Cleaning Up Sinking Concordia Cruise Ship Oil

Posted on January 23, 2012 by ecogreen

The Concordia rammed a reef Jan. 13 on the tiny Tuscan island and capsized a few hours later just outside Giglio’s port with 4,200 passengers and crew aboard for a Mediterranean cruise. Experts can begin pumping fuel from a capsized cruise ship to avert a possible environmental catastrophe and the ship is stable enough to let search efforts go on for those still missing, Italian officials said. The decision to carry out both operations was made after instrument readings determined that the Costa Concordia did not risk sliding into a deeper seabed. The ship is stable. .There is no problem or danger that it is about to drop onto much lower seabed. Without interruptions, the clean up could take 28 days. Already, some diesel and lubricants have leaked into the water near the ship, probably from machinery on board. Officials have characterized the contamination as superficial.

Fuel removal will address growing concern among residents and environmentalists that the heavy, tar-like fuel could leak from the ship’s 17 double-bottomed tanks. Officials said the first tank to be emptied will be one above the waterline. Eight kilometers (five miles) of oil barriers, including absorbent ones, have been laid to protect marine life and the coastline in the pristine waters off Giglio, which are prime fishing grounds and a protected area for dolphins and whales. Recovery experts from the Dutch salvage company Smit have previously said they will create holes in the top and the bottom of each tank, heating the fuel so it flows more easily and pumping from the top while forcing air in from the bottom. For the underwater tanks, sea water will be used to displace the fuel, which becomes thick and gooey when cooled. Besides 2,200 metric tons of heavier fuel, there also are 185 metric tons of diesel and lubricants on board – some dispersed in machinery and lifeboats, and not in 17 double-bottomed tanks that hold most of the fuel – in addition to chemicals including cleaning products and chlorine.

via HuffingtonPost

FarmPlate: Search Engine for Local Food Systems

Posted on January 23, 2012 by ecogreen

Imagine being able to tailor Google to search specifically for sustainable food suppliers or restaurants and socially-minded companies in your area. That’s pretty much what a new online marketplace, FarmPlate.com, does. It features a searchable directory of more than 40,000 business listings across the country, and you can search by category and by location to find just the sustainable food or drink you’re looking for. FarmPlate aims to help consumers access the businesses they already want to support, but may not know exist—while helping small businesses find greater success by increasing their online presence. It’s a new project, so you may find businesses missing that should be in there. But it’s growing and as it does, has increasing potential to connect businesses with the consumers they need, and consumers with the businesses they want to support.

FarmPlate explains more: Users can source products and discover new sustainable food businesses, as well as rate and review their favorite food and farm enterprises. The website promotes businesses that produce, sell, serve or support local, organic, seasonal, artisanal, ethical, fair trade, family farmed and handcrafted foods. “FarmPlate’s mission is to help sustainable food businesses expand their markets. They are the engine of local food systems, and we are committed to contributing to their growth in any way that we can,” says Kim Werner, founder and president of FarmPlate.com.

via TreeHugger

ReUsing Electric Car Batteries

Posted on January 23, 2012 by ecogreen

It’s not because a battery pack isn’t good enough for an electric or hybrid car anymore that it should go directly to a recycling plant. There are lots of potential secondary uses for batteries that can still hold more than half of their original charge. T hey could be used to reduce the intermittency problem, but a new partnership between Nissan North-America, ABB, 4R Energy, and Sumitomo Corporation of America believes that used electric car batteries (Nissan LEAF ones, in this case) could be used for residential and commercial energy storage, even acting as emergency back-up during natural disasters like last year’s earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Electric car batteries have up to 70% capacity remaining after 10 years of use. This allows them to be used beyond the lifetime of the vehicle for applications, and smart grids can take advantage of their capacity to store intermittent renewable energy. Innovative energy storage solutions are expected to become a key component of the smart grid, contributing to greater efficiency, reliability and performance. They will facilitate further integration of renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, into the grid. The evaluation of Nissan batteries, through the partnership, will help determine their suitability for the power industry as a cost-effective energy storage solution. The partners plan to develop a LEAF battery storage prototype with a capacity of at least 50 kilowatt hours (kWh), enough to supply 15 average homes with electricity for two hours. This could scale it up to the multi-megawatt-hour scale, which would make it really useful in emergencies and to store solar or wind power.

via store wind power” target=”_blank”>TreeHugger

CES 2012: OLPC $100 Solar Powered Tablet

Posted on January 20, 2012 by ecogreen

If you hadn’t noticed by now, solar is a big theme at the Consumer Electronics Show. Another one which jumped out in the early announcements to us is an inexpensive laptop developed by a non-profit whose goal is to give children all around the world access to a computer for learning and development. The entity is One Laptop per Child (OLPC) and the product is the XO 3.0. OLPC has been in the game a bit these last few years hoping to create a laptop that could be priced at $100 per unit for bulk purchase in developing nations like Uruguay and Nicaragua. The XO 3.0, developed in conjunction with Marvell, is described as a low-power, rugged tablet style computer that will reportedly be available by end of year. It builds upon previous models OLPC has developed along the way as it worked to figure out a model that so far has seen low cost laptops distributed to more than 2.4 million children in 42 countries and in 25 languages.

Where solar comes into play, as you can see in the photo above, is as one of several possible soft cover designs for the tablet. In this particular case, the solar panel not only shelters the tablet, but also makes use of the computer’s unique charging circuitry to charge the unit in an efficient manner. Other charging options for the XO 3.0 include hand cranking and what is described as other alternative power sources.

via EarthTechling

$1.4 Billion Spent Daily on Environment

Posted on January 20, 2012 by ecogreen

We distort reality when we omit the health and environmental costs associated with burning fossil fuels from their prices. When governments actually subsidize their use, they take the distortion even further. Worldwide, direct fossil fuel subsidies added up to roughly $500 billion in 2010. Of this, supports on the production side totaled some $100 billion. Supports for consumption exceeded $400 billion, with $193 billion for oil, $91 billion for natural gas, $3 billion for coal, and $122 billion spent subsidizing the use of fossil fuel-generated electricity. All together, governments are shelling out nearly $1.4 billion per day to further destabilize the earth’s climate. The government of Iran spent the most on promoting fossil fuel consumption in 2010, doling out $81 billion in subsidies. This equaled more than 20 percent of the country’s gross domestic product. Saudi Arabia was a distant second at $44 billion. Rounding out the top five were Russia ($39 billion), India ($22 billion), and China ($21 billion).

A world facing economically disruptive climate change can no longer justify subsidies to expand the burning of coal and oil. The International Energy Agency projects that a phaseout of oil consumption subsidies by 2020 would cut oil use by 3.7 million barrels per day in that year. Eliminating all fossil fuel consumption subsidies by 2020 would cut global carbon emissions by nearly 5 percent while reducing government debt. Shifting subsidies to the development of climate-benign energy sources such as wind, solar, and geothermal power will help stabilize the earth’s climate.

via TreeHugger

Solar Powered GreenHouses

Posted on January 20, 2012 by ecogreen

There are many examples of small-scale, creative solutions to producing food and renewable energy side-by-side. For example, this solar double-cropping project in North Carolina, or many of the projects funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Renewable Energy for America Program (REAP). Small-scale energy solutions like these could be even more useful for farmers in Europe, where electricity prices are higher, and agricultural land is even harder to come by. In the spirit of maximizing the productive capacity of farms, a research consortium in the Basque region of Spain has developed an innovative photovoltaic (PV) greenhouse system that combines a simple power production solution for greenhouses, while managing the amount of light that is delivered to the crops growing inside.

Like a solar tracker, the system takes advantage of the sun’s changing trajectory over the course of the year. However, instead of mechanical solar tracking equipment, the greenhouse system uses a lens-based optical component to direct sunlight. During the critical winter growing months (October-February), the system allows sunlight to enter the greenhouse. During the summer, when solar radiation can be too intense for greenhouse crops, the system diverts sunlight to the PV cells, generating electricity and preventing the greenhouse from overheating.

