MSNBC.com has an article about Green travel.  The point is people don’t want to pay extra for Green, they expect companies to be green.  Being Green is a requirement.

Maybe it is easy being green

Environmentally-conscious travelers want companies to follow suit

Many hotels and resorts have touted their environmental credentials in an effort to cash in on the "eco" tag. But columnist Christopher Elliott says environmentally-conscious travelers want companies to be green without the pricetag that usually comes along with it.

Christopher Elliott

Travel columnist

---

Green travel is dead.

I arrived at this unlikely conclusion while talking with Mike Ragsdale, the “town evangelist” for a seaside community in Northwest Florida called Alys Beach. “People think being green means making sacrifices or paying more,” he told me. “That’s not necessarily true.”

Is it a waste to market Green features?

No one is saying that being environmentally responsible is irrelevant when you travel. On the contrary, it’s that being green is so important that it shouldn’t become another marketing gimmick. It should be a part of what you do every day — part of every travel company’s DNA.

That’s why green travel as we know it, with the hotel touting its use of recycled water, the airline bragging about its use of alternative fuels or theme park buzzing about its new lightbulbs, is well on its way to becoming history.

Where are things going?

Personally, I’ll be happy to travel in a greenlightened world. Hotels won’t be able to monetize my environmental sensibilities. Airlines will strive for a long-term positive environmental record instead of scoring a few fleeting points with treehuggers. Same for cruise lines and car rental companies.

WSJ goes into detail on Dell’s Carbon Neutral claims.

Green Goal of 'Carbon Neutrality' Hits Limit

By JEFFREY BALL

ROUND ROCK, Texas -- Computer giant Dell Inc. said this summer that it has become "carbon neutral," the latest step in its quest to be "the greenest technology company on the planet."

What that means, and what it doesn't, may surprise Dell customers and other consumers who have been bombarded with bold environmental promises from major corporations.

The negative issues start.

The amount of emissions Dell has committed to neutralize is known in the environmental industry as the company's "carbon footprint." But there is no universally accepted standard for what a footprint should include, and so every company calculates its differently. Dell counts the emissions produced by its boilers and company-owned cars, its buildings' electricity use, and its employees' business air travel.

In fact, that's only a small fraction of all the emissions associated with Dell. The footprint doesn't include the oil used by Dell's suppliers to make its computer parts, the diesel and jet fuel used to ship those computers around the world, or the coal-fired electricity used to run them.

Dell's announcement that it had achieved carbon neutrality didn't go into these details. But in an interview, Dell officials estimate that the emissions produced by its suppliers and consumers each amount to about 10 times the footprint Dell has defined for itself. That means the company is only neutralizing about 5% of the greenhouse gases that go into the making and use of its products.

Moreover, while Dell is improving its energy efficiency, it is claiming carbon neutrality mostly by purchasing environmental "credits." These are financial instruments that bankroll environmental improvements made by others, such as running wind turbines or planting forests. Dell reasons that these credits cancel out the bulk of its carbon footprint.

Yet some of those improvements would have occurred whether or not Dell invested in them, according to some of the companies involved. That suggests Dell isn't ridding the atmosphere of as much pollution as it claims.

And, other press have picked up on this.

WSJ Slams Dell Over Carbon Neutral Claim
Environmental Leader, CO - 1 hour ago
The Wall Street Journal has slammed Dell over the announcement it made back in August about reaching its carbon neutral goal. The problem, according to WSJ, ...

Dell Carbon Neutral claims exaggerated
TweakTown, Australia - 3 hours ago
If you are a regular watcher of the TV Show Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe you know that not everyone agrees with the new “Green” movement. ...

Wall Street Journal pours cold water on Dell's green claims
Fudzilla, Bosnia and Herzegovina - 8 hours ago
The Wall Street Journal has been taking the mickey out of Dell's claims to be carbon neutral. Dell has been touting its green credentials for some time and ...

Report: Dell’s Claim of Carbon Neutrality Less Green, More PR
RealTechNews, CA - 10 hours ago
By Michael Santo I had my doubts about Dell’s claim of carbon neutrality, when they trumpeted it in August, and it appears I was right. ...

How Carbon Neutral Is Dell, Really?
GigaOm, CA - 20 hours ago
I am highly skeptical when big companies get trendy and start spewing cool. Lately going green has become the new black. Dell in particular has been making ...

Dell's "Carbon Neutrality" Is Really a Bunch of Cow Poop
Gizmodo - 21 hours ago
By matt buchanan , 4:40 PM on Tue Dec 30 2008, 415 views Over the summer, Dell declared that it had become "carbon neutral." You would think that meant, ...

Questions raised about Dell's carbon neutral claim
The Industry Standard, CA - 22 hours ago
In an August announcement, Dell Inc bragged that it had "met its carbon neutral goal," and was no longer contributing to global warming. ...

Carbon neutrality murkier than you’d think
Examiner.com - Dec 30, 2008
Dell has declared itself carbon neutral but good luck defining and auditing what that means exactly.The Wall Street Journal has an interesting story on Dell ...

PR people need to watch out as the greenwash filtering is getting better.

What’s next?  Carbon emissions compliance.  If you are going to make claims of carbon neutral, you need to have a compliance system in place to prove your claims.

Dell and Apple are having a PR battle regarding Apple’s claims of being the greenest notebooks.

