NORTHERN IRELAND: 80% Reduction in Plastic Bags. Plastic bag use in Northern Ireland may have fallen by more than 80% since the introduction of a levy earlier this year. Provisional government figures indicate that 17.5 million single-use carrier bags were dispensed by retailers between 8 April and 30 June. It is estimated that 300 million carrier bags were used in NI in 2012. Environment Minister Mark H Durkan said: "This is great news for the environment." Figures from several major supermarkets suggest a possible annual reduction of more than 80% in those stores. Due to factors such as seasonal variation, the Department of the Environment (DoE) is reluctant to use the data for a single quarter as a basis on which to predict the likely annual reduction for the entire retail sector.

BBC News - Big fall in plastic bag use in Northern Ireland:

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Nissan Expands Its Green Manufacturing Footprint. In Mexico, Nissan has expanded a green energy program so that 50 percent of the energy used by the Aguascalientes Vehicle Assembly Plant comes from renewable sources including wind power and landfill gas. For more than a year, the plant has used a wind farm in southern Mexico and methane from garbage at the city dump, which combined have cut the plant's utility costs by more than 10 percent. Nissan's program leverages Mexico's largest wind farm, which consists of 35 large wind turbines about 600 miles away. The wind replaces about 5.3 million gallons of fuel oil. Nissan also currently gets about 5 percent of its power from generators that run on methane from a local landfill with aims to almost double that. The biogas that is produced from the breakdown of organic matter is used as fuel. One of the limiting factors is the availability of trash. "If we had access to more, we'd use it," said Marco Antonio Rivera, senior manager for energy and environment at Nissan Mexico.

Nissan Expands Its Green Manufacturing Footprint -- IRVINE, Calif., Aug. 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --: "The plant is looking at other renewable sources as well to balance the mix of sources required to offset variables with renewable energy that can't be controlled such as the wind. Additionally, nearly 100 percent of recyclable materials at the plant are recycled. The green energy program will be extended to the Cuernavaca Vehicle Assembly Plant and to the new Aguascalientes 2 assembly plant scheduled to open later this year."

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Renewable Energy Group Celebrates Minnesota Biorefinery Expansion. Renewable Energy Group(R) REGI -1.64% celebrated completion of upgrades to its 30-million gallon biodiesel refinery in southern Minnesota with a ribbon cutting and visit by U.S. Senator Al Franken, along with state and local leaders. REG began the $21 million project last October to upgrade the Albert Lea biorefinery, which enables the plant to utilize multiple raw materials such as waste animal fats and greases and inedible corn oil, in addition to the refined vegetable oils the facility was originally built to process. The project was completed in June. "We completed the upgrades at REG Albert Lea on time and on budget," said Daniel J. Oh, Renewable Energy Group, Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer. "That is a testament to the hard work of our team and contractors." Within days of start-up, all biodiesel produced at Albert Lea met the company's REG-9000(R) quality specifications, which exceed the industry's ASTM B100 standard. Multi-feedstock biodiesel has been available at Albert Lea since June 19. The upgrade project supported between 70 and 80 construction jobs.- MarketWatch

Renewable Energy Group Celebrates Minnesota Biorefinery Expansion - MarketWatch:

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CARBON CREDIT: FRANCE: Former president Nicolas Sarkozy's attempt at a carbon tax was blocked by the country's constitutional court in 2009. He had planned to set the levy at 17 euros per metric ton of carbon dioxide emissions and increase it over time, which would have translated into a rise in the price of fuel for cars, domestic heating and factories. Socialist President Francois Hollande is keen to reassure the Green party's members of his government of his green credentials after he sacked his environment minister earlier this year, but is also wary of raising new taxes.

France to introduce new type of green tax- minister | Reuters: "(Reuters) - France will introduce a new type of green tax, Energy Minister Philippe Martin announced on Thursday, but gave no details about what form it would take or when details would become available.Government sources said earlier this year that any such tax was likely to be limited and have little to no impact on French consumers and industries in the first year in 2014.
Martin said on Thursday a "decision was taken" by Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault to create what he called "a climate energy contribution.""

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