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Easy Moving Tips – Follow and Easy Moving Tips – Follow and Make Your Move Easier
- From: yadavjohn
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Description:
Moving home with entire household goods puts a lot on one’s plate. Even so, the procedure of home shifting does not have to be an awful experience. With proper planning, one can make move easier and simpler. Here are some important tips and suggestions to keep in mind that can make your move more comfortable and less problematic.
Though moving companies provide full move service, however many people prefer for self-packing of goods and belongings. Consider about your need. Do you need full move service or you will prefer to pack your goods yourself. Hire a professional mover well in advance according to your needs and budget.
Inform your all relatives and friends about your change of address well one month in advance. Inform post office, utilities, and anyone you do business with, about your change of address.
If you have decided for self-packing, start packing at least two weeks in advance. Start with things you do not use on the daily basis or items you will not need until you arrive at your new home. Pack one room at a time or in a day.
Before you start packing things, make sure that you have plenty of packing & moving supplies. You will need things like boxes, cartons, tape, marking pen, labeling stickers, box-cutters, old-newspapers, wrapping sheets, cushioning or padding materials, etc. Save your newspapers a few weeks before you move.
Make sure you use packing materials of fine quality. Do not compromise with the quality of packing supplies. Use strong and sturdy boxes or cartons. Work smarter not harder. Keep utmost care while you pack fragile items. If you are unable or hesitant to pack fragile items, do not try to pack them. Leave them and let them professionals to pack for you. Before you pack items you should wrap them using enough layers of good quality wrapping sheets.
Label boxes or cartons if you packed and seal them properly. Label boxes on the room by room basis. Also mention contents inside the boxes while labeling boxes.
Keep your valuables like jewellery, currency, etc and personal documents like certificates, land papers, etc in a safe place at all times throughout your move. Do not put such items on moving or transportation vehicles.
Clean you new house before you shift all your things and belongings in, if it is possible. Unpack things properly. And rearrange them properly. Your movers can also help you unpack and rearrange goods.
Article Source:- http://www.buzzle.com/articles/easy-moving-tips-follow-and-make-your-move-easier.html
yadav john is an Internet Marketing Professional. Currently he is working with Packers and Movers Gurgaon based company. Gurgaon Packers Movers specializes in household shifting, and industrial & commercial goods shifting services for short and long distance move. - Blog post
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Vancouver digital entertainmen Vancouver digital entertainment firms set aim with Shanghai trade mission
- From: yiehk21
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Description:
VANCOUVER - A handful of Vancouver-based film and video game company executives are in southern China this week with other Vancouver firms involved in green technology at the five-day Vancouver Green Capital Business Mission, which begins Wednesday.
A total of 22 Vancouver companies and organizations will meet with close to 100 Chinese businesses and institutions in Shanghai, with the aim to foster business deals between the two countries. Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson will also attend.
Film and digital entertainment companies Atomic Cartoons, Rainmaker Entertainment, Image Engine Design and Disney Interactive will attend, as will BC Film. Fraser Milner Casgrain, a law firm that works with Vancouver’s entertainment firms, is also on the trip. They will meet with at least 37 Chinese companies and organizations with a digital media focus, including China Film Group, Shanghai Media Group, Dragon TV, and Hengdian World Studios.
These companies will participate in the digital media industries sector of the trade forum. Other sectors involve environmental technology, renewable energies and green building products. Some will also attend Shanghai Expo 2010.
“We’re looking to send service there, but also to partner with Chinese companies doing animation there,” said Trevor Bentley, president and partner of Vancouver animation studio Atomic Cartoons, who has lined up meetings with five Chinese companies.
“We’re seeing some fantastic properties and animation coming out of China,” Bentley said. “It’s a matter of doing our due diligence and making some connections. If we’re going to send projects there or ask someone to invest in our projects or partner with us on something, we have to meet face-to-face.”
Warren Franklin, CEO of Rainmaker Entertainment, hopes to build on momentum his company created by making a short animation for the Canadian Pavilion at the Shanghai Expo, as well as a film shown at the B.C.-Canada Pavilion during the 2010 Winter Olympics here.
“We’re hoping to leverage that [pavilion] work for some new projects and business. The opportunities in China are enormous, and there’s a lot of potential for co-productions between Canadian and Chinese companies in the animation and digital media area,” stated Franklin. “The growth of the Chinese theatrical film market is also a factor. The number of screens being built every year is quite high, and we see this will be an important theatrical market for our content.”
Rainmaker has had discussions with Chinese interests about the Vancouver company’s work and, Franklin said, “I think our business is expanding into that market in terms of theatrical opportunities that are starting to present themselves for feature films.”
Image Engine executive producer Shawn Walsh, who travels to Shanghai with his company’s CFO Greg Herbert, has a half-dozen meetings with Chinese companies this week, including China Film Group.
“We do about 80 to 85 per cent of our visual effects work for feature films, so China Film Group is one of the companies we need to know more about,” said Walsh. “They have a governmental aspect, which is different from the way film production companies work in North America. They are interested in doing co-productions. Currently the budgets for those co-productions are quite meagre, but that will change over time as the market grows.”
