The air around the nation's second largest produce market, the New England Produce Center in Chelsea, is about to get cleaner thanks to the installation of 79 Carrier Transicold Vector^® 5100 all-electric trailer refrigeration units, which will replace diesel-powered units that previously ran 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Carrier Transicold is a part of Carrier Corp., a business unit of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX). Carrier Corp., the world's leader in high technology heating, air-conditioning and refrigeration solutions, improves the world through engineered innovation and environmental stewardship.

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As announced today at a press conference at the produce center, the project is supported in part through a $1.9 million grant to the Chelsea Collaborative from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act's (ARRA) National Clean Diesel Funding Assistance Program. Vector 5100 units, one of which was showcased at the event, provide emissions-free, quiet operation for on-site food storage compared to the conventional diesel-powered units that the market is currently using.

For the New England Produce Center, the use of Vector 5100 units is expected to remove more than 300 tons of air pollutants annually, helping to improve the air in this densely populated suburb already crisscrossed with diesel corridors due to trucking, shipping and airport traffic. Chelsea, located along the Mystic River across from Boston, has been identified as the third most environmentally overburdened city in Massachusetts, with some of the state's highest reported incidences of respiratory ailments, cardiovascular disease, strokes and cancers related to diesel engine exhaust pollution.

The Vector 5100 units are also expected to help eliminate the annual consumption of more than 480,000 gallons of diesel fuel, helping to save the produce market approximately $500,000 a year because the cost of operating trailer refrigeration units using the electric power grid, with its relatively stable pricing, is more economical than using diesel fuel.

Requiring only a 460-volt electrical power supply, the Vector 5100 unit was introduced this summer by Carrier Transicold to provide an environmentally responsive and energy-efficient solution for food distribution operations that use refrigerated trailers for on-site cold storage. The greatest benefit is the ability to power the units with the electrical grid, rather than using a diesel engine that is normally required for conventional over-the-highway trailer refrigeration units. As an all-electric refrigeration system, the Vector 5100 has fewer moving parts compared to conventional diesel engine powered mechanical units, resulting in benefits such as quieter operation and reduced maintenance and associated operational downtime, all of which contribute to minimizing the cost to the produce center for keeping the air cleaner for years to come.

"We applaud the Chelsea Collaborative and the New England Produce Center for taking advantage of ARRA stimulus funds to retrofit the all-electric Vector 5100 system for stationary trailer refrigeration," said John Mandyck, Carrier's vice president for Sustainability & Environmental Strategies. "This is a perfect example of public-private cooperation to help our customers improve the environment in which they operate." Anticipated completion of the electrical infrastructure to accommodate the Vector 5100 units is mid-September, with installation and delivery of Vector 5100 units by Carrier Transicold to follow.

About Carrier Transicold

Carrier Transicold helps improve transport and shipping temperature control, anti-idling solutions and passenger comfort with a complete line of equipment for refrigerated trucks, trailers and containers, auxiliary power units for heavy-duty trucks and transport air-conditioning systems for buses. Carrier Transicold is a unit of Carrier Corp., the world's leader in high technology heating, air-conditioning and refrigeration solutions. Carrier experts provide sustainable solutions, integrating energy efficient products, building controls, and energy services for residential, commercial, retail, transport and foodservice customers. Founded by the inventor of modern air conditioning, Carrier improves the world around us through engineered innovation and environmental stewardship. Carrier is a unit of United Technologies Corp., a leading provider to the aerospace and building systems industries worldwide. Visit www.carrier.com for more information.

SOURCE Carrier Corp.

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The people of Primo Water Corporation want to congratulate the people of Concord, MA for taking a tough environmental stand this year.

Concord residents voted in April to ban the sale of bottled water in their town to ease the growing burden on overflowing landfills. Primo Water took notice and moved to honor the residents by sponsoring Concord's 375th birthday celebration music festival and fireworks show at 5:00pm, September 12th 2010, at Concord-Carlisle High School.  

"We choose not to sell single-use PET bottles for the very reasons the people of Concord chose to vote for the ban," said Kelly Lockwood-Primus, Primo's VP of Marketing. "Primo offers consumers a responsible way to drink great tasting water and still protect the landfills and the rest of the planet from discarded single-use water bottles," she said.  Primo Water's three-and five-gallon bottles are exchanged when empty for a discount on a new bottle. Bottles are then reused an average of 40 times, before the plastic is ultimately recycled. "The Primo bottle exchange system has managed to keep more than 1.8 million pounds of plastic out of our landfills so far."

