153 Search Results for "Ocean"

• Green machine: Squeezing solar Green machine: Squeezing solar juice from jellyfish

  • From: arboinks
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    Sea power (Image: Denise Allen/CorruptKitten/Flickr)

    Silicon solar cells are so, well, dead. Dollops of green goo made of living cells – from jellyfish to algae - are now being recruited to produce cheaper solar power.

    Zackary Chiragwandi at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden, and colleagues are developing a photovoltaic device based on green fluorescent protein (GFP) from the jellyfish Aequorea victoria.

    The team deposit two aluminium electrodes with a tiny gap between them onto a silicon dioxide substrate. A droplet of green fluorescent protein is then added on top, whereupon the protein assembles itself into strands between the electrodes.

    When exposed to ultraviolet light, the GFP absorbs photons and emits electrons, which travel around a circuit to produce electricity.

    Cheap goo

    The green goo acts like the dye used in current "dye-sensitised" solar cells, called Grätzel cells.

    However, unlike such cells, the GFP does not require the addition of expensive materials, such as titanium dioxide particles. Instead, the GFP can be placed directly on top of the electrode, simplifying the design and reducing overall cost.

    The team have also used the proteins to create a biological fuel cell that generates electricity without the need for an external source of light.

    Instead, they used light emitted from a mixture of chemicals such as magnesium and the luciferase enzymes found in fireflies (Lampyridae) and sea pansies (Renilla reniformis) to generate electricity from the jellyfish biophotovoltaic device.

    Such a fuel cell could be used to power nano-devices embedded in living organisms, says Chiragwandi, for example to diagnose disease.

    Algaelectricity

    Jellyfish are not the only sea creatures that can be exploited to generate energy: algae could power floating devices on the ocean wave. Adrian Fisher and Paolo Bombelli at the University of Cambridge and colleagues are developing biophotovoltaic devices based on algae and photosynthetic bacteria.

    The team deposit a film of photosynthetic cells on top of a transparent conductive electrode, which faces a carbon cathode seeded with platinum nanoparticles.

    When exposed to sunlight the algal cells begin splitting water and producing oxygen, electrons and protons. These would usually be used by the algae to convert carbon dioxide into organic compounds, but instead the device siphons them off to generate electricity, says Fisher. "The algal cells produce electrons very generously," he says.

    The team has so far used a proof-of-concept device to power a clock. The sunlight-to-electricity efficiency of the device is only 0.1 per cent at present, compared with between 10 and 15 per cent for existing dye-sensitised solar cells, however. Screening different algae species to find the most productive electron donor might be one way to produce more juice.

    Eventually, algal cells could float out at sea, generating electricity from sunlight and seawater. "We might end up with less efficiency than [conventional] photovoltaics, but we think we can win on cost, and we don't require space where people want to live," says Bombelli.

    Source: http://www.newscientist.com/

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• Why Obama Should Put Solar (Ba Why Obama Should Put Solar (Back) on the White House Roof

  • From: yiehk21
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    As I write this piece, we're in the midst of a (biodiesel) road trip to Washington, D.C., towing behind us an unwieldy piece of history: a solar panel off the roof of the Carter White House. It's decades old, though it still makes hot water just fine. In a sense, we're traveling backward -- which in another sense is what I think we're going to have to do for a while in the U.S. climate movement.

    
    The bad news everyone knows. The strongest attempt ever to pass climate legislation through the U.S. Congress came up short earlier this summer. The inside-the-Beltway green groups took what seemed to be the route of least resistance: a very tame piece of climate legislation larded with special prizes for special interests. They worked it as hard as it could have been worked -- and in the end it didn't even come close. The fossil fuel industry and their allies in D.C. barely had to break a sweat shooting it down.

    So -- barring some unforeseen development -- we're not going to see significant action on the federal level about climate for at least the next two years.

    And that means we're far less likely to see significant international action on climate, since it's hard for other governments to muster the political will to make tough choices when the U.S. is punting.

    So what do we do with those two years? I think we use them to build a movement, which explains the solar panel we're hauling south from Maine.

    The story is painful even to consider. This panel went up on the White House roof in 1979, with then-president Jimmy Carter (in a wide tie, and with a bushy haircut) promising that it would still be there in the year 2000, producing hot water from the sun for whoever was then president. In fact, it didn't make it through the next decade -- it came down in the Reagan years, a symbol of our decision to turn away from the idea of limits and veer sharply down the path we've trod ever since.

    But not everyone went along. Frugal folks at Unity College in Maine salvaged the panels, and put them up on the cafeteria, where they continued to produce hot water for the next three decades. Meanwhile, around the world other nations took the technology and went to work. Germany and Japan took over the lead in photovoltaic panels, but solar thermal technology like this became the special province of the Chinese.

    I sat not long ago with Huang Ming, China's leading solar entrepreneur, in his space-age Sun Moon Mansion in Shandong Province looking over the stats: his HiMin Solar Energy Group has put up 60 million such systems across China--he estimated that when 250 million Chinese take a shower, the hot water is coming off their roofs. In a biting symbol of that passed torch, he keeps one of the Carter panels in his private museum.

    There's no question what we should have spent the last few decades doing. But there's no point now in crying about why we didn't: the only job is to try to get back in the game, to start catching up.

    Some of that means spending the money so that we can make the next technological discoveries. Many, including the Breakthrough Institute and Bill Gates, are calling for big increases in R and D funding, which might help us somehow claw our way back toward the front of the parade.

    But catching up also means making use of the technology we already have, in ways both practical and symbolic. We're headed for the White House with this old panel, and with a promise from the U.S. company Sungevity that it will supply all the brand-new panels the president could ever want -- as long as he puts them up on his roof where everyone can see them. George W. Bush, amazingly enough, actually put some solar back in the White House grounds -- on the roof of a maintenance shed, and on, who knew, the Presidental Spa and Cabana. But since he didn't tell anyone, they didn't do much good. We want them up there on the roof, as visible as the White House garden, which helped boost seed sales 30 percent across the nation the year Michelle planted it.

    So far, we haven't heard a word from the White House about whether they'll accept the gift and make the promise or not -- which, frankly, surprises me. I can't think of a clearer win for the president, a better reminder to the legions of young people who worked on his campaign that he is still focused on the future. He owes environmentalists more than he's given them -- by all accounts he decided not to push for the Senate legislation. He's up against tough odds in Congress, of course, given the obstructionist GOP. But they can't filibuster his roof.

    What's especially poignant is that we have gotten promises from other, much less likely, world leaders -- Mohammed Nasheed, for instance, president of the entirely Muslim and quite poor Maldive Islands, the low-lying Indian Ocean nation that faces inundation from rising seas. He took the Sungevity offer, and he'll be putting solar panels on his roof on October 10 (10-10-10), the same day that thousands of groups around the world will be participating in a massive Global Work Party, putting up wind turbines and laying out bike paths. The same day we want Barack Obama, sleeves rolled up, out on his roof with a wrench.

    The point of all these panels, of course, is not that we're going to solve climate change one roof at a time. (Obama is doing lots of good practical things already -- his "greening the government" effort is retrofitting federal buildings across the country with insulation, for instance). The point is that they help build the movement that we allowed to wither away.

    Environmentalists lost sight of just how big a movement that would need to be. Too many groups convinced themselves that they could slide some legislation through Congress, make deals with industry, get things going without a fight. It was worth a try, but it didn't work--the fossil fuel industry, the most profitable enterprise known to man, beat us. And they will beat us again and again until there's a real, broad-based, popular, noisy movement underway in this country, a movement that can provide a currency (bodies, passion) equal to the currency the billionaire Koch Brothers can pony up to defeat climate legislation.

    Some of that movement will go on at the local level, as we transform cities and towns and show what can be done. Some will be done on college campuses like Unity College, or Middlebury where I teach, which are showing the way forward. Some of it will be done in jails--I'd be very surprised if civil disobedience doesn't become a bigger part of this battle in the years ahead, if only because it's the tool we use to show our society how urgent, morally and practically, this crisis really is.

    But some of it must be done symbolically. And there's no more symbolic piece of real estate on this continent than the White House. Let's hope that on the 10th of October it, at least, is transformed. It's been a long, hot summer, in the capitol as in much of the northern hemisphere. Let's make sure that next year that heat is put to some purpose -- heating the Obamas' bathtub, and helping power up a movement.

    

    Originally posted on Yale Environment 360.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-mckibben/why-obama-should-put-sola_b_707419.html

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• RI's 1st car charging station RI's 1st car charging station unveiled

  • From: yiehk21
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    WEST WARWICK, R.I. (WPRI) - If you live in Rhode Island , and own a hybrid-electric car, filling your tank just got easier!

    

    On Friday, Cardi's Furniture along with Arpin Renewable Energy unveiled the first electric charging station in the Ocean State. Its located at the Cardi's Furniture in West Warwick.

    "When you google a charging station, we're it. So, that's a good thing. It's good to be part of it and we're glad to see it move forward." said Ron Cardi of Cardi's Furniture.

    Cardis and Arpin are working together on the non profit,"Project Get Ready Rhode Island." The goal is to get 10,000 plug in- electric vehicles on the road by 2015.