Robert Wong, of BC Film, will not participate in the business meetings, but will give a talk outlining the incentives and the working environment in the B.C. digital media industry.
Robertson will be in China a total of 11 days, visiting Beijing and Hubei province, Vancouver’s sister city of Guangzhou, and Tianjin, where he will speak at the World Economic Forum.
Individual companies pay for their own transportation and accommodations. The Vancouver Economic Development Commission has contributed $75,000 to the trip, and the mayor’s office has put up $45,000.
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The climate deniers of the lef The climate deniers of the left
- From: yiehk21
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Description:
Coca Cola greenwash at the Copenhagen climate summit.The scientific community has never been more united in its conviction that climate change is well on the way to rendering planet Earth a vastly less hospitable place for most species, including our own. Yet doubt about the gravity of the problem is, paradoxically, on the rise.
Recent polls in the US, Britain and Canada reveal that fewer people take the threat of climate change seriously than five years ago.
One likely reason is the insidious effect of the ongoing campaign — largely orchestrated and funded by the fossil fuel industry, and drawing support from a cast of right-wing pundits and politicians — to sow doubt about the existence of climate change or at least about the contribution of human activity to it.
The contrarians don’t all line up with the forces of reaction, however.
Alexander Cockburn, veteran left journalist and co-editor of online journal Counterpunch.com, resigned this year from a more than 40-year stint on the editorial board of the New Left Review.
His resignation was in response to the publication of Mike Davis’ “Who Will Build The Ark?”, a reflection on the implications of climate change, as the lead article of the illustrious journal’s 50th anniversary issue.
There are few issues that get Cockburn as hot under the collar as global warming.
He is by far the most extreme in his wholesale denial of the very problem of climate change, but Cockburn is not the only prominent leftist to dismiss the urgency accorded to global warming by progressives.
York university’s David F. Noble, historian of science and technology, critic of the corporate usurpation of the university and occasional contributor to Canadian Dimension, is equally irate over the Left’s attention to climate change.
And Slavoj Zizek, one of the world’s most prominent left-wing intellectuals, dubbed the “Elvis” of cultural theory, has at times articulated an agnostic position on global warming.
Each of these thinkers, who reflect a real, if marginal, minority opinion on the left, come at their climate change scepticism from different angles.
Cockburn maintains that global warming is a “non-existent threat” based on flawed science. He approvingly cites naysayers such as Patrick Michaels of the right-wing Cato Institute, fingered as a paid consultant of the fossil fuel industry.
Against the prevailing scientific consensus, Cockburn insisted in an April 2007 Counterpunch.org article: “There is still zero empirical evidence that anthropogenic production of CO2 is making any measurable contribution to the world’s present warming trend.”
In his view, climate change is a fiction fostered by capital as part of a strategy to profit from higher energy costs at the expense of the poor — a notion bearing more than a passing resemblance to the type of conspiracy-thinking he elsewhere denounces.
He treats the left with contempt for not only being hoodwinked by the global warming “dogma”, but for being naive in seeing it as a tipping point in the direction of radical social change.
Noble’s emphasis is different, although he pursues the general theme of climate change as a false crisis fabricated by elites for their own purposes.
Tracing the history of the corporate world’s warming to the issue of climate change, he depicts it as a deliberate and successful effort by a faction of the ruling class to co-opt and derail the anti-globalisation movement of the 1990s.
He is especially contemptuous of the left for adopting what he sees as an uncritical view of science in relation to climate change, one that disconnects science from politics, and of buying into the dominant either/or logic.
Noble argues corporate interests have succeeded in creating a false polarisation of positions that leaves no space to reject both sides: he complains that one can either accept climate change as the principal problem of our time, along with the green capitalist solutions, or join the much maligned “deniers”.
Zizek, too, cautions against a naive view of science. However, he seems lately to be conceding more to the scientific consensus than in previous pronouncements, where he opposed any limits to development on the grounds of uncertainty about the science.
He argued that nature is inherently unstable and crisis-ridden and that ideas about any natural balance being upset by human activity are misguided.
He said ecology, insofar as it emphasises our finitude and calls for us to treat the Earth with respect, is inherently conservative and expresses a deep distrust of change, development and progress. He thus characterised it as “a new opium of the masses”.
In an April 29 New Statesmen article, Zizek seemed to shift gears. On the one hand, he repeated the assertion that nature is chaotic and there is no underlying natural balance to be perturbed by human activity. Science, he reiterated, is unreliable and its conclusions are subject to the pressures of capital.
But he asserted that our survival as a species depends on “a series of stable natural parameters that we tend to take for granted ... The limits to our freedom become palpable with ecological disturbances, as our ability to transform nature destabilises the basic geological conditions of life on earth.”