At the festival, attendees are encouraged to bring their own reusable water bottles, which Primo will refill at no charge. Visitors to the Primo tent will have the chance to win one of 100 home water dispensers to be given away. Primo also plans to give away 2,500 free reusable sport bottles and other items.

Primo Water Corporation offers water and its Energy Star rated water dispensers at thousands of retail locations across the country.  

Learn more about the Primo sponsorship of the Concord, MA 375th birthday celebration at:  http://www.primowater.com/concordmass.php

Primo Water Corporation is the responsible choice for consumers who want to drink great tasting water. A leading nationwide provider of water and Energy Star rated home water dispensers; Primo chooses not to sell water in single-use water bottles and instead promotes the reduction of plastic in landfills by offering zero waste three- and five-gallon bottles. Primo's patent pending recycle/exchange program encourages consumers to return the empty bottle. Primo then refreshes and re-uses the bottles an average of 40 times before recycling the plastic. The majority of Primo water is bottled at locations within 100 miles of its point of sale minimizing its transportation carbon footprint. In nationwide blind taste tests, 3 out of 4 consumers preferred Primo over the nation's top selling spring waters. Learn more about Primo Water at www.primowater.com      

SOURCE Primo Water Corporation

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Today, World Growth Chairman Ambassador Alan Oxley warned of the consequences for the world's poor of blindly treating as fact erroneous and widely circulated claims about palm oil in a letter to Mrs. Caroline Spelman, the UK Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

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The letter follows the first Global Business of Biodiversity Symposium in London where Mrs. Spelman announced that the UK government will fund a research project on Britain's consumption of palm oil.  World Growth expressed concern that the starting point for this research is a misconception that the palm oil industry is currently unsustainable. In fact palm oil is the most sustainable vegetable oil in the world.  It generates almost 10 times the energy that it consumes and has a higher yield than other crop-based oilseeds.

Citing support from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation and Africa's first female Nobel Laureate, Wangari Maathai, Mr. Oxley's letter states that poverty is the leading cause of deforestation in developing nations, an inconvenient truth for the radical environmental NGOs who intone with environmental officials claim that palm oil drives deforestation in Southeast Asia. He also warned that discouraging trade and growth of palm oil, a food staple in the developing world, would hinder efforts to reduce poverty.

In closing, Mr. Oxley urged Mrs. Spelman, "to ensure the enquiry encompasses the vital development dimension of palm oil, considers the sustainability issues objectively and recognizes the importance of expanding palm oil production to ensure supply is adequate to address the looming global food crisis and meet the rapidly growing demand in the developing world."

To view the World Growth letter to Secretary of State Spelman, click here.

To speak with World Growth's experts, please email media@worldgrowth.org or call +1-866-467-7200.

World Growth is a non-profit, non-governmental organization established to expand the research, information, advocacy, and other resources to improve the economic conditions and living standards in developing and transitional countries. At World Growth, we embrace the age of globalization and the power of free trade to eradicate poverty and create jobs and opportunities. World Growth supports the production of palm oil and the use of forestry as a means to promote economic growth, reduce poverty and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. World Growth believes a robust cultivation of palm oil and forestry provides an effective means of environmental stewardship that can serve as the catalyst for increasing social and economic development.  For more information on World Growth, visit www.worldgrowth.org.

SOURCE World Growth

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The second national summit on the National Academy of Engineering's Grand Challenges -- which will focus on global issues related to sustainability, vulnerability, health, and the "joy of living" -- will be held at the University of Southern California October 6-8, 2010.

Broadcast veteran and CNN's former science and technology correspondent Miles O'Brien will moderate a two-day master session on October 7-8 which will include dynamic panels organized around the perspectives of technology, innovation, business, policy, education and communications.

A common thread will be the importance of fostering innovation, economic growth and job creation. The interconnection between the various perspectives and the creation of a K-12 pipeline of engineering talent and other human resources will be an important part of the summit presentations and discussion.

The speakers for the summit include:

• Amy Alving, Chief Technology Officer, Science Applications International Corporation
• Jean-Lou Chameau, President, Caltech
• Paul Debevec, Associate Director, Institute for Creative Technologiesand Academy Award recipient for work on Avatar and other films.
• Peter Diamandis, Founder and Chairman, X Prize Foundation
• Debra Estrin, Professor of Computer Science, University of California - Los Angeles
• Jay Greene, Journalist and Author: Design Is How It Works
• Henry Jenkins: Provost's Professor of Communication, Journalism, and Cinematic Arts, USC
• Linda Katehi, Chancellor, University of California – Davis
• Maria Klawe, President, Harvey Mudd College; Director, Microsoft Corporation
• John Martin, CEO, Gilead
• C. L. Max Nikias, President, University of Southern California
• Franklin Orr, Director, Precourt Institute for Energy, Stanford University
• James Shelton III, Assistant Deputy Secretary for innovation and improvement at the U.S. Department of Education
• Ali Velshi, Chief business correspondent, CNN
• Charles Vest, President, National Academy of Engineering
• Matthew Wald, Journalist, The New York Times
• Peter Williams, Chief Technology Officer of IBM's Big Green Innovations