    Peter Arpin, of Arpin Renewable Energy says today is just one of many steps toward the future.

    "We are working to transform transportation. As we develop the auto re-charging there's potential jobs for Rhode Island as well, a whole new industry." said Arpin.

    There are plans in the works to install additional electric charging stations around Rhode Island during in the fall of 2010.

    http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_news/west_bay/cardis-arpin-unveil-rhode-island's-first-car-charging-station-west-warwick-cardi's

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• Taiwan, Ireland forum to discu Taiwan, Ireland forum to discuss green technology

  • From: yiehk21
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    LONDON -- Taiwan and Ireland opened a two-day conference in Dublin Monday to discuss cooperation on sustainable energy technology, Taiwan's representative to Ireland said that same day.

    

    The joint conference, sponsored by the National Science Council (NSC) of Taiwan and the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) in Ireland, has five major topics on its agenda -- applications of information and communication technology, ocean energy, renewable energy, solar energy and smart grids.

    The conference has been planned for about two years and has finally been organized thanks to the aid of the NSC and the SFI, Republic of China Representative to Ireland Lee Nan-yang said at the opening ceremony.

    “Taiwan and Ireland are both devoted to the development of green power,” Lee said. “I hope the joint conference will increase the opportunities for cooperation on green power technology between the two countries,” he added.

    Speaking on the same occasion, SFI project manager Wendy McLoone said the Irish government expects to see more exchanges as the session will cover both the industrial and academic perspectives.

    Over 70 representatives attended the conference, including officials of state-owned companies and scholars from both countries.

    http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/foreign-community/2010/09/01/270950/Taiwan-Ireland.htm

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• Study measures Atlantic plasti Study measures Atlantic plastic accumulation

  • From: yiehk21
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    A study has measured the amount of plastic debris found in a region of the Atlantic Ocean over a 22-year period.

    US researchers, writing in Science, suggest the volume of plastic appeared to have peaked in recent years.

    One reason could be tighter marine pollution rules that prevent vessels dumping their waste at sea.

    The team said monitoring the free-floating plastic also provided an insight into the behaviour of ocean surface currents.

    They found plastic, most pieces measuring no more than a few millimetres, in more than 60% of 6,136 samples collected by dragging fine-meshed nets along the ocean's surface.

    The researchers - from the US-based Sea Education Association (Sea), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the University of Hawaii - described plastic as a "major contaminant".

    "Plastic marine pollution is a significant environmental concern, yet a quantitative description of the scope of this problem is the open ocean is lacking," they wrote.

    "Their chemically engineered durability and slow rate of biodegradation allow these synthetic polymers to withstand the ocean environment for years to decades or longer."

    The impacts caused by the debris include:

    • sea animals becoming entangled
    • seabirds and other marine creatures eating the plastic
    • the debris being used as a "life raft" by some species to reach areas outside their normal distribution range

    "While high concentrations of floating plastic debris have been found in the Pacific Ocean, only limited data exist to quantify and explain the geographical range," they said.

    "In the Atlantic Ocean, the subject has been all but ignored."

    

    The team analysed data from ship surveys collected over 22 years between 1986 and 2008, which involved in excess of 6,000 net tows that gathered more than 64,000 pieces of plastic.

    The largest number of plastic pieces in the data set was collected in 1997, in which 1,069 pieces were recovered by researchers in a single 30-minute tow. This equated to 580,000 pieces per square kilometre.

    The team observed that the highest concentrations of floating plastic were "clearly associated" with a convergence of surface ocean currents and prevailing winds.

    "This convergence zone... extends across most of the sub-tropical North Atlantic basin," they reported.

    "This correspondence not only explains the plastic distribution, but also illustrates how floating debris acts as a tracer of large-scale mean surface currents."

    The study analysed data from more than 6,000 samples collected at sea

    Using a series of tracers, the team was able to estimate that it took fewer than 60 days for plastic to be carried to the "collection centre" from coastal waters on the eastern shores of the US.

    As for the source of the plastic, the team said that there was no study that quantified the volume of plastic entering the ocean.

    However, they suggested that the increase recorded over the study period was likely to have come from land-based sources.

    They said the global production of plastic materials had increased five-fold between 1976 and 2008, and the amount thrown away in the US has risen four-fold during the past two decades.

    Meanwhile, the volume being dumped by vessels had fallen as a result of rules introduced in 1988 that prohibited the dumping of plastic at sea.

    But the team said that the projected increase in plastic from land sources was not reflected in the data gathered by the ship surveys.

    "It is unlikely that ocean circulation could account for an export of plastic from the region large enough to offset the presumed increase in input," they suggested.

    They offered a number of possible reasons for the discrepancy, including the plastic being broken down into pieces that were too small to be captured by the surveys' tow nets, the debris sinking beneath the surface, or the material being ingested by animals.

    In order to curb the long-term environmental impact of free-floating plastic in the world's oceans, the team said their study offered evidence that any effort that prevented discarded plastic from land sources from entering the water in the first place could be "measurably effective".

     

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11031291
    
    

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• 10 Green Weekend Trips Near Yo 10 Green Weekend Trips Near You

  • From: arboinks
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    Labor Day is just around the corner. You know what that means? It’s almost time for your last summer hurrah!

    This could be the last time to escape your home-base before the cold bites hard (unless you’re venturing out of town for the holidays, yep they’re on their way as well).

    So, pack up the car and get on the road. We’ve found some great eco-destinations that are just right around the corner.

    New York City

    New York City has embraced the shift toward sustainable tourism, with LEED-certified hotels, organic restaurants and alternative transportation amenities readily available. This is great news for travelers looking for a quick getaway to the Big Apple with the environment in mind.

    

    With more than 8 million residents, New York City has perfected the art of making most of its space. Photo: Wikimedia/AngMoKio

    Stay: The 70 Park Avenue Hotel near Grand Central Station supports the Kimpton EarthCare program by offering environmentally friendly products and services to guests.

    From an extensive recycling program and non-toxic/environmentally safe cleaning products, to a Green Road Warrior package that offers room upgrades and discounts to guests arriving in a hybrid car, the hotel seems to encourage environmental practices wherever possible.

    Eat: Habana Outpost in Brooklyn claims to be New York City’s first “eco-eatery.” Using earth-friendly practices in its design, construction and day-to-day operations, Habana Outpost aims to reduce wasteful consumption and promote sustainable solutions.

    From 100-percent biodegradable or compostable service ware and tables built of recycled plastic bottles and sawdust, to a bicycle-powered blender and grease-powered company car, this eatery is definitely as green as they come.

    For less than $10, you can enjoy your meal, which was cooked in a restored U.S. Postal truck, under the shade of recycled racing sails and next to the organic garden.

    Activity: We all know New York City to be synonymous with yellow cabs and subway systems, making it possible for the majority of residents to live and work car-free.

    Though part of the experience as a tourist to the Green Apple may include that ride in a checkered yellow cab or subway car, a bicycle might be the more enjoyable way to actually get out and see the city. Considerrenting a bicycle for the day, or joining a walking or biking tour of the city. You’ll find yourself noticing things you’ve never noticed before!

    Los Angeles

    Though synonymous with glitz, glamour and, well, traffic, Los Angeles is also home to more EnergyStar-certified buildings than any other city. A quick getaway to L.A. can be made as green as you choose, with a variety of accommodations and activities available within a short distance.

    

    Though it's consistently listed as one of the nation's top polluted cities, L.A. has several sustainable activities for residents. Photo: Wikimedia/Thomas Pintaric

    Activity: With so many beaches nearby, beach cleanups are regularly scheduled year-round activities any eager individual can take part in. They’re also a fun way to escape the city center for a bit, meet new people, while doing something productive at no cost.

    • Seal Beach Cleanup: Fourth Saturday of each month
    • Santa Monica Beaches Cleanup: Third Saturday of each month
    • Long Beach Beach Cleanup: Third Saturday of each month

    Eat: Finding a green restaurant in Los Angeles is quite easy as the Green Restaurant Associationcertifies nearly 20 restaurants in the area. Mendocino Farms, for example, is a neighborhood sandwich eatery and marketplace.

    Mendocino Farms uses local, organic and seasonal ingredients; recycled, tree-free, biodegradable and organic products for service-ware; and of course, recycle their waste. Average menu item is $7-$10.

    Other restaurants may not be certified by the Green Restaurant Association, but they are definitely leading the way in sustainability. Street works with sustainable fisheries, local family farms and sustainable ranches to supply the menu.

    As part of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Program, they serve lesser known sustainable seafood and distribute pocket seafood guides to customers. They never serve bottled water, use recycled and/or biodegradable containers and only produce 3 percent pure waste, as the rest is recycled and composted. The average lunch and dinner prices are $10-$15.

    Chicago

    Chicago sets the bar high when it comes to green attractions and amenities offered in a large city. From green roofs to green technology museums, the average visitor can turn a quick getaway into a Green Chicago experience with a little effort.