The technology was a developed by a collaboration between ULMA Agrícola and Tecnalia. The product is undergoing testing in Derio (Bizkaia, Basque Country). Over the summer, the group tested the system on a greenhouse growing tomatoes and peppers – these are two of the most commonly grown greenhouse crops worldwide, and they require a large amount of light. The team measured the most critical parameters of the crops, such as radiation, humidity and temperature. They compared crop quality and PV production to data obtained under a normal glass roof. According to ULMA Agrícola, the summer tests achieved positive results, including a 15 percent annual increase in PV production over a standard fixed-tilt PV system.

via TreeHugger

Fair Trade USA Splits From International Fair Trade Organization

Posted on January 18, 2012 by ecogreen

As of the beginning of January, Fair Trade USA is no longer part of the world fair trade organization, and has “gone its own way.” Paul Rice, president and CEO, tries to justify this in Triple Pundit, suggesting that by making certain changes, they could double their impact in three years. The most important change is in certification of coffee, where Fair Trade certification was limited to farmers cooperatives.

Fair Trade USA resigned our membership from FLO in order to eliminate these inconsistencies which exclude so many from the benefits of Fair Trade. Beginning in coffee, we are adapting Fair Trade standards for both workers on large farms and independent small holders. Through this more inclusive model, Fair Trade USA can reach over 4 million farm workers who are currently excluded from the system.

Unfortunately, support of the small farmer against the huge agricultural corporations was one of the cornerstones of the Fair Trade movement. Small farm organizations say that the US move “threatens the empowerment, development and self-management of small organized producers.”

via Treehugger

Swedish Building Bike SuperHighways

Posted on January 17, 2012 by ecogreen

In Sweden, city planners and the country’s traffic authority are looking into building a four-lane bike superhighway between the university town of Lund and Malmö, Sweden’s third-largest cities and one of its most diverse. Cities like London have invested in protected lanes that they call “bike superhighways,” but this one would be one of the first to connect two cites (you know, like an actual highway). The designs for the trail have it following the path of railway tracks, protected from wind by fences and hedgerows. In both cities, biking’s a popular form of transportation (Malmö’s just across the water from Copenhagen), and they’re not too far from each other, about 12.5 miles. That means the highway wouldn’t be so much longer than some of the more ambitious London routes linking the outer ‘burbs to the inner city. But 12.5 miles also makes for a very do-able ride and an uber-sustainable way to get from one place to another.

via Grist

60 Million Barrels of Waste Water Daily

Posted on January 17, 2012 by ecogreen

The biggest output of the U.S. oil and gas industry is not oil or gas but dirty water. Every day, U.S. oil and gas producers bring to the surface 60 million barrels of waste water, with a salt content up to 20 times higher than sea water and laced with hazardous chemicals. For the most part, they dispose of it safely, as required by federal and state laws. The average oil well produces 7.6 barrels of water for every barrel of crude. The water/oil ratio can rise to as much as 24:1 or even 42:1 in states like Florida and Illinois. On average, 88 percent of the material brought to the surface from an oil well is water, rising to 98 percent for wells nearing the end of their productive lives.

Produced water is the largest volume by-product or waste stream associated with oil and gas exploration and production. The cost of managing such a large volume of water is a key consideration to oil and gas producers. Produced water occurs alongside oil and gas in the same underground formations and brought to the surface with them. The salt content of produced water can be 20 times higher than sea water, and it contains traces of the hydrocarbons that it was found alongside, including chemicals harmful to human health such as benzene. Of the 58 million barrels of waste water produced every day, roughly half (29 million barrels) is re-injected into oil and gas bearing formations to help maintain pressure and enhance ultimate oil recovery. Another 20 million barrels are injected into non-hydrocarbon formations for disposal.

To prevent waste migrating into freshwater aquifers, EPA regulations require Class II disposal wells to be appropriately sited. However, the industry is already handling more than 60 million barrels per day of waste water contaminated with high-levels of salt and cancer-causing chemicals, most of that from wells that would be considered “conventional” rather than fracked.

via HuffingtonPost

Livia Firth Eco-Dress Golden Globes 2012

Posted on January 17, 2012 by ecogreen

What do the cream of the fashion design world’s crop and sustainability have in common? For most award shows, the answer would be a resounding “nothing,” but this year, Colin Firth’s wife, Livia is working with the fashion world’s biggest names to change that.

For the third annual year, Firth is holding the Green Carpet Campaign, an attempt to give eco-friendly fashion a chance to shine under some of the biggest spotlights in the world: the red carpets she walks alongside her actor husband. She’s signed on huge names like Tom Ford, Chanel, Giorgio Armani, Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Stella McCartney to design green dresses for her for the various awards shows, all of which will be shown on Vogue UK’s blog. Firth kicked it off at the Globes with an Armani dress composed of material made from water bottles.

The movement of eco-fashion from the sidelines to mainstream is gaining steam. As Italian Vogue editor Franca Sozzani put it on her blog, “The respect and care for the environment, sustainability and fair trade nowadays are features that cannot be separated from the fashion world, or at least, from those who wish to preserve also the ethic, and not just aesthetic, side of fashion.”

via HuffingtonPost

EU Eggs in Free-Range Barns

Posted on January 4, 2012 by ecogreen

It’s official: As of January 1, 2012, all eggs in the European Union (EU) are supposed to be hatched by hens kept in free-range barns or “enriched” cages. Happily, the UK has gone the full nine yards and spent £400 million on meeting the new standards. Starting now, cages will have to provide enough space for birds to be able to move around. According to the British Hen Welfare Trust, the new cages “can hold up to 90 birds, which will have space to spread their wings, perch and be able to go from one end of the cage to the other. The cage will now have to provide 750 square centimetres of space for each bird.” The last battery-housed hen, called Liberty, has just been re-housed by the Trust, to a farm in Devon.

However, there are 11 countries that have not signed up to the agreement. It is estimated that anywhere from 50 to 80 million eggs will still be produced from illegally caged hens. So who are the culprits? Spain and Poland, who are amongst Europe’s largest egg producers, will not be ready to scrap battery cages, despite having over 12 years to prepare for the new law. Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Portugal and Romania are also dragging their feet.

This raises two important issues. Firstly, countries complying are concerned that the illegal eggs will be cheaper and therefore they will lose sales. It has been estimated that its costs 8% more to produce eggs under the new, and better conditions. The other issue is how consumers will be able to tell the difference between the good eggs and the bad ones. . However the answer for the UK is simple: buy British. Animal welfare groups are saying buy only free range eggs. Most of the supermarkets are selling free range or their own brand eggs now.

via TreeHugger

Asia’s Coal Grew 500% Since 1980

Posted on January 4, 2012 by ecogreen

In the fight against global warming and climate destabilization, coal is enemy #1. Not only does it produce more CO2 per unit of energy than other mainstream energy sources, but it’s also a big offender when it comes to smog and mercury pollution.

Unfortunately, the slow coal growth in many parts of the world is more than offset by the explosion in demand in Asia, and especially China. As you can see in the animations created by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, China has to be part of any solution to global warming, and they’ll probably even have to make bigger changes than others since so much of their power comes from coal.

Global coal demand has almost doubled since 1980, driven by increases in Asia, where demand is up over 400% from 1980-2010. In turn, Asian demand is dominated by China; demand in China increased almost five-fold between 1980-2010 and accounted for 73% of Asia’s consumption and almost half of coal consumption globally in 2010.

via TreeHugger

Hybrid Shark Found off Australian Coast

Posted on January 3, 2012 by ecogreen

Scientists said on Tuesday that they had discovered the world’s first hybrid sharks in Australian waters, a potential sign the predators were adapting to cope with climate change. The mating of the local Australian black-tip shark with its global counterpart, the common black-tip, was an unprecedented discovery with implications for the entire shark world. This is not a common occurrence by any stretch of the imagination; This is evolution in action. Colin Simpfendorfer, a partner in Morgan’s research from James Cook University, said initial studies suggested the hybrid species was relatively robust, with a number of generations discovered across 57 specimens. The find was made during cataloguing work off Australia’s east coast when Morgan said genetic testing showed certain sharks to be one species when physically they looked to be another.

The Australian black-tip is slightly smaller than its common cousin and can only live in tropical waters, but its hybrid offspring have been found 2,000 kilometres down the coast, in cooler seas It means the Australian black-tip could be adapting to ensure its survival as sea temperatures change because of global warming. “If it hybridises with the common species it can effectively shift its range further south into cooler waters, so the effect of this hybridising is a range expansion,” Morgan said.It’s enabled a species restricted to the tropics to move into temperate waters. Climate change and human fishing are some of the potential triggers being investigated by the team, with further genetic mapping also planned to examine whether it was an ancient process just discovered or a more recent phenomenon. If the hybrid was found to be stronger than its parent species — a literal survival of the fittest — it may eventually outlast its so-called pure-bred predecessors.