The goals of the summit include:

• Identifying how engineering, science, and technology entrepreneurship can lead to the creation of new jobs
• Enhancing public interest in engineering and science by articulating their critical roles in modern society
• Creating public awareness of the importance of policy to engineering innovation and implementation
• Stimulating future collaborations of engineers, policymakers and practitioners of business, law, social sciences and humanities to address the complex societal issues raised by technological innovation

The national summit represents the culmination of a series of regional summits throughout the year that have been organized around the Grand Challenges. In 2008, the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) announced 14 Grand Challenges on which engineering can have the greatest impact on society. The challenges cover a wide spectrum of issues, from making solar power more economical to providing access to clean water to engineering better medicines to preventing nuclear terror.

Universities across the United States have responded to the NAE's call to action. The USC Viterbi School of Engineering, Duke University Pratt School of Engineering, California Institute of Technology, and Olin College are sponsoring this year's national summit at USC.  Duke hosted the first national summit in March 2009.

The 2010 summit's goals are ambitious and far-ranging, according to Yannis Yortsos, dean of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.  "The NAE's Grand Challenges allow us to look at global problems through a framework that interweaves technology, innovation and public policy. The 2010 summit will bring to campus policymakers, corporate leaders and renowned academics to discuss solutions that are real, implementable and game-changing," said Yortsos.

The summit will commence with a Student Day on October 6. October 7-8 will feature engaging panel discussions from a diverse group of presenters.  For an overview of the summit, which will be presented on USC's University Park Campus, speakers and events, go to: http://naegrandchallengessummit2010.org/

Lockheed Martin is the Presenting Sponsor for the Summit and the Student Day.

Members of the media, educators, students and individuals from the private sector are encouraged to attend the series of discussions.

SOURCE University of Southern California

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Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack recently announced the winning proposals for the 2010 Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG). "Among the 61 projects selected, six of them will directly benefit Pennsylvanians," announced Noel Soto, CIG program Coordinator for USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

CIG invests in innovative, on-the-ground conservation technologies and approaches, with the goal of wide-scale adoption to address water quality and quantity, air quality, energy conservation, and environmental markets, among other natural resource issues.

"Creative solutions that help producers conserve natural resources and reduce costs are an important  part of our efforts to improve the quality of our air, water, and soil," Vilsack said. "The Conservation Innovation Grants will produce far-reaching results on a wide range of issues, including conservation management and bio-energy production, by facilitating the development and adoption of new approaches and technologies."

NRCS administers CIG as part of the Agency's Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). Grants are awarded to state and local governments, as well as non-governmental organizations and individuals.

Nationally, NRCS received 230 full proposals and awarded nearly $18 million in Conservation Innovation Grants. Grant recipients provide matching funds to CIG bringing the total value of the approved projects to more than $35 million.

A summary of all selected proposals awarded this year is available at www.nrcs.usda.gov.

Pennsylvania's six selected proposals include:

• $503,000 to the National Center for Appropriate Technology for integrating sustainable and organic agriculture into NRCS programs.
• $225,000 to the Dairy Research Institute to implement a farm energy audit data collector training program.
• $147,000 to the Forest Guild to promote the adoption of innovative conservation practices for sustainable forest biomass harvesting
• $600,000 to the World Resource Institute to build an online multistate water quality trading platform and carbon estimating tool for the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
• $284,000 to Cornell University for the adaptation of near-real-time high resolution climate data to provide field-specific in-season Nitrogen fertilizer recommendations.
• $256,960 to the Pennsylvania State University to promote the adaptation of conservation practices on small dairy farms without the need of government regulatory measures or subsidies.

2010 represents the 75th year of NRCS "helping people help the land." Since its inception in 1935, the NRCS conservation delivery system has advanced a unique partnership with state and local governments and private landowners, delivering conservation based on specific, local conservation needs, while accommodating state and national interests. For more information about NRCS conservation programs online, visit: http://www.pa.nrcs.usda.gov, or visit the nearest USDA Service Center in your area.

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Ave., S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 or call (800) 795-3272 (voice) or (202-720-6382 (TDD).

SOURCE USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

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