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In This Issue
Editor's Note
Future of Fuels: What Is Sustainable? What Is Economically Viable?
There may be no more heated an issue today than fuel.
From a sustainability standpoint, fuel choices have myriad impacts—from environmental (climate change, pollution, land use), to societal (indigenous peoples’ rights, food security, community health), to economic (energy availability and affordability, jobs, revenue and taxes).
From an economic standpoint, fuels that have the most positive sustainability traits are not necessarily affordable or even available in large scale with today’s infrastructure.
To help us grapple with these tangled issues, today BSR is launching our first report in our Future of Fuels initiative. This paper—which BSR Senior Vice President Eric Olson previews in this week’s feature article—assesses the total sustainability impacts of commercial transportation fuels, as well as the market outlook for a complete range of fuel types.
It is our hope that this paper and the two to follow, which will focus on the solutions and opportunities for collaboration, will help large-scale fuel purchasers make viable decisions that lessen impacts on the environment and society and enhance economic growth and development.
Also this week, we hear from Nobel Peace Prize laureate José Ramos-Horta—a plenary speaker at the BSR Conference 2012—and we look at the bird that inspired the design of Japan’s Shinkansen bullet train.
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In Depth
The Future of Fuels Forecast
By Eric Olson, Senior Vice President, Advisory Services, BSR
The sustainability impacts, the market outlook, and what can be done to increase the sustainability of commercial transportation fuels—a look at the first report in BSR's Future of Fuels initiative.
Read more →
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On the Record
Nobel Laureate José Ramos-Horta on Fostering New Democracies
By Julia Robinson, Communications Associate, BSR
In the wake of the attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, José Ramos-Horta, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former president of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, wrote about the struggles of new democracies to move out of instability and into peaceful, solid statehood.
Ramos-Horta, who worked successfully for his own country's independence, highlighted the need for new democracies to focus on holistic development and education at all levels of society:
"Stabilizing these new democracies cannot stop with containing a mob or stopping bloodshed. Once violence is contained, peace must be built. It is built with education, with employment, with human rights education, with the citizenry starting to see a better life for their children ahead."
—José Ramos-Horta, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and former President, Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (September 14, 2012, Huffington Post)
Ramos-Horta will be a plenary speaker at the BSR Conference 2012, taking place from October 23-26 in New York.
Quick Hit
Biomimicry: Designing a Train to Work Like a Bird
By Julia Robinson, Communications Associate, BSR
At SXSW Eco in Austin, Texas, last week, Lance Hosey, CSO of the architecture firm RTKL, argued that sustainable design should be more like nature for aesthetic purposes, human health and well-being, and greater efficiency.
Hosey cited the example of the Japanese Shinkansen 500 bullet train, whose nose was designed to mimic the beak of the kingfisher, which dives into water silently to capture prey. This new train is 10 percent faster, uses 15 percent less energy than previous models, and does not have a sonic boom—a common problem with high-speed trains.
Biomimicry uses elements in nature to design products that solve human issues, based on the idea that evolutionary processes have, over millennia, selected more efficient and environmentally friendly ways to address common problems.
Photo source: Shinkansen 500 bullet train, by suzumiyaharuka. Malagasy kingfisher by Frank.Vassen. Both via Flickr, Creative Commons 2.0 License.
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