Hybrid sharks are viable, they reproduce and that there are multiple generations of hybrids now that we can see from the genetic roadmap generated from these animals. Certainly it appears that they are fairly fit individuals. The hybrids were extraorindarily abundant, accounting for up to 20 percent of black-tip populations in some areas, but that didn’t appear to be at the expense of their single-breed parents, adding to the mystery. This could challenge traditional ideas of how sharks had and were continuing to evolve. We should also consider if this happening among other species.

LED Times Square New Year Ball Drop

Posted on January 2, 2012 by ecogreen

New Year’s Eve in New York City is more than just a celebration – it’s a global tradition. However, December 31st, 2011 will carry new significance as the Times Square Ball-the preeminent lighting symbol of New Year’s Eve- helps usher in a new era of energy efficiency in the United States. At 12:01AM on January 1st, the new EISA (Energy Independence & Security Act 2007) legislation will take effect. EISA is the bipartisan bill that was signed in 2007 as a common sense approach to energy efficiency. One of EISA’s provisions sets new and reasonable efficiency standards on lighting technology that is more than 135 years old. The bill does not ban incandescent light bulbs, but encourages the development of new lighting technology like halogens and LEDs, which reduce energy consumption and save consumers money.

Built to withstand the stresses of high winds, precipitation and temperature fluctuation to brightly shine over 400 feet above Times Square throughout the year. Philips is celebrating its 12th anniversary as the official lighting partner to the world-famous Times Square Ball, a beacon of LED innovation. Both the Times Square Alliance and Philips share a commitment to sustainability, reflected in the Ball’s ongoing upgrades with Philips energy-efficient lighting solutions, culminating in the recent upgrade to LED lighting.

The Ball consumes the same amount of energy per hour as it takes to operate just two traditional home ovens. (Source: U.S. Department of Energy – Consumer Appliance Energy Use) It is lit by 32,256 Philips Luxeon Rebel LEDs (light emitting diodes), each of which can be digitally controlled to create extraordinary effects. The LED lighting in the Ball has a rated average life of 30,000 hours, compared to the roughly 1,000 hour life span of previous incandescent and halogen solutions. Also, geodesic sphere, 12 feet in diameter and weighing 11,875 pounds. Lighting the way on this important transformation is the famous New Year’s Eve Ball. Today’s Ball benefits from unmatched investment in LED technology, with its modules lasting about 30,000 hours and using just 22 watts of electricity. This is an 88% reduction in energy use and 573 tons less of CO2 then its previous lighting source. And the same technology being used in the Ball is now available to consumers for use in their homes and businesses.

via Forum Media

Pig Manure Creates Farm Energy

Posted on January 1, 2012 by ecogreen

The nearly 9,000 hogs at Loyd Ray Farms in Yadkin County, N.C., produce 400,000 gallons of manure every week. Since the waste had too high a nitrogen content to be used as fertilizer, owner Loyd Bryant used to pump that waste into a local lagoon, where it released methane, ammonia and “an unholy stink”. But now all of that waste is going to good use. Thanks to Duke University’s new Carbon Offsets Initiative, the 154-acre farm now gets half of its electricity from a new waste-to-fuel system that has also solved the environmental problems caused by the manure. It reduces emissions from the waste, improves the health of Loyd’s hogs, and creates a fertilizer he will use to grow corn, wheat and beans.

According to the Carbon Offsets Initiative website, the waste-to-fuel project “collects methane generated by hog waste and burns it to support the operations of the innovative system and create electricity for use on the farm. The destruction of the methane — a greenhouse gas 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide — creates GHG [greenhouse gas] offsets, and the renewable energy generated by the system creates renewable energy credits.” The $1.2 million system was the first full-scale offsets project completed in the Carbon Offsets Initiative. It was funded by Duke University, Duke Energy and Google — the university and Google will get carbon offset credits from the system — and was made from off-the-shelf parts and freely available designs.

Farmers like the idea of using every bit of what comes off their farms. They can manage their waste and save money while doing it. The system has several components. First, the hog waste is placed in an anaerobic digester, which contains bacteria that consume the manure and release methane gas. The methane is then burned to power a 65-kilowatt microturbine, which generates electricity to power support the entire waste management system and much of the farm’s normal operations. After the manure is processed in the digester, liquid waste enters an aeration bin, where it is treated for ammonia and other pollutants. The resulting water can be used for irrigation or for flushing out barns. By the time the system is done, it has met all of North Carolina’s environmental standards for reduction of odors and emissions. Under North Carolina law, the state’s utilities must get 0.07 percent of their electricity from hog waste beginning in 2012 and 0.2 percent by 2018, the same amount it must generate from solar.

via HuffingtonPost

Rainbow Pencil Trees

Posted on December 30, 2011 by ecogreen

The life size pencil set was shown as part of an outdoor exhibition at Open Air Art Museum in Latvia. Pohjalainen created the pieces during the Environmental Art workshop on the museum’s grounds. Each day she’d sit in the grass and watch the sun set, and “sharpen” or carve away at the aspen logs, transforming them into pencil shapes. The aspens were chosen for their beautiful grey bark color, which the artist felt resembled the outer casings of common art supplies. The ends of each were painted with a bold rainbow color that could be found in a colored pencil box. The artist is also interested in the pencils’ reaction to changing weather, from rain to wind.

This picture can bring awareness to tree damage from air pollution. Nearly all areas of the world have trees damaged from air pollution. The effects of pollution include leaf discoloration, damaged roots, weakened trees, tree death and damage to soil. Pollution decreases the tree’s ability to use sunlight and robs the soil of nutrients in habitats from suburbs to forests. Industrial wastes and car emissions released into the atmosphere produce most tree pollutants. Virtually all of the pollutants to trees and forests are airborne including fluorides, oxidants, sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide. Sunlight reacts with oxidants to form tree pollutants, like ozone and PAN (peroxyl acetyl nitrate). The gas known as ozone forms in the atmosphere’s upper layers and protects the earth from radiation, but it can also be present near the ground as a pollutant. Most sulfur dioxide pollutants form when coal or oil is burned to produce electricity. In neighborhoods lawn and garden chemicals such as fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides harm trees. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service Department found that winter de-icing of drives and sidewalks with salts such as calcium chloride also harm trees. Acid rain, or more scientifically, acid deposition, is a condition caused by highly acidic pollutants from car emissions and coal and oil-burning plants entering the atmosphere to form pollution clouds. Acid rain can fall far away from the source of its pollutants.

The effects of pollutants on trees can cause the tree to weaken and die. Air pollution and acid rains have affected North America, Asia and Europe. Trees in California and the Rocky Mountains have pollution damage. Ozone pollution in Los Angeles has killed some ponderosa and other pine species. Ozone has also affected white pine tree survival in Canada and the Eastern United States. Acid rains affect Eastern and Northeastern areas of the United States, portions of Canada and Eastern Europe. China has extensive air pollution from industrialization and car emissions.The red spruce species of Northeast United States show needle damage and loss. In the past 25 years only half of these species remain. In Central Europe silver firs, Norway pines, beech and oak trees are harmed or in danger. Germany has such extensive pollution in forest soils that the soils will no longer support tree growth.

viaeHow and Inhabitat

Solar County Jail in California

Posted on December 29, 2011 by ecogreen

As California deals with overcrowding in its state prison system by transferring low-level offenders to county correctional facilities, one municipality has found a way to cut costs without cutting services while also helping the state meet its renewable energy goals. Merced County has recently announced that it has commissioned a 1.4-megawatt (MW) photovoltaic (PV) array to power the county’s correctional facilities in El Nido, Calif.

The system, developed and installed by Siemens, will generate enough electricity to meet approximately 70 percent of the facilities’ peak electricity consumption, and offset its entire annual consumption.The system consists of two triangular-shaped arrays, for a total of 6,272 solar panels ground-mounted on 4.5 acres next to the John Latorraca Correctional Facility and the Iris Garrett Juvenile Justice Correctional Complex. Siemens also upgraded the complex’s lighting systems to make the facility more energy-efficient and improve the economics of the entire project. Money saved by the project will be deposited in a fund used to support other capital improvements, including planned energy efficiency upgrades at all county facilities.

