Climate Action’s Business News Round-up

Climate Action brings you the green business news from around the world you might have missed.

 

BP buys Brazilian biofuel business

11/03/2011 – Oil giant BP has acquired majority control (an 83 per cent stake) of Brazilian ethanol and sugar producer Companhia Nacional de Açúcar e Álcool (CNAA) for $680 million. This is BP Alternative Energy’s biggest acquisition to date and will increase BP’s ethanol production in Brazil to 9 million barrels each year.

More info… BP.com

 

 

World’s first hybrid solar energy centre opens

05/03/2011 – Florida Power and Light Company opened their 75-megawatt Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center that connects over 190,000 solar thermal mirrors to an existing natural gas power plant. FPL expect to prevent 2.5 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions and save customers approximately $178 million in fuel costs over the facility’s estimated 30-year lifetime.

More info… FPL.com

 

 

Consumer interest in green services doubles

08/03/2011 – According to Mintel research, and in contrast to a recent UK survey, customers are just as interested in using green services as buying green products and that interest has doubled between 2008 and 2010. Almost half of consumers think about how green the supermarket they visit is and also consider the environmental impact of a business before purchasing.

More info… Mintel.com

 

 

Stalled energy projects cost U.S. economy $1.1 trillion

10/03/2011 – A U.S. Chamber of Commerce study showed that holding up energy projects costs over a trillion dollars and nearly two million jobs a year. The report blames “NIMBY activism” for bleeding the financing dry. They were surprised to find that more clean tech schemes are held up than coal-fired power plants.

More info… USChamber.com

 

 

 

Toyota plan greater focus on hybrids

09/03/2011 – Toyota plan to follow the success of the Prius by launching 10 new hybrid vehicles over the next four years. They also plan to continue developing plug-in hybrids, pure electric and fuel cell vehicles. Toyota hope the approach will bring an operating profit of £7.4 billion, having already sold over three million hybrids since 1997.

More info… Toyota.com

 

 

 

Harrison Ford helps launch eco-Facebook game

07/03/2011 – Social game developer Talkie teams up with Conservation International (CI) to design a free Facebook game with a social conscience. The game integrates real world acts of sustainability into the gaming experience. Harrison Ford, Vice Chairman of CI’s board of directors, called it “a refreshing new way to engage millions of people in addressing critical environmental issues”.

More info… Talkie.tv
 

Front page image: FlyingSinger | Flickr