    

    Green roofs are the hottest trend in Chicago. Check out some of the cities hottest spots that contribute to less pollution and improved air quality. Photo: Wikimedia/Jed

    Attractions: Chicago has long been a national leader in the use of green roofs. Though the majority of green roofs are located atop private buildings and are off limits to the general public, there are a few open for exploring. The Chicago Center for Green Technology, Pepsico Rooftop Garden and Millenium Park are all buildings that allow guests to visit the rooftop gardens, and admission is free!

    The green roofs on Chicago municipal buildings don’t just contribute improved air quality and energy cost reduction, they also contribute honey!

    Rooftop beehives are found atop buildings like the Chicago Cultural Center and City Hall, with the rooftop honey being bottled and sold at Chicago’s Downtown Farmstand and the Cultural Center.

    Chicago is home to many other green attractions, including the LEED-Platinum Chicago Center for Green Technology, and a network of Green Certified Museums as instituted by the 2005 Green Museums Initiative.

    Also, the Chicago Neighborhood Tours of South Chicago tours industrial pockets that have recently undergone green transformation into LEED-certified communities and various Green conservatories and nature centers.

    Stay: The City of Chicago runs its own Green Hotels Initiative, allowing visitors to choose from a variety of LEED certified and Green Seal certified accommodations when staying in Chicago. Chicago houses 14 Green Seal certified hotels and two LEED-certified hotels, one gold and one silver, more than any other city in the U.S.

    Get Around: With 315 miles of established bikeways, Chicago visitors may want to consider taking advantage of the Chicago B-Cycle Bike Share program, an affordable and convenient way to get around the city. Check out a bike at one of the six B-cycle locations and return it to any open station, simple as that.

    Houston

    Though Houston may have one of the lowest recycling rates nationally at a mere 2.6 percent in 2008, the city is taking huge strides to increase that percentage. Where it lacks in recycling rates, it makes up in green jobs, as Houston was recently ranked the third highest green job market by Forbes.

    

    Where it lacks in recycling rates, Houston makes up with green motivation. Photo: Wikimedia

    Activity: Discovery Green in Houston, a LEED Gold Certified center in Downtown, is home to 12-acres of eco-friendly recreation services, including public art works, amphitheater, gardens, recycling center, co-op green market, bike paths, free dance and exercise classes, free gardening workshops, restaurants and more.

    Don’t miss the September 3-17 featuring of “Las Comadres Recycled: Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition,” where artists create life-size statues promoting ideas and practices for sustainable living.

    The Beer Can House is another must-see for recycling aficionados intrigued by the weird and wacky. Named one of America’s Top 50 Roadside Attractions by Time magazine, the home project was a labor of love for owner John Milkovisch, who used more than 50,000 beer cans in what can be considered the ultimate upcycling project.

    Milkovisch, a retired upholsterer for the Southern Pacific Railroad, set out on what would become an 18-year project in 1968 of emptying cans through consumption and using them in home improvement projects.

    He used the tops, bottoms, sides and tabs of the cans to make siding, fences, sculptures, windmills, curtains and garlands for the home, actually contributing to a significant lowering of energy consumption. Admission to the house is $2.

    Phoenix

    The American Lung Association’s State of the Air 2010 report named Phoenix as one of its top 7 most polluted cities in the U.S. However, the city has embraced some green ideas from its neighboring green sister cities, Sedona and Flagstaff.

    

    An oasis in the desert: Phoenix is home to some of the most beautiful landscape, hiking and other outdoor activities. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

    Eat: Phoenix is home to local green restaurant favorite, True Food Kitchen. From its construction and design to its menu, everything at True Food Kitchen is meant to be sustainable.

    A member of the Green Restaurant Association, True Food utilizes seasonal, locally grown and organic ingredients, serves sustainably harvested seafood, eliminated bottled water and participates in a comprehensive recycling program…and the food is great. Average menu $10-20.

    Stay: For those looking to embrace the desert environment, but escape the traffic that comes with the nation’s fifth largest city, a trip north to eco-minded Sedona might hit the mark.

    The red sandstone formations that make up Sedona’s landscape attract visitors looking to embrace the outdoors, serenity and green accommodations that make up the small town.

    Volunteer Vacation: If your getaway to Phoenix includes a couple days headed up to the Grand Canyon, consider a volunteer vacation.

    The Grand Canyon Trust coordinates volunteer trips of varying lengths and effort, with projects ranging from invasive plant removal to site maintenance. Volunteer trips are free, with the organization covering the cost of food, transportation or lodging.

    Philadelphia

    Activity: Greenfest Philly, a one-day free street fair, will take place this year on September 12, featuring live music and entertainment, activities, food, local produce, composting and recycling expos, an Eco Exchange Fashion Show & Clothing Swap, green film festival and more. The theme of this year’s fest is sustainable fashion, highlighting how simple changes can make you fashionably eco-conscious.

    

    The American Commerce Center is slated for completion in 2012 and will be constructed with US Green Building Council LEED Gold Certification in mind. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

    Eat: The White Dog Cafe is a Philadelphia favorite known for its “unusual blend of award-winning contemporary American cuisine, civic engagement and environmental sustainability.”

    The restaurant purchases 100 percent of electricity from wind power, uses a solar hot water system, eliminated bottled water waste, sources its ingredients from local farmers, established a cooperative compost program for area restaurants, engages in a recycling program with the University of Pennsylvania and much more. Lunch ranges from $10-$15 and dinner ranges from $10-$35.

    Stay: Hotel Palomar, the only LEED Gold Certified hotel in Philadelphia, incorporates eco-friendly and sustainable actions throughout the hotel. The hotel provides discounts to guests driving hybrid vehicles, offers in-room recycling for guests, uses eco-certified cleaning supplies and much more.

    The hotel’s comprehensive recycling program goes beyond the commonly recycled objects to include cups, clothing, hangers, batteries and much more. Rates range from $150 and up.

    San Antonio

    Best known for housing “The Alamo,” San Antonio is becoming a surprising green scene for the lone-star state. One of the fastest growing urban areas in the country, San Antonio has been forced to consider water supply, alternative transportation and smart growth to deal with growing pains.

    

    Some regions in Texas, such as San Antonio, are making excellent strides towards improving recycling rates. Photo: Flickr/Austrini

    The popular River Walk area, lined with shops and restaurants, is slated for a multi-million dollar renovation focused on eco-tourism, which will add hiking trails, bike baths, 113 acres of aquatic habitat, 300 acres of riverbank habitat and 20,000 native trees and plants to the area.

    Eat: Green Restaurant is San Antonio’s only 100 percent vegetarian and kosher restaurant, with low impact at the center of its philosophy.

    The restaurant has installed an energy efficient thermal roof barrier to reduce energy consumption, uses biodegradable packaging and is installing a rainwater capture cistern for landscape maintenance. Menu items range from $5-$10.

    Go Local: Texas’ climate makes it the perfect place for readily available fresh produce, and the Texas Department of Agriculture maintains the Pick Texas website, which offers several resources for the locavore, including:

    • An A-Z directory of farmers’ markets by city, from Abilene to Wimberley
    • Availability of produce and recipes to help plan menus utilizing the best of what’s in season
    • A county-by-county directory of places to pick your own produce

    San Diego

    If you’re looking to plan a quick getaway to San Diego, turning it green can be done quite easily as the city engages in a variety of sustainable tourism strategies.

    

    The goal of “Zero Waste California,” stretches from Sacramento to San Diego, locals can find recycling services, reduction resources, gardening and composting outreach programs. Photo: Wikimedia/Microsomen

    Activity: California’s 26th Annual Coastal Cleanup Day is coming up on September 25, with more than 80 cleanup sites planned in San Diego County alone.

    In 2009, more than 80,600 volunteers removed more than 1.3 million pounds of trash and recyclables from California beaches, lakes and waterways. Planned to occur on the same day as International Coastal Cleanup, organized by The Ocean Conservancy, the cleanup becomes one of the largest volunteer events of the year.

    Get Around: In addition to the inexpensive light-rail  trolley system operated by the city, various trolley tours of San Diego are offered through private companies, providing a great way to see the city with a lower impact. Old Town Trolley Tours of San Diego offers open-air, hop on & off narrated tours in their propane and biodiesel-fueled fleet.

    Dallas

    Named one of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s “Smarter Cities,” Dallas is a leader in renewable energy use with 40 percent of the city’s energy purchases from renewable sources, mainly wind power.

    

    Texas is also the home of the Renewable Energy Roundup and Green Living Fair. Photo: Flickr/austrini

    From green building initiatives to community garden grant programs, the city has launched a major campaign to green its footprint.

    Activity: The Dallas Green Festival will be held on September 18 this year, an environmental stewardship event including such activities as a mass butterfly release, recycled arts and crafts, food and live music and more.

    Indulge: For those willing to splurge a bit, treat yourself to a “treehugger,” “biodiesel,” or “green freak” spa package at Spa Habitat in Dallas.

    The spa, which uses only organic and natural ingredients, plants a tree for every service performed and uses 100 percent wind power among other initiatives. Envy magazine named Spa Habitat one of Dallas’ 30 Most Ecologically Conscious Organizations.

    San Jose

    Like its neighbor to the north, San Jose has proved a leader in sustainable planning and initiative.