According to project planners, the county will benefit from nearly $1.6 million over five years in solar incentive payments, and save nearly $14 million in electricity costs over 25 years. Merced County and Siemens partnered with local businesses to complete the project, including Collins Electric, Suntrek, Phase One Construction and Volvo Rents. Overall, the project planners have estimated that the project will result in a total positive cash flow to Merced County of nearly $9 million over 25 years. “We are thrilled to be turning on a new era of sustainability for Merced County citizens. I think all will agree we have made a solid investment that will yield tremendous fiscal and environmental benefits to the county and its citizens for decades to come,” said Board of Supervisors Chairman John Pedrozo. “The economics of the system could not be better.”

via HuffingtonPost

LEED Increases Property Value

Posted on December 28, 2011 by ecogreen

The results of two recent studies—one carried out by the New Buildings Institute (NBI), the other by CoStar Group—show that green building standards are not only effective, but also escalate property values. The post-occupancy studies, attempted to measure the value of buildings with sustainability features compared to conventional buildings. They also aimed to demonstrate the effectiveness of third-party certification programs, specifically LEED, administered by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and Energy Star, managed by the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy.

One study confirmed that new LEED-certified buildings use less energy than non-certified buildings. Commissioned and funded by the USGBC, the study was conducted by the NBI. Researchers compared data on energy use intensities collected from 121 LEED-certified buildings to statistics from an energy survey conducted by the federal government in 2007. The NBI study found that the median energy-use intensity for LEED buildings is 24% better than the national average for conventional buildings. When divided into typologies, office buildings demonstrated the most significant difference. LEED-certified offices performed 33% better, and those with a Gold or Platinum rating performed 50% better. These results underscore one of the study’s other prevailing findings: that, in most cases, buildings perform better as they get higher ratings, between certified, Silver, Gold, and Platinum.

The NBI study results weren’t entirely positive. Surprisingly, the actual EUI performance for LEED-certified, high-energy-use buildings, such as laboratories and data centers, was nearly 2.5 times higher than what was predicted during their design. The Maryland-based CoStar Group, a provider of commercial property information, undertook a separate study, investigating green building real estate trends by analyzing property values and occupancy rates. The study used a pool of more than 1,300 buildings, representing about 351 million square feet. Results showed that Energy Star buildings on the market commanded an additional $61 per square foot. They also showed that rental rates for Energy Star buildings are $2.40 per square foot higher than those in non-certified buildings—and occupancy rates are 3.6 percent higher. In addition, CoStar discovered that LEED-certified buildings are selling for $171 per square foot more than non-certified buildings. In terms of rental prices, a LEED-certified building fetches an extra $11.24 per square foot.

via BusinessWeek

Can Hydrogen Fuel Cells Charge iPhones

Posted on December 26, 2011 by ecogreen

Sometime in the future, Apple devices such as the iPhone, iPad and MacBook might work longer than ever on a smaller and lighter battery pack. How is this possible? By using hydrogen fuel cells, which convert oxygen and hydrogen into water, heat and electricity. The US Patent & Trademark Office has recently published two Apple patent applications, detailing how fuel cells might power smartphones, laptops and tablets of the future. Hydrogen fuel cells aren’t exactly a new technology; they’ve been used to power Honda cars, for example, and they bring their own set of problems, especially in the context of smartphones or laptops. “It is extremely challenging to design hydrogen fuel cell systems which are sufficiently portable and cost-effective to be used with portable electronic devices,” admits Apple.

But Apple might have a solution. One of the patent applications describes a “fuel cell system which is capable of both providing power to and receiving power from a rechargeable battery in a portable computing device. This eliminates the need for a bulky and heavy battery within the fuel cell system, which can significantly reduce the size, weight and cost of the fuel cell system.”

And for how long these fuel cells (in its patent application, Apple explores other fuel possibilities besides hydrogen) could power a smartphone or a laptop? The answer is “days or even weeks without refueling,” according to Apple. This sounds like a dream to owners of most modern smartphones, which barely last a day of heavy use. We’ll probably have to wait a while until fuel cell-powered iPhones and MacBooks hit the market, but a big breakthrough in battery technology is something we’ve been waiting for a long time, and it might change the face of the market forever.

via Mashable

Mining Causes Cigarette Smoke Air

Posted on December 26, 2011 by ecogreen

When winter comes to Utah and atmospheric conditions trap a soup of pollutants close to the ground, doctors say it turns every resident in the Salt Lake basin into the equivalent of a cigarette smoker. For days or weeks at a time, an inversion layer in which high pressure systems can trap a roughly 1,300-foot-thick layer of cold air – and the pollutants that build up inside it – settles over the basin, leaving some people coughing and wheezing.”There’s no safe level of particulate matter you can breathe but this is some of the nation’s worst wintertime air.

The doctors and a lobby group of Utah mothers are blaming a company that mines nearly a mile deep in the largest open pit in the world for contributing one-third of Salt Lake County’s pollution. The rest is from tailpipe and other emissions. They have filed a lawsuit against Kennecott Utah Copper, accusing it of violating the U.S. Clean Air Act. The company operates with the consent of state regulators who enforce the federal law. The company is the No. 1 industrial air polluter along Utah’s heavily populated 120-mile Wasatch Frontand operates heavy trucks and power and smelter plants. Utah’s chief air regulator, however, acknowledged Kennecott is technically violating a 1994 plan adopted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that limited the company to hauling 150 million tons of ore a year out of the Bingham Canyon Mine. Utah has twice allowed the company to exceed that limit, most recently to 260 million tons, as the company moves to expand a mine in the mountains west of Salt Lake City.

Utah used to seek EPA’s consent, but the EPA didn’t take any action. An examination by The Associated Press of emissions figures provided by Kennecott to state regulators shows the company’s share of pollutants ranges from 65 percent of Salt Lake County’s sulfur dioxide emissions to 18 percent of its particulates. The particulates are ingested through the nose and lungs and can become lodged in brain tissue. They are especially damaging to the development of children as the first few minutes of exposure to air pollution does the most damage, with many people’s bodies able to react and fight off longer bouts of exposure. Yet exposure to dust, soot and gaseous chemicals constricts vessels and send blood pressure soaring, making some people’s hearts flutter and spiking emergency hospital visits while putting fetuses in the womb at risk. Kennecott is a subsidiary of the international mining conglomerate Rio Tinto, which posts billions of dollars of profit a year and therefore can afford to clean up its act.

via HuffingtonPost

RainTees: Saving Trees with Tees

Posted on December 26, 2011 by ecogreen

Rain Tees began by donating school supplies to children living in endangered rainforests and now works with children in need all over the world. Every Rain Tee is handmade in the USA with eco-friendly fabrics and features original artwork created by children living in countries facing environmental destruction, poverty, and little or no access to education. For every tee sold, a tree is planted in a critically endangered area of the world through our charity partner, Trees for the Future.Trees for the Future has planted nearly 65 million trees since 1988, and helped thousands of communities in Central America, Africa, and Asia improve their livelihoods and environment through cutting edge agroforestry and reforestation projects. Each year these trees remove over one million tons of CO2 from the atmosphere. Rain Tees’ mission is to plant trees with tees and create art programs for children around the world. So far, Rain Tees has funded art and education programs in more than 15 countries while donating thousands of school supplies.

Over the years, RainTees has grown to offer consulting, design, distribution, and marketing to companies that want to launch products while remaining as eco-conscious as possible. Every collection its Andira designs, imports or helps to produce is made using fair labor practices and contains no animal parts or products, as we believe fashion should always be cruelty free. The word “Andira” describes a tall tree which grows in the Brazilian Amazon and has been used for centuries by indigenous people for its medicinal properties. However, due to logging, oil drilling and agricultural expansion in the Amazon, the species has become nearly extinct.As a result of this devastation, Beth wanted to launch a line that would educate consumers on critical environmental and social issues, end the negative effects of climate change, and not cause further damage to the earth in the process.

