In Business, Creating Sustainable Enterprises & Communities

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENTS

In Business, September-October, 2004, Vol. 26, No. 5, p. 8

VEHICLE RESEARCH INSTITUTE TAKES CLOSE LOOK AT MANURE AND BIOGAS
Since 1972, more than 20 vehicles have been designed and built by undergraduate students and faculty at the Vehicle Research Institute (VRI) at Western Washington University. More than $7 million

have been raised by VRI in grants from government, industry and private individuals to complete various projects. Now, reports the Seattle Times, the director of VRI, Eric Leonhardt in Bellingham, Washington wants to transform manure into biogas to fuel a hybrid vehicle running on compressed natural gas.
According to reporter Kristi Heim, the biogas process is being perfected in Goteborg, Sweden, where biogas is sold at fuel stations. “Volvo produces 'Bi-Fuel' versions of most of its models, which run on methane but have petroleum backup tanks,” she writes. Ultimately, natural gas, hydrogen fuel cells and biodiesel are expected to play a role in these developments.
To demonstrate the effectiveness of the concept, VRI's Leonhardt is described as concentrating on improving the natural gas engine and its ability to run on biogas. Under its former director, Michael Seal, VRI produced 37 cars and won competitions around the world using solar power and similar technologies - such as biodiesel, ethanol, methanol and natural gas. “By running on a fuel that is otherwise a waste product, it's much better than any other alternative we can see,” observes Seal. “What comes in the intake is dirtier than what goes out the tailpipe.”
By Seal's and Leonhardt's calculations, two dairy cows would produce enough manure to drive a car 10,000 miles a year. Sums up Linda Graham, director of the Puget Sound Clean Cities Coalition: “None of them (alternative fuels) work in every type of vehicle for every purpose. We need that full variety to meet all our needs and displace as much petroleum as we can with something that is cleaner and domestic.”

ANNUAL ORGANIC SALES IN U.S. REACH $10.8 BILLION
Sales of U.S. organic food and nonfood items grew by approximately 20 percent during 2003 to reach $10.8 billion, according to the Organic Trade Association's 2004 Manufacturer Survey. Nonfood organic products - i.e., personal care products, organic fiber, household cleaners - grew by 19.8 percent to reach $440 million sales. Organic food sales now represent 2 percent of U.S. food sales. Approximately 44 percent of organic food sales were through supermarkets and grocery stores, mass merchandisers and club stores. The natural food channel - including independent natural product and health food stores as well as natural grocery chains - accounted for 47 percent of sales. The remaining 9 percent occurred at farmers' markets. Survey results, says the Organic Trade Association which is based in Greenfield, MA, forecast an annual average growth rate of 18 percent for organic foods from 2004 to 2008. Meat, fish and poultry category - with 30.7 percent anticipated growth - is expected to have the highest growth rate, followed by fruit and vegetables at 20.7 percent growth. Meanwhile research centers are emphasizing the environmental benefits of increased organic matter for the soil's carbon bank and to nurture healthy soils. Visit the website at: www.ota.com and www.theorganicreport.com.

STRAUS FAMILY CREAMERY WINS NATURAL SUPERMARKET AWARD
In 1994, the Straus Family Creamery - which operates an organic dairy in Marshall, California, milking 270 cows - opened its creamery. Offering an alternative to modern-made butter, Straus applies methods developed by the famous creameries of the Point Reyes peninsula by using a rebuilt 1950s butter churn. Butter is made with only pure sweet cream with no added stabilizers, additives, colorings, cultures or added whey. Its higher butterfat contents means less moisture, flakier pastries and baked goods that brown more evenly. And this month, the Straus Creamery butter earned the official Authentic Food Artisans (AFA) designation from Whole Foods Market - to be featured along with other AFA products at their natural supermarkets around the nation. The AFA seal is reserved for handpicked products made to exacting standards.

UTILITIES PROMOTE GREEN ENERGY
After market surveys revealed that customers of electric utilities had high interest in clean, renewable energy from biomass, wind and solar sources but low awareness of where and how to get it, utility companies got busy. Three Puget Sound, Washington electric companies - Puget Sound Energy, Snohomish County Public Utility District and Tacoma Power - launched green power media campaigns that used TV, internet, bill inserts and product offers. Campaign results show more than 4,300 new customers joined programs, representing a 272 percent increase in enrollment rate over the same period last year. Commented an official with the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, which pioneered the sale of Green Tags and helped to establish national standards for their certification and trading: “Participants in these voluntary program, pay a modest premium of $3 to $6 per month to support generation of new projects in the Pacific Northwest. The impact of just these 4,300 additional participants is equivalent to not driving cars nearly 21.4 million miles a year.” The Bonneville Environmental Foundation - a nonprofit supplier of green energy resources to utilities - was also a partner in the recent campaign.

SPECIAL INTEREST MONEY KEEPS BOTTLE BILLS “BOTTLED UP”
In New York, the beer and soft drink industries along with food retailers are reported to have spent $2 million to lobby against “Bigger, Better Bottle Bills.” As reported in the latest issue of the Container Recycling Institute's newsletter, the proposed bill in the NY State legislature (first introduced in 2002) would expand the state's 21-year-old bottle bill to include bottled water, ready-to-drink teas and other noncarbonated beverages. It would also require distributors and bottlers to return unclaimed deposits to the State Environmental Protection Fund. The Institute estimates that as much as $180 million a year in unclaimed deposits would be available for environmental protection if the bill became law. “Why is, the bill ... bottled up in Albany,” ask Laura Haight of the New York Public Interest Research Group. “The answer is simple: money talks. Money is the great divide between special interests and the public interest.”
Meanwhile, statewide public opinion polls conducted in New York, Iowa and Michigan reveal that support for bottle bills “is robust across all sectors of the population.” These survey results, declares Pat Franklin, executive director of the Container Recycling Institute, “confirm what has been found in dozens of other statewide and national polls conducted over the past three decades.”