    

    With a year-round growing season, Californians can enjoy the freshest fruits and vegetables from local sources throughout the state. Photo: Flickr/roadofthefour

    In October 2007, the San Jose City Council adopted Green Vision, a 15-year plan to transform San Jose into a world center for clean technology innovation, promoting sustainable practices, and demonstrate that economic growth, environmental stewardship and fiscal responsibility are intricately linked.

    Attraction: San Jose’s Tech Museum houses a permanent exhibit called Green by Design, allowing visitors to explore the possibilities of renewable energy resources through hands-on activities. Admission to the museum is $5-$10.

    Drink: Many who venture to the Bay Area take a day trip out to wine country, sampling some of the state’s best wines. Santa Clara County winery, Clos LaChance, is one of a dozen area vineyards certified by the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance.

    The winery utilizes natural biological control, reclamation ponds to recycle water for irrigation, education and community outreach programs and organic and sustainable farming techniques among others. The winery is open daily for tastings.

    Source: http://earth911.com/news/

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• 10 Breathtaking Space-Age Vehi 10 Breathtaking Space-Age Vehicles Roaring Towards A Green Future!

  • From: arboinks
  • Description:

    Tighten your seatbelt and put on your gear as we take you on a awesome journey in to what would be the future of transportation with ‘Green Cars’ that are right out of flicks like Matrix or i-Robot. There are some which show the green creativity of young, modern designers while the others just show how the big boys can play when given a free hand with work. These cars do not just go on land; they fly in the air, go for a dive under the ocean and even make you wonder if they indeed are cars!! This ride just gets better with every step, so hang on to your seats and let the future come alive in front of your eyes…

    1. Honda’s future akin to the Matrix!

    

     

    This is the project design that Honda says would be on the street by the end of next five decades. (I might, just might live to see this on the streets) The car is being said to be powered by Solar Hybrid technology & is a vehicle that is four in one. It can launch 4 different modes of vehicles I suppose. Like the Mini-Bike in the batman car maybe! Honda plan to attain this goal by integrating Nanotechnology, Artificial Intelligence, Gyros & molecular engineering. You know all this sounds so mind-boggling in theory itself. Hollywood would look so dull and pale when this indeed does hit the road! Awesomeness!!

    Source

    2. Flying Saucer-Cars Anyone?

    

    The design comes from the CleanEra Project and is aimed at making future air travel green. The final goal however is to reduce the carbon emission by 50%. This is like you future car put in the air and if the company designing this comes out clean then you can pretty much bet that it will put every other car out of business and will have people fighting for air space!

    Source

    3. Ford Nucleon: Nuclear Powered Ford!

    

    The actual concept of the car dates back to as early as 1950’s and it is no real wonder that this still has not taken to road. Cold fusion and even controlled fission are way out of reach of being car fuel. But who know when this might actually work, if indeed ever! Moreover how green is it? You decide.

    Source

    4. Rinspeed’s sQuba: Driving and diving with zero-emissions

    

    Rinspeed, a Swiss based company is turning to the water for its latest concept; although this time they will be heading below the surface instead of skimming above it. Set to debut at the 2008 Geneva Motor Show, the ‘sQuba’ concept is the world’s first diving car with zero emission power, according to the company, and can be submerged up to 10 meters or 33 feet below the surface. Now you can take a drive right in to the Great Barrier Reef!!

    Source

    5. GM Globetrotter: Design of a young genius!

    

    Harsha Ravi (21), who is on a holiday, that his ‘Globetrotter’ was selected out of 17 entries, in view of its “functionality, environmental sustainability, visual and emotional appeal and safety aspects.” The design speaks of a concept car for the future that can do almost everything that you would want it to in a green fashion! The design, style and simplicity of it all make you wonder if it is not possible any sooner than 2017 and beyond!

    Source

    6. NUS Urban Concept Car: All style

    

    Intending to reduce the environmental stress of fuel emissions as well as consumptions, it is jointly developed by the NUS Department of Mechanical Engineering and Design Incubation Centre. Feeding on Gas-to-Liquid fuel, this light weighted car is developed with a low rolling resistance allowing it to freewheel without consuming any fuel upon reaching a certain speed. My personal favorite on the list for simply awesome style and great looks. Nike of the car world!!

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    7. M-Please-V: Explore off-road and maybe off-planet!

    

    Again a vehicle that is awesome on style and substance, this was a green entrant at the Peugeot Design Contest 2007, the M-Please-V is a Multi-Purpose-lightweight-economic-and-simplistic-electric-Vehicle created by designer Sofian Tallal that seeks to redefine transportation and comfortable seating. The simplistic vehicle is designed to expose passengers to their environment and reduce technological distraction via an obvious lack of excessive electronics and accessories.

    Source

    8. Coquille: Two-Wheeled Green Car!

    

    The fact that it is the only futuristic green car that runs on two wheels earns this a direct spot on the list, if nothing else does. Running on two big wheels that seem to house the car structure in between them, the Coquille too fits the category of compact, zero emission and high mobility vehicles. Conceptualized by Emiliano Polsonetti, it manages to balance on the two wheels by a computerized system relying on gyroscopes. Also you can hop in and out of the two wheeled car from the front. Simply rolling ahead!

    Source

    9. VW Viseo: Classy green concept… all class!

    

    The electric car prototype is a unique design developed by Marc Kirsch for his diploma project in collaboration with Volkswagen design in Wolfsburg, Germany. Powered by an electric engine the design of this three seated car is highly influenced by internationally renowned Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. Some Spanish flavor and elegant class make it a must on this amazing list. Well done Volks!

    Source

    10. Zero-Impact Urban Mobility vehicle

    

    Here is a concept that intends to be idealistic, defying the bounds of reality and convention. Designed Natalie Bonebrake, the concept provides for clean and possible urban transport for the future. This rounds of our list simple because this looks the most likely of all the concepts to hit the road and will hopefully do very soon!

    Source

    That winds up our awesome top 10 and hopefully you had a marvelous journey along with us and also loved the little preview of the awesome future that waits for us in the next couple of decades. Let us see which one of these and which other concept cars make it to the road in the future and hopefully all of them will lead us towards a green future with zero-emissions and carbon neutral transportation. For future trends and more new concepts check Ecofriend regularly as we try bringing you only the best possible green gadgets and till then… Adios!

    Source: http://www.lucalodolo.com/

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• Creative uses for all those pl Creative uses for all those plastic bags

  • From: arboinks
  • Description:

     

    Forgetting the reusable cloth shopping bags on a few shopping excursions can result in an abundance of petroleum-based plastic shopping bags. Vilified for wreaking havoc on our oceans and clogging landfills for all eternity, the cheap and easy answer to transporting goods from store to home ranks high on the list of our collective consumer sins.

    
    And of course, with sin, comes guilt. What can be done when bad shopping bags happen to (basically) good people? The answers -and there are quite a few --might surprise you. 
    
    In an effort to ease our guilt ridden consciences and help rationalize our addiction, some retailers print recycling tips on the bags. Walgreens' bag suggests "5 Reuses for a plastic bag" and lists: shoe protectors, dirty diaper holders (tie them tightly closed), freezer bags, rubber glove substitutes and plant protectors.
    
    Target too encourages customers to reinvent their used bags as "tiny trash can liners", for "doggy duty", "soggy laundry", "tomorrow's lunch bag", or as stuffing inside of a "care package". Once the bag has been utilized in every way imaginable, Target hopes consumers will "return [the] bag to a participating store for recycling."Useful, but not exactly big news. Who hasn't used a grocery bag to line the inside of a small waste basket? Or walked the dog and used the plastic grocery bag to pick up and carry the poop. Ho-hum.
    
    Things start to get interesting, however, when the creativity of our consumer nation is called upon and the question of how to reuse plastic bags is answered with good, old-fashioned American ingenuity.
    
    Did you know surfers use them to help put on wetsuits? Slip empty bags over each foot before pulling on the pant legs of the wet suit. I've seen it in action and it works.
    
    Commenters responding to a Consumerist.com post, How Many Ways Are There to Reuse A Plastic Shopping Bag, missed the surfing angle but came up with plenty of other ideas. "If you have kids who have a hard time putting on winter boots and ice skates, slip a bag over each stocking foot and the foot slides right into the boot," wrote one. "A cover for a bike seat when you have to lock up in the rain," wrote another.
    
    Vomit receptacle, trash bag for the car, emergency rain bonnet, mini-drop cloth while painting, and plastic turban to hold hair while waiting for at-home dye jobs to set were also recommendations. Several respondents said they donate gently used plastic bags to non-profit thrift shops to be passed along to the next consumer. Now, we're talking.
    
    One resourceful soul said he used the bags to remove a "rotting possum carcass from under [the] house." So, there you go. Add road kill and rodent removal to the list.
    
    Of course, where there is excess material, there will be crafters. 
    
    On YouTube, there is a community of plastic bag crafters who demonstrate what can be done with a used bag and a little imagination. In a video for CRAFT, Cristen Andrews demonstrates how to cut the bags into strips, fasten them together and create large skeins of plastic bag "yarn". Andrews makes hats and soda can cozies. Others design mats, handbags, totes, dog leashes, place mats, toilet paper holders, baskets and sandals. Basically, anything that can be crocheted can be made out of re purposed plastic bags.
    