The Facts: Rainforest are crucial to our entire planet’s survival. Rainforests contain more plant and animal species than anywhere else in the world, control global weather patterns, and provide more than 20% of the earth’s oxygen. This is what happens when we destroy one of the planet’s most valuable and critically endangered ecosysttems- the Amazon. Logging, oil drilling, and agriculture are the main contributors to the vast destruction. Brazilian children living there search for food after their homeland is destroyed.

via RainTees

BioTrade Butterfly Business

Posted on December 26, 2011 by ecogreen

Alas de Colombia, founded in 2001, generates income through sustainable butterfly farming. Alas de Colombia is a refreshing sustainable BioTrade social business that does butterfly farming in order to create income for rural communities. In El Arenillo, Palmira city, Valle del Cauca (a district of Colombia), there are over 300 species of butterflies making it the apt location for the farming activities, which is run by poor women who lack alternative job opportunities. Colombia has been known worldwide for its wealth of butterflies that were taken out of the country illegally for more than 50 years. Currently, we have succeeded in demonstrating that legal trade with butterfly farming is the best alternative to assert what is ours. The company’s mission is to implement butterflies breeding and their use based on sustainable Bio-Trade criteria to help raise awareness in Colombian population about the process of conservation and preservation of our biodiversity.

Never heard of BioTrade? According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), “BioTrade is concerned with the production or collection and commercialization of goods and services that are derived from native biodiversity: the vast array of plants, species and organisms on our planet.” In a way, it’s like a fair trade stamp. Alas de Colombia meets the BioTrade criteria which obviously ups its credibility on the international markets and allows for bigger returns to the communities in which it works. Generally, the business exports to the U.S. as well as countries within Europe, creating value not only for those directly benefitting, that is, the farmers themselves, but also for the country’s export market as a whole.

Alas de Colombia is run by Patricia and Vanessa Restrepo, a mother-daughter team who founded the business when they realized there was an area for growth in terms of butterflies at nature exhibits and wedding ceremonies. “Instead of killing things all day, I’m raising living things that fly,” said single mother Joana Martinez who used to slaughter chickens before she got a position at Alas de Colombia. “I can’t imagine a better job.”

via Trendhunter

EU Carbon Aviation Law

Posted on December 22, 2011 by ecogreen

With the risk of a trade fight, U.S. airlines will be charged for their carbon emissions. U.S. airlines failed to block an EU law charging airlines flying to Europe for their carbon pollution. The decision by an EU court was widely hailed by environmentalists, but the Fitch ratings agency said it raised the specter of a global trade dispute. The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg dismissed arguments that imposing the European Union’s cap-and-trade carbon credits program on flights to and from European airports infringes on national sovereignty or violates international aviation treaties. U.S. and other non-European airlines had sued the EU, arguing that they were exempt from the law.

Environmentalists called the law a first step in controlling carbon emissions in a key economic sector, and EU officials said they expected airlines to comply. But Fitch Ratings said the decision could deepen rather than quell the dispute, raised in a lawsuit brought by the trade organization Airlines for America and several U.S. airlines and supported by China, India and other countries with international carriers. “We believe threats of trade retaliation over the EU’s cap-and-trade system will pose growing threats to aviation market access in both developed and emerging markets next year,” Fitch said. Retaliation could come in the form of slot allocations at airports and authorizing routes, especially in developing countries, Fitch said.

The U.S. airlines said the regulation was tantamount to “an exorbitant tax,” but the EU said the added costs would amount to a few dollars per ticket and would open the way for efficient airlines to make money rather than lose it. The carbon trading program, due to go into effect Jan. 1, is one of the widest-reaching measures adopted by any country or regional bloc to regulate emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for climate change. Although only 3 percent of total human-caused carbon emissions come from aircraft, aviation is the fastest-growing source of carbon pollution. U.S. airlines most affected are United Continental, Delta and American Airlines, all of which derive more than 20 percent of global revenues from trans-Atlantic traffic, Fitch said. The U.S. trade group said its members would comply with the EU directive “under protest,” while reviewing legal options. “Today’s court decision further isolates the EU from the rest of the world and will keep in place a unilateral scheme that is counterproductive to concerted global action on aviation and climate change,” Airlines for America said in a statement.

via TulsaWorld

Green Fashion Industry Halting

Posted on December 22, 2011 by ecogreen

For small businesses, the desire to go green isn’t always enough. Many fashion designers and retailers aspire to promote ethical clothing, and yet the difficulty often comes down to the fundamental economic principle of supply and demand. Organic baby clothes brand Little Esop, based in New York, uses 100 percent organic fabrics. Designer Judy Posey, who founded the brand more than two years ago, believes that the higher cost of organic fabrics is the biggest deterrent to companies across the fashion industry, especially since “it isn’t a big enough thing yet” among consumers. In New York, everyone knows what organic is but across the country, some people just don’t care yet or don’t understand why it’s important.

The other challenge to consumers who want to buy organic is the absence of any industry rules or standards for what qualifies as “organic.” The difference between organic and run-of-the-mill clothing lies in how the raw materials are grown, treated and manufactured — pesticide- and chemical-free — and what percentage of those materials go into any given garment. If you don’t really know about fabrics, it is impossible to tell if you’re buying organic or not. The Global Organic Textile Standard, an international trade group that verifies processors, manufacturers and traders as “organic,” according to criteria that apply to every stage of production. The process is, moreover, seasonal and ongoing, and not a piece of paper that, once acquired, can be filed away and forgotten. Still more challenging is the effort among some designers to create cruelty-free clothing, which has been often touted by organizations like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. U.S. brands taking this approach include Matt and Nat, a boutique that sells imitation leather wallets, belts and bags.

The main inducement to interest people in this clothing niche is to be “fashionable before you are ethical.” He explained, You have to prompt the buyer to pick up the product at the store first. Once they do that, for a lot of people at the moment, if it’s vegan, that’s just a bonus.Only time will tell if Posey’s predictions are accurate, or if the “bonus” of purchasing green clothing today becomes the primary incentive that drives consumers to seek out organic products tomorrow.

via Huffingtonpost

China Dominating Solar Panel Industry

Posted on December 21, 2011 by ecogreen

Ten years ago, solar panels were made mostly in the United States, Germany, and Japan. Chinese manufacturers made almost none. But by 2006, the Chinese company Suntech Power had the capacity to make over a million silicon-based solar panels a year and was already the world’s third-largest producer. Today Chinese manufacturers make about 50 million solar panels a year—over half the world’s supply in 2010—and include four of the world’s top five solar-panel manufacturers. What makes this particularly impressive is that the industry elsewhere has been doubling in size every two years, and Chinese manufacturers have done even better, doubling their production roughly every year.

This dominance isn’t due to cheap labor in Chinese factories: making solar cells requires such expensive equipment and materials that labor contributes just a small fraction of the overall cost. Nor is it because the Chinese companies have introduced cells that last longer or produce more power: by and large, they make the same type of silicon-based solar panels as many of their competitors around the world, using the same equipment. They have succeeded in large part because it’s faster and cheaper for them to build factories, thanks to inexpensive, efficient construction crews and China’s streamlined permitting process. Though demand for solar power continues to grow around the world, the market is flooded with photovoltaic panels: worldwide production capacity more than doubled from 2009 to 2010 and continued to increase in 2011.

Yet despite their potential advantages, it has been difficult for thin-film solar cells to compete with the ever decreasing costs and improving efficiency of crystalline silicon ones. One company, Arizona-based First Solar, has succeeded in developing low-cost manufacturing techniques for thin-film solar panels, but these methods use a material—cadmium telluride—that results in panels less efficient than silicon ones. Despite these struggles, it is possible that thin-film technology will eventually challenge conventional solar panels. If that’s true, Chinese makers of crystalline silicon solar cells may not dominate the market forever. But the strategy of first scaling up conventional technology and then introducing innovative designs to keep lowering the cost per watt of solar power has put them in a good position to maintain their lead for years. In the meantime, some, like Suntech, are working to produce thin-film panels of their own. When thin films do replace crystalline silicon, it could be Chinese manufacturers that make them.

via Techonology Review

Mexico Closing Biggest Garbage Dump

Posted on December 21, 2011 by ecogreen

Mexico City will close one of the world’s largest garbage dumps by Dec. 31, 2011 and will instead turn the garbage from millions of people into reusable materials and energy. Some 700 trucks that carry garbage to the Bordo Poniente will no longer be admitted as of Monday, and all operations will cease by the end of the year. Trucks will still enter the recycling separation plant and a composting plant already on the premises. The city that once dumped 12,600 tons of garbage daily already has cut the amount in half this year through recycling and composting. The concrete giant Cemex SAB has agree to buy 3,000 tons daily to turn into energy. The city is seeking other landfills to dump the remaining garbage in smaller amounts while it institutes a new recycling program in the new year.