Dell Says Apple is Greenwashing Its Gear

by Jaymi Heimbuch, Central Coast, California on 12.22.08

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY (electronics)

BUZZ UP!

Screen capture from Apple's Green Ad

There's a hot debate out in the enviro-sphere on whether or not Apple is as green as it says it is, or green at all. Well, Dell tends to side with the nay sayers.

Unless you've been under a rock, or are utterly uninterested in computers, you haven't missed Apple's latest ads touting the greenness of its products. Dell, however, says that's a bunch of huff and puff.

Bob Pearson, Dell's VP of Communities and Conversations (you can have a VP for that??), says that Apple is being irresponsible to the earth by making false claims for how green it is and hoping consumers won't notice. Apple, along with Dell and HP, areperceived to be the greenest computer companies, so the two are direct competitors for the up-and-coming greener consumer base.

The greenwashing claim is

And now, the blogosphere is abuzz with the latest entry to Dell's blog knocking Apple for what it says are green fake-outs.

Our view is that companies who choose to lead have an obligation to be open and transparent. We have a responsibility to engage in dialogue about the environment, whether we agree or disagree with an individual person or group. It all contributes to the greater good.

What is not good is to skip steps, avoid dialogue and pray that people aren't smart enough to figure it out. That doesn't help any of us and it certainly doesn't further the environmental cause for those of us who care deeply about it.

It is the day before Thanksgiving and there are many businesses who base their success on the start of the Xmas retail shopping season. The SeattleTimes has an article on Costco’s logistics precision baking a million pumpkin pies.

"Everything's planned out by day. If you don't have a strategy, you're going in blind," Cruz said Sunday night, hairnet in place, leading a pie brigade at the Tukwila Costco's bakery. "Issaquah's doing the same thing tonight. So's Seattle and Bellingham and Portland."

And, Costco works together as a team.

During this busy half-week, managers stamp out fresh pie crust alongside workers.

The holiday season is all hands on deck, and that's good for morale, workers say.

"Managers are everywhere, helping all

To get the team to work together they have a mantra.

Let no oven stand empty.

For those you of you haven’t visited a Costco during this time here is some background.

Costco has pumpkin pies down to a science

Costco stores nationwide bake around the clock Thanksgiving week, churning out more than 1 million pumpkin pies in military precision. The big question: Did they make enough?

By Karen Gaudette

Seattle Times staff reporter

ELLEN M. BANNER / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Costco baker Camilla Dizdarvic carries a baking sheet with pumpkin pies over to a rack so they can be put into an oven at the Costco in Tukwila. She's been working at Costco for 10 years and has made thousands and thousands of pies.

Balls of pie crust, ready to be shaped into a pie pan.

That's a lot of pies

How many?

Costco will bake and sell more than 1 million pumpkin pies this week.

Today, they will sell half a million.

They'll sell more than 3 million pumpkin pies throughout "pumpkin-pie season," which runs from Labor Day to New Year's Eve.

What's in a million pies?

707,000 6-pound, 10-ounce cans, or 4.7 million pounds, of pumpkin

More than 1.4 million pounds of fresh eggs (roughly 12.6 million eggs)

Source: Costco

When today's final batches of Thanksgiving pumpkin pies emerge from Costco ovens across the land, managers need wait only a few hours to answer one of the year's most pressing questions:

Did they bake enough?

s a vital concern. By day's end, Costco expects to have sold more than 1 million fresh-baked, giant $5.99 pumpkin pies during this short week when in-store bakeries run around the clock.

Happy Thanksgiving!

WSJ writes on how utilities are reacting to changes in electricity use by utilities.

Surprise Drop in Power Use Delivers Jolt to Utilities

By REBECCA SMITH

An unexpected drop in U.S. electricity consumption has utility companies worried that the trend isn't a byproduct of the economic downturn, and could reflect a permanent shift in consumption that will require sweeping change in their industry.

Numbers are trickling in from several large utilities that show shrinking power use by households and businesses in pockets across the country. Utilities have long counted on sales growth of 1% to 2% annually in the U.S., and they created complex operating and expansion plans to meet the needs of a growing population.

What is scaring the Utility companies.

The data are early and incomplete, but if the trend persists, it could ripple through companies' earnings and compel major changes in the way utilities run their businesses. Utilities are expected to invest $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion by 2030 to modernize their electric systems and meet future needs, according to an industry-funded study by the Brattle Group. However, if electricity demand is flat or even declining, utilities must either make significant adjustments to their investment plans or run the risk of building too much capacity. That could end up burdening customers and shareholders with needless expenses.

To be sure, electricity use fluctuates with the economy and population trends. But what has executives stumped is that recent shifts appear larger than others seen previously, and they can't easily be explained by weather fluctuations. They have also penetrated the most stable group of consumers -- households.

This looks like it is a good time to build a data center or at least lock in future capacity as utilities look for revenue growth.

Some utilities are even thinking of changing their rate schedules.

Utilities are taking a hard look at the way they set rates and generate profits. Many companies are embracing a new rate design based on "decoupling," in which they set prices aimed at covering the basic costs of delivery, with sales above that level being gravy. Regulators have resisted the change in some places, because it typically means that consumers using little energy pay somewhat higher rates.

One good change about this economic environment is it is driving some of the biggest changes in world economies since the industrial revolution.  Change is always painful, but in the long run good.