    Street artist Joshua Allen Harris had yet another idea. Harris used the bags to create fanciful monsters and animals on the streets of New York City. Using a variety of plastic shopping bags, the artist cut the bags to form balloon-like shapes and affixed them (temporarily) to subway grates on the sidewalks. When the trains roared past underneath the sidewalk, the air that was pushed up through the grates inflated the bags and the monsters briefly danced to life. This may not be a practical function, but it is a fabulous one. 
    
    Suggestions for reuse also get creative at TruckerPhoto.com., where the first suggestion in 63 Uses for Walmart Bags was make a purse ... by sewing a bunch of them together." Number 63 encouraged crafters to weave the bags into an inexpensive, water resistant "braided rug."
    
    Some of the best ideas from the TruckerPhoto site included: a splash-resistant cook book cover; pillow stuffing, cat-litter waste removal, a foot prophylactic for use while trying on shoes at a yard sale, protecting a plaster cast while taking a shower; covering a parked car's mirrors and wiper blades in winter to keep them free of ice and snow, and slipping them over the blades on a ceiling fan while dusting to prevent accumulated dust from drifting down.
    
    The post also suggested swiping the magnetic strip of a well-worn credit card across a plastic bag when an ATM won't "read" the card. "Not sure why this one works but it does," said the anonymous author.
    
    Someday soon, however, as reported by WalletPop in the Vanishing America series, plastic bags may be a thing of the past. Future generations will be left to wonder what those unmapped islands of plastic are floating in the ocean, and kids will have no point of reference for the phrase, "paper or plastic?" Until that day, however, waste not, want not.
    Source: http://www.walletpop.com/

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• Portugal Now Gets 45% of its E Portugal Now Gets 45% of its Electricity From Renewable Energy

  • From: yiehk21
  • Description:

    

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Five years ago, when 17% of Portugal’s energy came from renewable energy – about like California now – the government made a bold decision to aim for 45% during the next five years – by 2010.

    Sounds impossible, right? Yet, according to Elizabeth Rosenthal at the NYT, they will have achieved their goal by the end of this year.

    “You cannot imagine the pressure we suffered that first year,” said Manuel Pinho, Portugal’s minister of economy and innovation from 2005 until last year, who largely masterminded the transition, adding, “Politicians must take tough decisions.”

    The new power plants, mostly wind and hydro, will add a small percentage to ratepayers bills (about 5% more than the US average electricity rate rises of around 6% a year) but within a decade that initial investment expense should be gone, and ongoing rates will be much lower, due to the fuel-free nature of renewable energy. As a result the nation’s electricity rates should drop within ten to fifteen years and then remain low.

    Like China, the Portuguese government restructured and privatized former state energy utilities to create a grid better suited to renewable power sources.

    Like the rest of Europe, under Europe’s cap and trade system the nation is subject to a price on carbon, making it cheaper to build clean energy than dirty energy. In 1990, the base year for the Kyoto accord that Europe signed, Portugal had a simple agrarian economy.

    Now, along with Scotland, Portugal has shot to leadership in enabling the development of wave energy.  It set a feed-in tariff for wave energy that will pay 260 euros per megawatt-hour for the first 20 MW installed. The government has a very practical approach to radical innovation.  They say, “Let’s do it: then we’ll see.This a problem; this is not”, says WaveRoller CEO John Liljelund. Portugal nurtured the first ocean power testing centers near Peniche, off the coast in Europe for wave and tidal energy.

    Since the very capital-intensive first prototypes of wave and tidal power are still largely at the R&D stage, ocean power has yet to bring much power to the grid. But a thriving wind industry, created from scratch in the formerly agrarian society, is not only supplying the nation, along with hydro power, but now exporting wind farms to less developed nations such as the USA.

    Energias de Portugal, the country’s largest energy company, owns wind farms in Iowa and Texas, through its American subsidiary, Horizon Wind Energy.

    Portugal’s next goal is 60% by 2020. They should find that easy. When you consider the extraordinary feat of adding 28% in only 5 years to get to 45%, adding another 15% more over 10 years looks like a walk in the park.

    Image: An Oyster prototype
    Susan Kraemer@Twitter

    Source : http://cleantechnica.com/2010/08/11/portugal-now-gets-45-of-its-electricity-from-renewable-energy/

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• 5,050 Electric Vehicle Chargin 5,050 Electric Vehicle Charging Stations for SF Bay

  • From: yiehk21
  • Description:

    By John Addison (8/10/10)

    

    The San Francisco Bay Area will add over 5,000 electric car charging stations (EVSE) in the next 2 years and continue as one of the nation’s leading areas for electric cars. The Bay Area’s 7 million people live in cities that have adopted hybrid cars, like the Prius, faster than in 99 percent of America. One in 5 new car sales are hybrids in cities like Berkeley, Palo Alto, and Sonoma. The San Francisco Bay Area already has about 8,000 electric cars on the road from Tesla Roadsters to Prius Plug-in Hybrids to light EVs limited to 25 miles per hour.
    
    The Bay Area Air Quality Management District Board of Directors approved $5 million to support further development of a regional electric vehicle charging infrastructure program in the Bay Area. Most health damaging air pollution in the Bay Area is from cars and trucks. Electric cars and plug-in hybrids are also critical to achieving an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the SF Bay Area.
    
    “The past several years have seen exciting progress in the development of electric vehicle technology,” said Air District Executive Officer Jack P. Broadbent. “Creating a useful charging network will make it easier for Bay Area residents to Spare the Air every day by going electric.”
    
    The new program will leverage up to $5 million in Air District funds to support electric vehicle charging infrastructure grants including:

    3,000 home chargers at single family and multi-family dwellings
    2,000 public chargers at employer and high-density parking areas
    50 fast chargers within close proximity to highways

    The plan will especially help the majority of early adopters that do not have houses with garages. Electric cars with ranges of less than 100 miles are well suited for people who live in the urban density of cities like San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. Most in these cities live in multi-family dwellings such as apartments and condos. Chargers for these dwellings, places of employment, and key public areas will be critical to encourage the Bay Area’s 4.5 million car and truck owners to buy and lease electric cars such as the Nissan Leaf (NSANY) and Chevrolet Volt.

    Dozens of companies are now offering electric car charging stations that are smart grid enabled with network services for drivers and fleets: Aerovironment (AVAV), Ecotality (ETLE), Coulomb Technologies, Eaton, and GE.

    Over 20 percent of the SF Bay Area’s energy comes from renewable sources such as wind, hydropower, solar, geothermal, and biowaste from agriculture. Ocean power is being added. Coal power plants are not allowed in the Bay Area. The new electric cars can be programmed to charge at night when excess power is on the grid. As utilities make the information available, they can even be programmed to charge when excess renewables are on the grid.

    By John Addison, publisher of the Clean Fleet Report and conference speaker. (c) Copyright John Addison. Permission to repost if a link is included to the original article at Clean Fleet Report. Mr. Addison owns no stock in the public companies mentioned.

    Source : http://www.cleantechblog.com/

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• Ecolutionize Your Menstrual Cy Ecolutionize Your Menstrual Cycle

  • From: ashleysoon
  • Description:

    

    For decades people have been using the term, “on the rag” to describe when someone is having their menstrual cycle. The ironic thing about this somewhat degrading, slightly humorous term is that no one is really “on the rag” anymore. What they are on are non-biodegradable, synthetic products filled with pesticides, bleach, and fertilizer chemicals used in cotton fields. When the actual contents are put into perspective, that slightly degrading term starts to look more appealing and the humorous aspects of its origins are not so funny anymore.

    In just one year 2.5 million tampons , 1.4 million pads and 700,000 pantyliners were disposed of in the United States. The majority of this menstrual product debris ends up in our oceans, or on the beaches where it harms wildlife and sits for thousands of years.  Currently, there are 73 million women of menstruating age living in the United States today, according to the National Research Center for Women and Families. Of this 73 million, 43 million rely on tampons. On average each year there are 20 billion pads and tampons that end up in toilets and landfills, many of which eventually make their way into the ocean and pollute the coastlines.

    The environmental impact of these products consumed by the millions is huge, but the health effects can be deadly. The most absorbent tissues in the human body are the vaginal walls of the female vagina. So, any toxic chemicals that come in contact with this delicate tissue goes straight into the blood stream.  We’re talking pesticides, bleach and other synthetics toxins.

    The good news is that there are alternatives out there. Some can be hard to find, so ecolutionist would like to make your search for the perfect eco-friendly alternatives a little easier for you:

    TAMPONS

    Photo via Flickr by naturmama

    

    Seventh Generation Chlorine-Free Organic Cotton Tampons boast

    These tampons are made with 100% certified organic cotton. You have the choice of purchasing them with or without an applicator, giving you the option to cut back on even more landfill waste, and the box is made from 100% recycled materials. Compared to the conventional alternatives, this is a much better option for the planet and your body.