Built on a dry lake bed partly to handle the rubble from the devastating 1985 earthquake, Bordo Poniente has taken in more than 76 million tons of trash. Closing the dump will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a minimum of 2 million tons of carbon dioxide a year, according to the city government. The city is implementing strict measures to stop illegal dumping at the site and to process materials into compost. It will also embark next year on a major project to harness the methane gas produced at the dump into energy. The city also plans to open a new plant to recycle construction waste into building material. The Mexican capital itself has about 8.8 million residents, but its metropolitan area holds more than 20 million.

The city has been working for years to turn one of the planet’s biggest and messiest waste management systems into the greenest, at least in Latin America. Three years ago, the city recycled only 6 percent of its garbage. Today, that number is close to 60 percent, having grown substantially in the last year. The city says it is also negotiating with 1,500 pepenadores, or scavengers, informal workers who traditionally have been a key part of Mexico’s waste-management system. They living at dumps and scavenge and resell material. Pablo Tellez Falcon, who heads the scavengers guild, said 300 of them worked at the Bordo Poniente landfill and that he will negotiate for a written agreement with the city government so they don’t lose their livelihoods.

via Yahoo

Occupy Food System

Posted on December 19, 2011 by ecogreen

Thanks to the Occupy Wall Street movement, there’s a deeper understanding about the power that corporations wield over the great majority of us. The disparity between the top 1% and everyone else has been laid bare — there’s no more denying that those at the top get their share at the expense of the 99%. Lobbyists, loopholes, tax breaks… how can ordinary folks expect a fair shake? Family farmers, whose struggle to make a living on the land has gotten far more difficult since corporations came to dominate our farm and food system. We saw signs of it when Farm Aid started in 1985, but corporate control of our food system has since exploded.

From seed to plate, our food system is now even more concentrated than our banking system. Most economic sectors have concentration ratios hovering around 40%, meaning that the top four firms in the industry control 40% of the market. Anything beyond this level is considered “highly concentrated,” where experts believe competition is severely threatened and market abuses are likely to occur. Many key agricultural markets like soybeans and beef exceed the 40 percent threshold, meaning the seeds and inputs that farmers need to grow our crops come from just a handful of companies. 93% of soybeans and 80% of corn grown in the United States are under the control of just one company. Four companies control up to 90% of the global trade in grain. Today, three companies process more than 70% of beef in the U.S.; four companies dominate close to 60% of the pork and chicken markets.

Our banks were deemed too big to fail, yet our food system’s corporations are even bigger. In November 2011, the Obama administration delivered a crushing blow: the large meatpackers, who would have lost some of their power, lobbied hard and won to leave the beef market as it is — ruled by corporate giants. In the same month, new school lunch rules proposed by the USDA that would have brought more fresh food to school cafeterias were weakened by Congress. Food processors — the corporations that turn potatoes into French fries and chicken into nuggets — spent $5.6 million to lobby against the new rules and won, with Congress going so far as agreeing to call pizza a vegetable. Both decisions demonstrate that corporate power wins and the health of our markets and our children loses. Corporate control of our food system has led to the loss of millions of family farmers, destruction of our soil, pollution of our water and health epidemics of obesity and diabetes.
via HuffingtonPost

Obama Approves Shell to Drill in Antartica

Posted on December 19, 2011 by ecogreen

The Obama administration just approved Shell Oil’s plan to drill for oil in the Arctic, and even though it got its way, the company is still whining about “unwarranted restrictions” attached to this approval such as it can’t drill when winter ice is present. Shell is at the center of a classic Alaska development battle, gearing up to explore for oil as it confronts ever-higher regulatory hurdles and court challenges by environmentalists who say a big Arctic oil spill would be a disaster.

So far, Shell has spent nearly $4 billion on leases, groundwork and specialized equipment, including a new icebreaker being built in Louisiana. At stake are billions in oil income and the reputation of a corporation that promotes a culture of safety but has been tarnished by troubles overseas. In a sense, Shell is an old Alaska hand. Back in the 1960s, the company was the first to produce oil in Cook Inlet waters, where it had to engineer platforms able to withstand harsh winters and severe tides. Some of those platforms still produce today. But Shell sold those interests in the late 1990s, after their heyday.

Drilling for oil is challenging even under “normal” circumstances, so it’s pretty much inevitable that in the extreme conditions presented by the Arctic, some of this stuff is going to escape, and there might even be a catastrophic spill. What’s that going to look like? It might look a little like Russia. Russia’s constant oil leaks are already contaminating the Arctic, wiping out entire ecosystems and all of the fishing and hunting upon which many remote villages rely. And Russia is aiming to follow Shell into Arctic waters, which could compound the disaster — Russian company Lukoil’s safety record makes Shell look like Greenpeace. Meanwhile, the oil response “plans” put forward by most drilling outfits are “triumphs of hope over expectation,” because “Arctic ice, lack of daylight, winds and temperatures make it extremely difficult to contain, burn off or disperse spilled oil.” Sure, the Arctic may currently look like a freezing desert wasteland that can afford to get a little more ghastly. But once climate change really kicks in, it’s gonna be expensive beachfront resort property. So it’s in even rich people’s interest to keep it pristine.

via Grist

Kraft Carbon Footprint

Posted on December 19, 2011 by ecogreen

Kraft Foods is a huge company with an equally large environmental footprint. As a food and beverage firm, it’s not surprising that its biggest environmental impacts come from growing the raw materials that go into its portfolio of products, including Chips Ahoy, Boca, Triscuits and, of course, Macaroni and Cheese. That’s the top-line finding from a company initiative to map Kraft’s carbon, water and land impacts. Kraft today released the findings, which were verified by World Wildlife Fund and the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment. Agriculture accounts for nearly 60 percent of Kraft’s total carbon footprint, more than 80 percent of its land impacts and 70 percent of its water footprint. Manufacturing accounts for just a small slice, including 10 percent of Kraft’s water footprint, and a negligible contribution to the company’s land impacts. Agriculture, however, has clearly been a target area for the company, which has vowed to increase sustainable sourcing of agricultural commodities by 25 percent by 2015.

The company is also looking beyond its four walls, such as a commitment to trim 50 million miles from its transportation network by 2015. According to its 2011 response to the Carbon Disclosure Project, Kraft’s direct emissions, known as Scopes 1 and 2, totaled 3,319,396 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. But like many companies, these emissions make up just a small fraction — less than 10 percent — of its total carbon footprint, making the supply chain a prime target for mitigation.

Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT) is a global snacks powerhouse with an unrivaled portfolio of brands people love. Proudly marketing delicious biscuits, confectionery, beverages, cheese, grocery products and convenient meals in approximately 170 countries, Kraft Foods had 2010 revenue of $49.2 billion. Twelve of the company’s iconic brands – Cadbury, Jacobs, Kraft, LU, Maxwell House, Milka, Nabisco, Oreo, Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia, Tang and Trident – generate revenue of more than $1 billion annually. On Aug. 4, 2011, Kraft Foods announced plans to divide and create two independent public companies: a high-growth global snacks business and a high-margin North American grocery business.

via Greenbiz

Electric Vehicles in IKEA stores

Posted on December 19, 2011 by ecogreen

IKEA UK has already bought a giant wind farm and plans to run on 100% renewable energy. In the US, IKEA just announced that it is expanding solar installations to 75% of its stores. But clean energy is just one part of the puzzle. How are people supposed to get to these gigantic big box stores in the middle of nowhere? Actually, IKEA is working on that too. According to bizjournals.com, they’ve just installed electric vehicle charging at their Costa Mesa store in California, making it the 4th IKEA location in the country to install charging:

The Costa Mesa store is the fourth Ikea store in the United States to complete installation of the charging stations. The retailer has already installed stations in San Diego, Carson and Portland, Ore., and plans to install charging stations at five other Ikea stores in the Western United States. To charge an electric vehicle at the Costa Mesa store, drivers pull into a designated parking spot, swipe their Blink InCard and plug the charger into the vehicle. Customers can then shop and eat at their leisure in the store while the vehicle is charging.

