."

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"…AT&T estimates it reduced CO2 emissions from its wireless network by 207,549 metric tons in 2008, the equivalent of removing 40,000 cars from the road…Because of reliability concerns, the use of alternative energy sources like solar, wind and fuel cells has yet to play a significant role in North American mobile phone networks, except for backup power.

"…Sprint ranked a very close second behind AT&T on several measures…Verizon trailed on several key measures, including green network infrastructure, handset and battery recycling, and green R.&D. spending…[Companies were evaluated] on their efforts to reduce the impact of their nationwide networks, the handsets they offer consumers, and their own buildings, transportation fleets and IT operations…A.B.I. based its analysis on interviews with company representatives, annual reports and company Web sites."


GARBAGE IS ONE ANSWER
Is Garbage The Solution To Tackling Climate Change?
September 29, 2009 (ScienceDaily)

"Converting the rubbish that fills the world’s landfills into biofuel may be the answer to both the growing energy crisis and to tackling carbon emissions, claim scientists in Singapore and Switzerland. New research published in Global Change Biology: Bioenergy, reveals how replacing gasoline with biofuel from processed waste could cut global carbon emissions by 80%.

"Biofuels produced from crops have proven controversial because they require an increase in crop production which has its own severe environmental costs. However, second-generation biofuels, such as cellulosic ethanol derived from processed urban waste, may offer dramatic emissions savings without the environmental catch…"

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"The team used the United Nation’s Human Development Index to estimate the generation of waste in 173 countries. This data was then coupled to the Earthtrends database to estimate the amount of gasoline consumed in those same countries.

"The team found that 82.93 billion litres of cellulosic ethanol could be produced from the world’s landfill waste and that by substituting gasoline with the resulting biofuel, global carbon emissions could be cut by figures ranging from 29.2% to 86.1% for every unit of energy produced…"