    NatraCare

    Like Seventh Generation, NatraCare is also made with 100% organic cotton and comes in applicator and non-applicator options. These tampons are great for women with sensitive skin or for someone who is looking for easy application. NatraCare goes one step further in eliminating toxins and does not include chemicals such as rayon, or any additives used as binding agents. Also, their petal-shaped applicator makes them easy to insert!

    Maxim tampons

    These tampons are 100% organic and “fluff-pulp” free, meaning they do not use any bleach fluffed pulp, plastics, or synthetics for filler. The best part about this product that sets them apart from the others is that it is 100% compostable and their box is biodegradable!

    SEA SPONGES

    Photo via Flickr by thelandofcorfu

    

    Jade and Pearl’s Sea Pearls sponge tampons

    Ever wonder what Cleopatra used for her feminine hygiene needs? Yep, you guessed it, a sea sponge! Since the sea sponge is from nature it is 100% natural and organic. Though they may not look it, they are easy to use and completely hygienic. They can be trimmed to mold to your shape and can even be used during intercourse! Not only that, but sea sponges go one-step beyond organic tampons and are eco-friendly due to their re-usability and natural contents.

    MENSTRUAL CUPS

    Photo via flickr by greencolander
    DivaCup

    The DivaCup is a reusable cup, made from silicone not plastic, that is inserted in place of a tampon. The cups come in two sizes, “Model 1” and “Model 2”, which vary depending on age and child rearing experience. They are fairly easy to use and require only mild soap and water between uses. They, too, do not contain any harmful chemicals and are safe to use on a regular basis.

    The Mooncup

    The Mooncup is “the original menstrual cup” and is designed specifically for women as an eco-friendly and convenient alternative. It is also made from silicone, containing no synthetic, dyes or chemicals and is completely safe and easy to use.

    PADS

    Photo via flickr by Staciebee
    Natracare

    Natracare carries 100% certified organic pads and liners that are free from chemicals and bleach, made from pure materials found in  plant cellulose. They are 95% biodegradable and fully compostable, ranging in different sizes, including basic and winged.

    Flushaway

    Flushaway is the first and only feminine hygiene line that is safe to flush down the toilet after use. After 71 days the product completely bio degrades, naturally.

    CLOTH PADS

    Photo via flickr by Cara.Mia
    GladRags

    If you’re ready to part with organic pads and try something reusable, GladRags is the product to try. Not only can they be used an infinite number of times, but they are made from 100% organic fibers and come in a variety of fun, playful colors. Like their organic cotton cousins, they also come in basic as well as winged.

    Sckoon

    Sckoon is very similar to the other washable cotton pads on the market, however what sets this brand apart is that it is the most economical. You will still find a wide range of super-cute patterns and designs, but you won’t break your wallet investing in them.

    Lunapads Washable Cotton Pads

    Also made with natural materials, these cloth pads have two layers of highly absorbent fleece which leaves the Pad base relatively clean and dry. On their website they claim that a single pad will get you through an entire day of your cycle. These are the most stylish of the cloth pads, coming in a variety of fashion-forward, trendy styles and designs.

    Source: Huffington Post

    By Tuesday Phillips , Published: 07/23/10

    Original Source: http://ecolutionist.com/2010/07/23/ecolutionize-your-menstrual-cycle/

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• Generating Energy from Ocean W Generating Energy from Ocean Waters Off Hawaii

  • From: yiehk21
  • Description:

     

    

    Average ocean temperature differences (at water depths of between 20 meters and 1000 meters depths) around the main Hawaiian Islands for the period July 1, 2007, through June 30, 2009, (the color palette is from 18°C to 24°C); the relatively more favorable area in the lee of the islands is clearly visible. (Credit: Data from HYCOM (an academia-industry consortium, see: http://www.hycom.org/ and NCODA, public data from the U.S. Navy, see: https://www.fnmoc.navy.mil/public/. Image provided by Gerard Nihous.)

    The technology, referred to as Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC), is described in the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, which is published by the American Institute of Physics (AIP).

    It involves placing a heat engine between warm water collected at the ocean's surface and cold water pumped from the deep ocean. Like a ball rolling downhill, heat flows from the warm reservoir to the cool one. The greater the temperature difference, the stronger the flow of heat that can be used to do useful work such as spinning a turbine and generating electricity.

    The history of OTEC dates back more than a half century. However, the technology has never taken off -- largely because of the relatively low cost of oil and other fossil fuels. But if there are any places on Earth where large OTEC facilities would be most cost competitive, it is where the ocean temperature differentials are the greatest.

    Analyzing data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Oceanographic Data Center, the University of Hawaii's Gérard Nihous says that the warm-cold temperature differential is about one degree Celsius greater on the leeward (western) side of the Hawaiian Islands than that on the windward (eastern) side.

    This small difference translates to 15 percent more power for an OTEC plant, says Nihous, whose theoretical work focuses on driving down cost and increasing efficiency of future facilities, the biggest hurdles to bringing the technology to the mainstream.

    "Testing that was done in the 1980s clearly demonstrates the feasibility of this technology," he says. "Now it's just a matter of paying for it."

    More information in the project, see: http://hinmrec.hnei.hawaii.edu/ongoing-projects/otec-thermal-resource/

    Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/

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• Oregon Wave Energy Project Inc Oregon Wave Energy Project Inching Along

  • From: arboinks
  • Description:

    Ocean Power Technologies (OPT), a New Jersey wave power company developing a wave energy park off of Reedsport, Oregon announced today a settlement agreement with 11 federal and state agencies and three non-governmental stakeholders around this project. This agreement marks what is said to be a major step towards the grant of the first license ever issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for a commercial-scale wave power project in the US.

    OPT said this settlement, which was reached after extensive technical, policy, and legal discussions regarding appropriate prevention, mitigation and enhancement measures, and study requirements, moves forward somewhat its development of a 10-PowerBuoy, 1.5 megawatt capacity wave energy station in a manner that “protects ocean resources and stakeholder interests.” A FERC license has yet to be issued, however, and additional funding will also need to be secured by the company before it can bring its 10-buoy farm online to supply clean energy to around 1,000 homes.

    

    image via Ocean Power Technologies

    OPT added that this agreement covers a broad array of resource areas including aquatic resources, water quality, recreation, public safety, crabbing and fishing, terrestrial resources, and cultural resources. Concerns in particular have been raised about projects like this in the past around potential issues of altered aquatic living patterns and such, and the company believes it can develop this wave park in a sustainable manner which address any potential concerns.

    “This agreement demonstrates OPT’s commitment to develop wave power in a way that respects the environment and the needs of all who rely on ocean resources for many different uses, said Dr. George W. Taylor, Executive Chairman of OPT, in a statement. “It shows how the private sector can work together effectively with federal, state, municipal and local groups to attain important common goals of sustainable development. Wave energy has the potential to create manufacturing jobs in America, while providing low-cost clean, environmentally benign electricity to help replace the use of fossil fuels.”

    Source: http://www.earthtechling.com/2010/08/oregon-wave-energy-project-inching-along/

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• How to Buy an Ounce of Ocean K How to Buy an Ounce of Ocean Karma

  • From: dyepoy05
  • Description:

    

    “An Ounce of Prevention is worth a Pound of Cure” -Ben Franklin

    “What Goes Around…/…Comes Around” - Justin Timberlake

    The intersection between the two concepts expressed above when applied to oceans represents both prudent marine management as well as the consequences of deep blue sea imprudence. Core to the prudent management part of this is—as bifocaled Ben suggested—that it costs a whole lot less money to remove something like nitrogen or phosphorus from an industrial or municipal process (e.g., coal-fired power plant or stormwater runoff) than it costs to remove it once it gets in the water column. (Think bubble gum off your fingers versus out of your hair).

    We sense the value of this proactive approach intuitively and have verified this scientifically, yet we still let power plants operators, car manufacturers, and feed lot owners duck their de minimis cost of pollution prevention in favor of the public incurring the significant cost of clean up—not to mention the attendant health care costs associated with breathing and drinking many of these byproducts. This is bad policy and even worse economics.

    
    The second part of this is that oceans—as large as they are and as deep as they can be—are pretty much closed loop systems. So if we dump something in the ocean or flush something down the toilet that is not captured by a sewage treatment plant or septic system, it is going to come back to us, sometimes with a vengeance. Examples of this abound such as flushable kitty litter potentially leading to distemper in sea otters and Prozac in pee making aquatic critters a little calmer than we like.

    The combined message that hits us here is that we should be very cognizant of the karmic lesson of the second quote and let that drive our fervor to do everything possible to make sure that we avoid any action that directly or indirectly puts harmful materials in our waterways and ultimately our oceans. So I looked for my local representative of the Waterkeeper Alliance and located Matt Krogh the North Sound Baykeeper (the fact that Matt works just down the hall from me makes this pretty easy).

    So Matt and I came up with the following short list:

    1. Make your house and yard ocean-friendly. Water picks up nutrients, minerals, and many pollutants as it makes its way from rooftop to drain, to yard and then to waterway or street drains. So have water hit clean and leave clean by minimizing your use of fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides. And check out options for rain barrels or rain gardens to filter and slow water down. Also look for ways to minimize hard, impermeable surfaces around your domicile. Keep repeating the mantra: Slow it down, keep it clean, and help it sink in.