But of course electric cars are just one part of building a more sustainable transportation system. Looking at the IKEA corporate page on climate change, the company is also offering home delivery services for folks who arrive without a car, and even free bus services in some locations. Lloyd’s complaint that IKEA deliberately confuses shoppers and encourages clutter may stand true. But their efforts to reduce their carbon footprint are streets ahead of many of the competition.

Largest Bamboo Structure is Chocolate Factory

Posted on December 19, 2011 by ecogreen

We’ve seen cutting boards, bicycles, floors, even houses made of bamboo, but an organic chocolate factory? Evidently, when Ben Ripple and Frederick Schilling, the two co-CEOs of specialty food company Big Tree Farms (BTF) talked about sustainably building their new plant, they put their money where their mouths are. Now, the Indonesian island of Bali is home to what BTF claims is the largest all-bamboo commercial building ever constructed, and soon, it’ll be cranking out tasty chocolate bars by the thousands.

“Bamboo is definitely regarded as one of the most sustainable building materials in the world,” said Schilling. “What we’ve done here is created this very, very practical building using bamboo with, obviously, sustainability at the core purpose, but at the same time, we were able to create a very aesthetically beautiful building.” If you’ve traveled anywhere in Asia, you’ve likely seen skyscrapers and other tall structures surrounded by bamboo scaffolding. Indeed, bamboo has been a vitally important building material for thousands of years, and for good reason. Not only does it grow quickly – some species can sprout close to a meter (39 inches) in a 24-hour period – but it also rivals the tensile and compressive strengths of mild steel and certain concrete mixtures respectively. Technically a grass, some of the largest timber species can grow to over 98 feet (30 m) in height and reach 6-8 inches (15-20 cm) in diameter.

BTF’s intention is for its traditionally-styled new 26,500 square foot (2,460 square meter) structure to be a “beans to bar” processing plant that will take the organic cacao from thousands of regional farmers and blend it with locally-harvested coconut-palm sugar to create a truly sustainable (and presumably delicious) new line of chocolates. How sweet is that?

via GizMag

Uncommon Ground in Chicago- America’s Greenest Restaurant

Posted on December 14, 2011 by ecogreen

Chicago’s north side Uncommon Ground has been named the “Greenest Restaurant in the Country”. Uncommon Ground on Devon earned top marks in all seven categories: energy, food, water, waste, disposables, building and pollution production, the GRA reports, netting a total of 365 points. Each Certified Green Restaurant goes through a thorough process of certification to meet the Green Restaurant Association’s (GRA) rigorous environmental standards. The GRA vets each step and point that each restaurant implements and the GRA audits each restaurant annually so that the restaurants’ claims can be accurate. The 20-year-old dining destination has long been recognized for groundbreaking advances in sustainable business operation, including using solar panels and use of old fryer oil as fuel.

The restaurant was also the first in the country to build an organic rooftop farm, a trend that has spread wildly among eco- and ingredient-conscious chefs and operators. The 640-square-foot farm space produced over 700 pounds of produce this year.Although some of the sun’s energy is going to grow food on its roof, the remaining rays are powering a solar thermal array that is heating Uncommon Ground’s water, providing the restaurant with renewal and free energy on a daily basis. To top it off, the restaurant also has furniture made from reclaimed and reused wood materials. Although this level of commitment is currently uncommon, Uncommon Ground is paving the way for these steps and points to be common ground for the coming decade.

Uncommon Ground also racked up a venerable who’s who of awards in the industry including:
- “Best New Restaurants” – Chicago Magazine 2008
- “First Certified Organic Roof Top Farm in the Country” – M.O.S.A. 2008
- “Recipient of the ‘Governor Sustainability Award’” – 2010 & 2011
- “Winner of the ‘Mayor’s Landscape Award’, City of Chicago” – 2009, 2010, & 2011
- “Winner of the prestigious ‘USGBC Environ-motion Award’” – March, 2009

via HuffingtonPost

Apple Plans to have Largest US Solar HQ

Posted on December 14, 2011 by ecogreen

Apple Headquarters Spaceship campus plans include a roof made almost entirely out of solar cells. With a building as large as Apple’s, that puts it in the top corporate solar installations in the world and the biggest in the US. The current title holder is the 4.26 MW system in Edison New Jersey and another being built by ToysRus in sunny NJ is rated 5.38MW. The current plan for the new Apple headquarters calls for 500,000 or more square feet of solar panels, generating at least 5MW of power. That could make it the biggest corporate solar panel installation in the U.S. — but Apple operations take so much power that this will just be supplemental.

On average or as a general “rule of thumb” modern photovoltaics (PV) solar panels will produce up to 10 watts per square foot of solar panel area. Since Cupertino is generally favorable in terms of weather and Apple will obviously use the latest Solar technology developed in the coming years, that could give Apple over 5,000,000 Watts of power to play with. Additionally, Apple has a few other buildings on campus that could be outfitted with solar roofs. The plans list a photovoltaic roof canopy of 320,000 sq.ft. just on the parking building.

To put that into perspective, that can power almost a million 6W AppleTVs. As a comparison, Google’s current solar allocation is about 1.6MW.
Still, it’s a lot more than Google has managed! (They get 1.6MW of solar. Suck it, Google.) And between the giant solar installation and having its primary power facility on campus, Apple has almost divorced itself from the normal electrical grid, which is pretty cool. Clearly, this won’t be enough power to power all of Apple’s HQ operations, but as Steve Jobs mentioned in his case to the Cupertino City council, Apple will be able to generate a lot of its own power and will run from an on-site power facility with the normal grid used as a backup.

via 9to5mac

Green Sidewalk Makes Electricity

Posted on December 14, 2011 by ecogreen

Paving slabs that convert energy from people’s footsteps into electricity are set to help power Europe’s largest urban mall, at the 2012 London Olympics site. The recycled rubber “PaveGen” paving slabs harvest kinetic energy from the impact of people stepping on them and instantly deliver tiny bursts of electricity to nearby appliances. The slabs can also store energy for up to three days in an on-board battery, according to its creator.

In their first commercial application, 20 tiles will be scattered along the central crossing between London’s Olympic stadium and the recently opened Westfield Stratford City mall — which expects an estimated 30 million customers in its first year. That should be enough feet to power about half its (the mall’s) outdoor lighting needs.The green slabs are designed to compress five millimeters when someone steps on them, but PaveGen will not share the precise mechanism responsible for converting absorbed kinetic energy into electricity. Although each step produces only enough electricity to keep an LED-powered street lamp lit for 30 seconds, the tiles are a real-world “crowdsourcing” application, harnessing small contributions from a large number of individuals. A big outdoor festival where we got over 250,000 footsteps — was enough to charge 10,000 mobile phones.

In its current form, the PaveGen paving slab contains a low-energy LED which lights up, expressing the energy transfer idea to the user but only consuming around 5% of the energy from each footstep.As much as it’s an effective, common-sense source of some sustainable electricity, it’s also a great way for people to engage with the issue of sustainability … to feel like they are part of the solution in a very immediate, fun and visual way that doesn’t make you do anything you wouldn’t already be doing. It’s also really easy to install as a retrofit on existing pavements, because they can be made to match their exact dimensions … you just replace one slab with another. The average person takes 150 million steps in their lifetime, just imagine the potential.

via CNN

Americans Leaving Suburbs

Posted on December 14, 2011 by ecogreen

There are many in America who don’t like or trust cities, primarily because they harbor a disproportionate number of Democratic voters. They don’t like investments in transit, either, preferring the privacy and freedom of the car. But whether they like it or not, America is changing. First, the existing supply—that’s right, today’s stock—of conventional lot (> 1/8th acre) single-family detached homes exceeds the projected demand for these homes in 2035. There is no need for building another single family detached house, period, for the next 23 years. So if people don’t want to live in these homes, where do they want to live? In short, the answer is, near transit.

America is changing, people are going to be a lot poorer, and they simply cannot afford it anymore. The bulk of the demand for housing is going to come from the biggest cohort, the childless baby boomers. Energy is going to keep going up in price. Keeping a detached house cool, and getting to it, is going to become unaffordable. Real Income is going to continue to fall. And unemployment is going to continue to be high. Wealth is going to continue to shift The 1% will continue to get richer and the 99% poorer. Mortgages are going to be out of reach for the majority of people. Big downpayments will keep people out of the housing market and without Fannie Mae, the average person will not be able to get a loan.