    2. Drive less and walk or bike more. Automobile tail pipes spew nitrogen and sulfur compounds as well as other vapors and chemicals that eventually end up in waterways and cause harm. Likewise tires and brakes deposit materials on the pavement that often contain heavy metals and other harmful substances that directly harm aquatic life. Leave your car in the driveway or don’t have one at all.

    

     

    
    3. Recycle and pick up litter. Anyone reading this website regularly knows that discarded and littered plastic and trash easily find their way from businesses and consumers to our precious waterways. Do whatever you can whenever you can to minimize the use of plastics and to use them responsibly and then recycle when you have to use plastic. And pick all other litter up and recycle it so it does not become an unwelcome and deadly part of the oceanic food web.

    

    4. Properly recycle your oil and wash your car at commercial car washes. Do-it-yourself projects are wonderful but you need to be selective. Changing your car’s oil can be tricky and needs to be done with an oil recycling plan in mind or go to one of the commercial lubrication shops where it gets collected and recycled professionally. And although many of us might remember fondly the ritual of a bucket of warm sudsy water, a sponge, and hose fights with friends and siblings, commercial car washes often have sophisticated water recycling mechanisms and capture all that runs off your dirty car and stops it from becoming part of the water cycle.

    

    
    5. Support and Help your local Waterkeeper. The last one almost goes without saying. Whether you live near a river, a bay, or sound there is likely a corresponding Riverkeeper, Baykeeper, or Soundkeeper or similar entity that looks after your body of water. Find these folks and support them financially, physically, and morally. And if one does not exist, look for ways to start one. Sulfur

    
    Please take the above suggestions seriously because our relationship with our oceans must be a strong one, but right now it’s gasping for air and needs some help. We absolutely depend of the oceans and other waterways for life and it is time we started acting like that was the case.

     

     

     

    

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Source: http://greenopolis.com/goblog/bobferris/how-buy-ounce-ocean-karma

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• Washington Post Speaks "the Tr Washington Post Speaks "the Truth About Global Warming"

  • From: yiehk21
  • Description:

    
    Photo via CleanTechnica

     

    After I spent a good chunk of the morning penning a criticism of mainstream media's difficulty in covering climate change -- particularly, this New York Times piece that's drawn the ire of green blogs everywhere -- I feel that it's only fair to give credit where it's due. See, the Washington Post also published an op-ed about climate change that's actually pretty great. Perhaps the days of nonsensical Sarah Palin-authored columns about climate policy are over -- just check out this passage, which gets right to the point about the current state of climate change in our culture:

    From the WaPo:

    IN A DEPRESSING case of irony by juxtaposition, the death of climate change legislation in the Senate has been followed by the appearance of two government reports in the past week that underscore the overwhelming scientific case for global warming -- and go out of the way to repudiate skeptics.

    First came a report on global climate from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which confirmed that the 2000s were by far the warmest decade in the instrumental record -- as were, in their turns, the 1980s and the 1990s. Unlike year-to-year fluctuations, these 10-year shifts are statistically significant. Further, the report notes that it derived its conclusions from an array of data sources -- not just the land-surface readings that doubters challenge -- from ocean heat uptake to melting land ice to sea level rise.

    Precisely. The case for climate change is now scientifically stronger than it's ever been before -- and yet we squander time laboring over some email correspondence and political horse races. The second half of the WaPo editorial focuses on the EPA's repudiation of the various coal groups and organizations that opposed its ability to regulate greenhouse gases as a harmful pollutant, which again drives home the fact that it understands the scope of the threat posed by climate change.

    It's also a pleasant surprise that the WaPo published the piece due to its past tendency of letting the likes of Palin and George Will use the space as a political platform to (incorrectly) rail against climate science. The op-ed, which I really do recommend reading in full, ends on this note: "Many climate-change skeptics will simply dismiss these reports as more evidence of a sprawling conspiracy instead of what they really are: yet more affirmation of the risks humanity runs if it continues to pump carbon into the atmosphere."

    Sad but true.

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• Electrolux Turns Ocean Garbage Electrolux Turns Ocean Garbage Into New Vacuums

  • From: yiehk21
  • Description:

    July 27th, 2010 by mark

    Plastic is a material with many advantages. But when plastic ends up in the wrong place it becomes a problem. To raise public awareness about this issue, Electrolux aims to gather plastic debris from vulnerable marine habitats – and produce a limited number of vacs out of it.

    Check out the ‘Vac from the sea’ video here.

    The maker of various home appliances is creating a limited number of vacuums made with plastic gathered from oceans and seas, through its Vac From The Sea initiative, to bring attention to how much plastic is ending up in floating around in marine environments and harming animals.

    Not only does plastic that is in oceans kill birds and other creatures, but plastic out in the sea breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces over time, bringing with it worries that as fish and other animals eat the bits of plastic, that trash works its way back up the food chain until it ends up on our plates.

    The issue of plastic waste in the ocean has now been documented and tracked by a number of groups and awareness initiatives, like 5Gyres and the Plastiki expedition, but this is the first time a company has fused that issue with its products.

    Along with awareness of plastic in the ocean, Electrolux is using the campaign to note that the supply of recycled plastic on land is much lower than the demand, noting that is that plastic staying out of the waters, it would more easily find its way into recycled-content consumer products.

    Read more: http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2010/06/29/electrolux-ocean-garbage-new-vacuums#ixzz0usIYENaj

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• 4 Ingredients to a Climate and 4 Ingredients to a Climate and Energy Bill

  • From: dyepoy05
  • Description:

    We all know what happened. On the very day that China announced a plan to institute carbon emissions trading beginning in 2011, Harry Reid stood in a hallway and delivered a whole lotta nothin' on climate legislation.

    Now you know why Tom Friedman wished plaintively in his book Hot, Flat and Crowded that we could be China for just one day.

    Let's get the finger-pointing out of the way, then talk over some ways to pick up the pieces and move forward.

    Who is to blame?

    Obtuse, scientifically illiterate Republicans who successfully branded climate policy as "cap and tax." Thanks, guys and gals, you brought smiles to the petroleum ministries of Iran, Venezuela, and Saudi Arabia. Mahmoud, Hugo, and King Abdullah ought to bake a cake for Mitch McConnell.

    Mealy-mouthed Democrats who let the Republicans get away with their demagoguery. That finger starts pointing right at the top. In his Dot Earth blog, the New York Times' Andrew Revkin pointed out that President Obama failed to exert leadership and failed to challenge James Inhofe and the other OPEC enablers who see nothing wrong with perpetuating America's overdependence on coal and oil.

    The day Reid laid the egg, the White House actually blamed environmentalists for failing to line up enough votes. Enough votes for what? The president never spelled out to Congress exactly what he wanted, didn't knock heads together on Capitol Hill, and didn't brandish consequences if wobbly-in-the-knees lawmakers failed to give him what he wanted. Waiting for lobbyists to gift-wrap 60 votes and hand them to the president and the feckless Reid on a silver platter is not leadership. Somewhere, the ghosts of Ronald Reagan, Harry Truman, and Theodore Roosevelt are shaking their heads.

    There are plenty of others who deserve blame – bloviating narcissists on talk-radio and on the blogs, mendacious ideologues who manufactured the so-called "climategate" controversy, even citizens who either don't pay attention or let clever merchants of deceit push their emotional buttons and jam their critical thinking circuits.

    OK, now that the venting is over, what is to be done? Several things.

    First, if and when Republicans win one or both houses of Congress in the fall election, they will have to stand for something besides grasping for power, as conservative commentator Ross Douthat mused in his NY Times blog.

    Republican Congressman Bob Inglis of South Carolina, who lost his primary to a Tea Party drone, has a suggestion. On the day of Reid's pallid announcement, Inglis told utility executives that climate policy needs a messaging makeover – stop dwelling in the weeds of cap-and-trade, offsets, and other wonkery that is chiefly of interest to economics PhD's. That doesn't sell. Instead, sell carbon pricing as a market-based solution for stimulating innovation and entrepreneurship.

    Inglis' idea has been heard before, but if Senate Republicans who take climate issues seriously – and there are a half-dozen or so – are to see their way towards working on a climate bill, they will have to sell it to their constituents in a way that doesn't put them at mortal political risk. Maybe business leaders who want climate policy certainty could send Inglis' idea to some marketing boffins for refinement into a PR campaign.

    Second, all of us who care about climate stewardship must fight furiously against any attempt to change one jot or tittle in the Clean Air Act's language empowering EPA to set limits on greenhouse gas emissions. One such attempt was beaten back earlier this summer. There will be more. President Obama should vow, loudly and repeatedly, to veto any legislation that rolls back EPA's authority in this area. Until the Senate is ready to legislate climate policy seriously, EPA is an imperfect but potent arrow that must remain in the quiver.

    Third, Big Coal friends like Byron Dorgan should repeatedly administer the cold shower that he and the late Robert Byrd gave Big Coal until Big Coal gets the message that continuing to pretend that energy markets won't change is a fast ticket to palookaville.