City preference is driven by convenience, connectivity, and a healthy work/life balance to maintain relationships. And before you roll your eyes and say they will grow out of it when they have kids, or suggest that we can all drive to our passivhauses in CNG powered autonomous podcars, Seventy percent do not believe they have to move to the suburbs once they have children; and only half are confident they will need a single-family home once they have children. So whether it is because of necessity or changing tastes, the fact remains that planners and politicians had better prepare for an America that is more urban, more transit oriented, more dense. It is no longer a matter of choice.

via TreeHugger

Hello world!

Posted on December 13, 2011 by ecogreen

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

Warren Buffet Buys Solar Farm

Posted on December 8, 2011 by ecogreen

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., which agreed to buy a $2 billion solar farm in California may have picked the right time to invest in the industry. The 550-megawatt Topaz project will qualify for a federal incentive because it began construction last month, and will sell power under a long-term contract that was completed before prices for solar panels fell 44 percent in the last year. Berkshire’s MidAmerican Energy Holdings utility unit and First Solar Inc. (FSLR), the project developer, announced the deal today.

Topaz, which will use First Solar panels, may be the last large solar farm to qualify for the U.S. Treasury Department incentive program, which is set to end this year. It will likely sell power at a higher price than projects that are seeking utility contracts now, said Paul Clegg, an analyst at Mizuho Securities USA in New York. First Solar projects that are currently being built will sell power for 14 cents to 16 cents a kilowatt-hour; by 2014, he expects its solar farms to sell power at 10 cents to 12 cents a kilowatt-hour. Prices for power sold under these long-term contracts are coming down, and the expected expiration of a federal incentive may further erode profit margins for large projects. The Treasury Department 1603 program, which offers cash grants equal to about 30 percent of renewable energy projects’ development costs, is set to end Dec. 31. First Solar received $3.1 billion in federal loan guarantees for three other solar projects that it later sold. Buffett is chairman and chief executive of Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway.

Buffett’s investment shows that solar has come of age. First Solar has sold and begun building projects using its panels to buyers including General Electric Co., NextEra Energy Inc., Exelon Corp. and NRG Energy Inc. Buying Topaz will provide a “nice set” of cash flow for MidAmerican. This is the biggest acquisition of a single photovoltaic project anywhere. The Topaz project in San Luis Obispo County is expected to be complete in 2015. It’s the third-largest solar farm announced to date in the U.S., tied with First Solar’s Desert Sunlight plant also in California and trailing plants that NRG Energy and Cannon Power Corp. are developing, according to New Energy Finance. First Solar rose 4.6 percent at 3:40 p.m. in New York on December 7, 2011. Berkshire Hathaway gained 0.5 percent to $118,000.

via Bloomberg

Green Beverage: Mead Honey Based Wine

Posted on December 6, 2011 by ecogreen

Green Drink, Mead is beverage that is low impact, even without these greening efforts. Mead is more commonly known as honey wine and evidence of its consumption dates back as far as 7,000 BCE in China. The ingredients for mead can hardly be more simple; honey, water, and yeast. Yeast is generally cultivated by each meadery and water is either filtered tap water or well water, both having a minimal impact. Honey, which makes up 15-20% of mead, is a byproduct of natural pollination services performed by the honeybee. Unlike other sugar sources used in making wine and beer like grapes, barley, and hops, honey does not require fertilizer, herbicides, pesticides, or fungicides and the combustion emissions are limited to the beekeeper’s smoker and perhaps his/her truck.

Transportation Impacts Mead can be produced anywhere honey is produced without requiring the long-distance transportation of ingredients as we find with beer. In the case of wine, there is typically little incoming transportation of ingredients because most wineries are located at or near their vineyards, but wines are often shipped very far to their various markets. Whether using a lot of inbound shipping, outbound shipping, or both, most alcoholic beverages have quite a transportation footprint. Packaging mead is not generally transported as far other alcoholic beverages. This not only reduces the impact and cost of outbound shipping but also makes it much more feasible to collect and refill empty bottles.

The Benefits of Supporting Beekeeping Mead has the added benefit of supporting beekeeping by monetizing the honey byproduct of bees’ pollination services. Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) has decimated a significant number of bee colonies, leading to worries about the future of agriculture, because approximately one third of global agricultural production is dependent on bees for pollination. Supporting beekeepers by purchasing products made with honey encourages beekeepers to expand their number of colonies or discourages them from leaving their profession for more profitable work. The legend of the ‘honeymoon’ stems from a couple drinking mead, honey wine, during and for one moon cycle after to promote fertility and prosperity but today mead is perfect for any occasion, making it the most sustainable adult beverage to enjoy with friends and family during this holiday season.

Via TreeHugger

#1 Solar Private School- New England Prep

Posted on December 6, 2011 by ecogreen

How it ranks in SAT scores or Ivy League admissions, we have no idea. But in the highly competitive world of New England prep schools, the Berkshire School in Sheffield, Mass., is definitely No. 1 at … solar. The private boarding high school and SolarWorld announced the completion of a 2-megawatt (MW) ground-mounted array at the school’s campus. Covering eight acres and featuring 8,332 SolarWorld SunModule solar panels, it’s the largest solar installation at a private school in New England, and the latest of three large SolarWorld projects in Massachusetts with a combined capacity of 7 MW.

The project features five different solar energy technologies, including fixed-tilt photovoltaic (PV) panels, single-axis tracking PV panels and newer technologies such as thermal energy dishes, thin-film PV panels and cylindrical solar cells. According to the school, the system will generate about 45 percent of the campus’ energy needs, and will feature an “energy investigations laboratory” designed to help students learn about different solar technologies and monitor the output of the array. The system was installed by Connecticut solar developer PowerPlay Solar. Engineering, procurement and construction services were provided by Massachusetts contractor Spire Corp. SolarWorld and Spire Corp. have also collaborated on two other large installations on BJ’s Wholesale Club big-box stores in Massachusetts, totaling 652 kilowatts (kW). Headquartered in Bonn, Germany, SolarWorld operates manufacturing facilities in Freiberg, Germany, and in Hillsboro, Ore. SolarWorld is currently leading the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing’s petitions for duties on imported Chinese silicon crystalline solar cells.

“Berkshire School has made an impressive investment in the goals and education of sustainability,” said Kevin Kilkelly, president of SolarWorld Americas. “The project heads in the direction that Massachusetts officials had in mind when they enacted ambitious solar legislation last year. Set against the picturesque backdrop of the Berkshire Mountains, the project is emblematic of the Bay State’s embrace of renewable energy.”

via HuffingtonPost

Paul McCartney Dislikes No Meat-Free French Days

Posted on December 5, 2011 by ecogreen

There will be no meat-free days in French schools for six million children following a new decree from their government that all students will have to eat meat if they want lunch at school. Taking a packed lunch is not an alternative as they are also banned. The ban will shortly be extended to kindergartens, hospitals, prisons, colleges and old people’s homes. French agriculture minister, Bruno Lemaire, said in January that the Government’s aim for nutrition was to defend the French agricultural model and counter initiatives such as those by vegetarian campaigners like Sir Paul – who has called for a reduced consumption of meat.

But writing on his website, Sir Paul said: “The French Government’s recent decree effectively enforcing the consumption of animal products in public institutions is a backward step for France. It goes against the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union by prohibiting individuals’ right to express their beliefs. “No one needs to eat animals – and we can combat climate change and lessen the risk of suffering from heart disease and other ailments by reducing the amount of meat we eat.”

Paul has been a vegetarian for over 21 years; since he was married to Linda. Staying a vegetarian helps him connect with the feeling that nature still exists.
For them going veggie was really only down to one thing – that Linda and Paul both grew up being mad-keen nature-lovers. She, over on her side of the world, was looking under rocks for salamanders in posh Scarsdale, where she grew up. With Paul, he was in Speke in Liverpool. But right off the edge of Speke there was countryside. So while Linda was looking for her salamanders, Paul would be out looking for frogs and sticklebacks. When they hooked up, Paul was with The Beatles and had this feeling that there wasn’t such a thing as nature anymore – ‘cos he’d left it. This was Paul’s start.In December 2011, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) launched a new stamp range featuring the 20 most famous vegetarians of all-time, including the ex-Beatle. Sir Paul along with Natalie Portman, Pamela Anderson and Morrissey have agreed to feature on the stamp. The stamps can be purchased throughout December at www.peta.org

via NY Times