    By 2016, half the nation's coal-fired power plants will be more than 50 years old. Utilities can rely on those don't-laugh-it's-paid-for coal beaters for only so long before they must be replaced. Impending EPA regs – NOx, SOX, mercury, coal ash – threaten to speed those plants' trip to the boneyards. Utility bosses have said as much.

    By coming to the table, the coal industry could help negotiate a climate bill that gooses R&D aimed at finding economical ways of burying carbon. That would give some cover to senators in coal states.

    Without a reasonable prospect that sequestration can work, utilities will be wooed by the fetching message of the strutting gas industry. The gas guys are poking Big Coal in the eye by telling the utilities that switching to gas will allow them to dump their dirty old coal plants, avoid a lot of EPA red tape, and get ahead of the curve if and when carbon is priced.

    Fourth, work the flanks of the issue by pushing for a national renewable energy and efficiency standard, broadening the clean cars deal that the administration worked out with Detroit, and long-term extensions of tax incentives for renewables. Find more money for basic energy R&D so that innovators can develop cheaper solar technology, test the promise of modular nuclear reactors, and tap the enormous potential of ocean wave and tidal energy.

    Surely, there are more ideas out there. The climate bill's collapse is a bitter pill. Too much is at stake, however, for this setback to be final. Those of us who care must get up and return to the arena.

    Source: http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/blogs/republican/climate-bill-0725

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• Plastic-bottle boat completes Plastic-bottle boat completes voyage across Pacific

  • From: dyepoy05
  • Description:

    Plastiki, a boat constructed of discarded soft-drink bottles, arrived Monday in Sydney, Australia, completing an 11,000-mile journey across the Pacific Ocean intended to draw attention to the way humans treat the environment.

    The 60-foot catamaran set sail from Sausalito, Calif., just north of the Golden Gate Bridge, on March 20. Buoyancy was provided by more 12,000 recycled 2-liter bottles donated by Waste Management, which were washed, cleaned, and pressurized before being installed in the boat's twin pontoons.

    Banking heir and expedition leader David de Rothschild runs the Adventure Ecology educational organization and is the mastermind behind the Plastiki project, which, among other things, aims to change people's perception of garbage. Today, most plastic bottles in the U.S. are not recycled, according to environmental organizations, and instead end up in the world's landfills and oceans.

    "If we really want to move from Planet 1.0 to Planet 2.0, we need to really start taking action and stop just talking," de Rothschild has said.

    An array of green gadgets accompanied the Plastiki crew on its voyage: flexible solar panels, two wind turbines, and a trailing turbine generation and propulsion system. The vessel also houses a vacuum water evaporator for desalination and a urine-to-water recovery system.

    During the past four months, the crew has gone through some exciting moments, including a scary wind storm that featured winds that shifted direction more than 100 degrees and gusted at 63 knots. In an instant message interview with my colleague Daniel Terdiman on July 14, de Rothschild said he has been very impressed at how the craft was performing on the high seas.

    "The boat is holding up well. I have been very impressed with the Seretex, the material," he said. "Like with all boats there are repairs and things start to fatigue. But she really is standing up and showing how we can use waste as a resource and how we can start to design smarter. At the end of the day waste is bad design."

    Another inspiration for the voyage was the Kon-Tiki expedition, Thor Heyerdahl's 1947 trip across the Pacific in a boat that was a reproduction of an Inca raft. Among the Plastiki's six crew members was Olav Heyerdahl, Thor's grandson.

     

    Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20011597-54.html

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• Sea of Plastic: What Is the Gr Sea of Plastic: What Is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch?

  • From: yiehk21
  • Description:
    By: Allison Ford (View Profile)

     

     

    

    Forget giant pandas displaced by deforestation, or carbon-spewing Chinese sneaker factories. The latest environmental outrage is about good old-fashioned trash. 

    Scientists have known about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, sometimes called the “trash vortex,” since 1998. An oceanographer taking a shortcut from Hawaii to Los Angeles found that in the Pacific Ocean, in the calm waters north of the Hawaiian islands, the trash that makes it out to sea is held in place by the winds and currents that frame the area. They outline a circular patch in the ocean called the North Pacific Gyre, where the garbage accumulates in an area that’s been estimated to be as big as the size of Texas at minimum, but potentially as large as the entire United States. 

    An Invisible Island
    The world produces about 260 million tons of plastic every year, and only 5 percent of that is recycled. Eighty percent of the trash in the oceans is composed of plastic, and although some trash is spilled (or dumped) from ships, the overwhelming majority comes from those of us who live on land. When someone in China or Seattle uses a trash bag or a plastic bottle and doesn’t dispose of it properly, it gets washed down the sewer and out to sea with the other wastewater, where currents carry it to the northern Pacific. Some experts estimate that the garbage patch contains one hundred million tons of trash or more. 

    When laypeople hear about the garbage patch, they often envision it as an island made of trash. To be sure, some pieces of the patch are large—barrels, balls, nets, and wrappers—but it’s not as solid as a landmass. The majority of the plastic breaks down into tiny bits, ranging from microscopic to the size of a fingernail, and these pieces of plastic become suspended in the top several hundred feet of water, forming a “plastic soup.” Because much of the debris hangs below the water’s surface, we can’t see it on satellites, but scientists and sailors traveling through the area have witnessed it. The small size of the particles is one reason it’s so hard to determine exactly how big the patch is—there’s no way to accurately measure its area.

    Read More : http://www.divinecaroline.com/

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• Ball Aerospace Completes Integ Ball Aerospace Completes Integration of CrIS Sensor on NPP Weather Satellite

  • From: ashleysoon
  • Description:

    

    BOULDER, Colo., July 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has completed integration and performance testing of the Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) that will fly aboard NASA's National Preparatory Project (NPP) weather satellite.

    (Photo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100722/LA39445)

    (Photo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100722/LA39445)

    CrIS, an advanced infrared sensor built by ITT, is part of the five-instrument suite that will allow the NPP satellite to collect and distribute remotely sensed land, ocean, and atmospheric data to the meteorological and global climate change communities. The advanced sensor suite will provide atmospheric and sea surface temperatures, humidity sounding, land and ocean biological productivity and cloud and aerosol properties.

    CrIS arrived at Ball Aerospace on June 18 and integration was complete on July 14. The full satellite will now undergo environmental testing at Ball Aerospace prior to its scheduled launch in October 2011.

    "Successful integration of CrIS brings us one step closer to launching the nation's critically needed, next weather satellite," said Cary Ludtke, vice president and general manager for Ball's Civil and Operational Space business unit. "This significant milestone demonstrates the flexibility of Ball's BCP platform to easily accommodate multiple instruments even when requirements change over the course of the program."

    In addition to CrIS, the instruments integrated onto the NPP spacecraft bus include the Ball-built Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite; the Visible-Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder; and the Cloud and the Earth's Radiant Energy System.  Under contract to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Ball Aerospace employed a modified Ball Commercial Platform 2000 to accommodate NPP's five instruments.

    Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. supports critical missions of important national agencies such as the Department of Defense, NASA, NOAA and other U.S. government and commercial entities. The company develops and manufactures spacecraft, advanced instruments and sensors, components, data exploitation systems and RF solutions for strategic, tactical and scientific applications. For more information visit www.ballaerospace.com.

    Ball Corporation (NYSE: BLL) is a supplier of high-quality metal and plastic packaging for beverage, food and household products customers, and of aerospace and other technologies and services, primarily for the U.S. government. Ball Corporation and its subsidiaries employ more than 14,000 people worldwide and reported 2009 sales of approximately $7.3 billion.

    Forward-Looking Statements

    This release contains "forward-looking" statements concerning future events and financial performance. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "estimates" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Key risks and uncertainties are summarized in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Exhibit 99.2 in our Form 10-K, which are available at our Web site and at www.sec.gov. Factors that might affect our packaging segments include fluctuation in product demand and preferences; availability and cost of raw materials; competitive packaging availability, pricing and substitution; changes in climate and weather; crop yields; competitive activity; failure to achieve anticipated productivity improvements or production cost reductions; mandatory deposit or other restrictive packaging laws; changes in major customer or supplier contracts or loss of a major customer or supplier; and changes in foreign exchange rates or tax rates. Factors that might affect our aerospace segment include: funding, authorization, availability and returns of government and commercial contracts; and delays, extensions and technical uncertainties affecting segment contracts. Factors that might affect the company as a whole include those listed plus: accounting changes; changes in senior management; the current global recession and its effects on liquidity, credit risk, asset values and the economy; successful or unsuccessful acquisitions, joint ventures or divestitures; integration of recently acquired businesses; regulatory action or laws including tax, environmental, health and workplace safety, including in respect of climate change, or chemicals or substances used in raw materials or in the manufacturing process; governmental investigations; technological developments and innovations; goodwill impairment; antitrust, patent and other litigation; strikes; labor cost changes; rates of return projected and earned on assets of the company's defined benefit retirement plans; pension changes; reduced cash flow; interest rates affecting our debt; and changes to unaudited results due to statutory audits or other effects.

    Original Source: prnewswire

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