He appeared to jettison his opposition to placing limits on development when he wrote: “What is demanded, first, is strict egalitarian justice: worldwide norms of per capita energy consumption should be imposed, stopping developed nations from poisoning the environment at the present rate while blaming developing countries, from Brazil to China, for ruining our shared environment.”
Of course, both scepticism and the ability to change one’s mind are signs of intellectual vigour. And dissent, as US socialist Norman Thomas said, is “essential to the search for truth in a world wherein no authority is infallible”.
But there is a question of what motivates these dissenters.
Scepticism about climate change on the right is fuelled, particularly in the US, by the belief that global warming is a socialist Trojan horse, designed to destroy the free market by the stealth of environmental regulation.
What seems to unite the climate change sceptics on the left is the opposite belief — that climate change is distracting and deflecting the left from the project of radical social transformation.
It is reminiscent of the response of a significant part of the socialist left to the emerging environmental consciousness in the 1970s, which discounted concerns about pollution and the rate of resource consumption as a “petit bourgeois” affair with no bearing on the world’s masses.
But as countless scientists have stressed, the most devastating effects of climate change will be felt first of all by the poor in the global South, who are more directly and immediately dependent on the natural world for their living.
The sceptics are legitimately concerned that the ecological crisis will be manipulated by capital as a business opportunity.
There is no doubt that climate change will be exploited for profit by the corporate elite — just as the oil catastrophe in the Gulf is being turned to economic advantage by some of the companies responsible for the disaster who are now cashing in on the clean-up activities — but this fact should not lead us to discount the reality or gravity of the crisis.
What is called for is an anti-capitalist response to the ecological threat — not only to the survival of our own species but to the innumerable other species now at risk.
Left climate change sceptics seem to ignore the emerging ecosocialist current, which has taken up the challenge of wedding the critique of capitalism to an analysis of the ecological crisis.
As one pamphlet produced the time of the December 2009 Copenhagen climate summit pointed out: “Climate change is not just an environmental issue. It is but one symptom of a system ravaging our planet and destroying our communities.”
Far from being distracted by climate change, ecosocialists understand it as intimately related to the reigning global system of production that endlessly reproduces the unjust disparities of wealth and power that have always been the object of the left’s opposition.
How can Cockburn, Noble and Zizek argue with that?
http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/45269
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- 1 day ago
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From deep-fried delights to bi From deep-fried delights to biofuel
- From: ashleysoon
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Description:
The Nebraska State Fair is a lot of fun and a lot of food. Make that a lot of deep-fried food.
Even the most health-conscious fair-goer is tempted by the many deep-fried food fancies offered at the fair.
But that’s all right with Robert Byrnes, owner of Nebraska Renewable Energy Systems.With all that deep-frying going on with all of those vendor carts and all of that vegetable oil, it made sense to Byrnes to start collecting the used vegetable oil that goes into making those corn dogs and funnel cakes and recycling it into biodiesel.
Byrnes’ company has been an exhibitor at the State Fair for six years. Five years ago, he began inquiring with food vendors about what they did with their used vegetable oil.
Biodiesel is a natural fuel made from vegetable oil and can be used in any diesel-fueled vehicle with conversion.
When he found out that many of the vendors were hauling their used vegetable oil to a trash bin, he decided to ask State Fair officials if he could collect the used vegetable oil to convert into biodiesel. The recovered fryer oil is recycled by Nebraska Biofuel. It began collecting the used vegetable oil in 2006. Each gallon recovered reduces carbon dioxide emissions by four pounds.
Byrnes said he hopes his efforts can help increase the fair’s green effort now that the State Fair has relocated to Grand Island’s Fonner Park.
Byrnes, whose Nebraska Renewable Energy Systems’ booth is in the Marketplace at the State Fair, started his business to help people in Nebraska develop workable renewable energy systems, both on a large and small scale.
Nebraska Renewable Energy Systems is a privately owned company dedicated to bringing renewable energies to individuals and communities throughout Nebraska. The company’s focus is on quantifying, designing and installing safe, cost-effective and durable renewable energy systems that can be operated with minimal training and time, according to its website at www.nerenew.com.
The company worked as a consultant with a 5 million-gallon soy biodiesel project in Scribner, though the project eventually proved to be unfeasible because of high soybean prices, low fuel prices and the lack of government incentives.
While there are no soy biodiesel plants in Nebraska, the state ranked fifth in the nation last year in soybean production, with 259 million bushels.
Byrnes said his company got involved with the Nebraska State Fair about seven years ago.
He came to Nebraska from New Jersey 11 years ago after a career in the U.S. Army. His company is based in Oakland.
Byrnes, who owns a small acreage near Lyons, said it was after moving to Nebraska that he got interested in the potential renewable energy had in the state.
“I went to the State Fair seven years ago,” he said. “I thought it was a great institution and something we didn’t have where I came from.”
But what struck Byrnes about the State Fair was there was little being done about Nebraska’s potential in developing alternative energy sources, other than ethanol.
That’s when Byrnes decided to begin displaying his business in Nebraska. He has been displaying Nebraska Renewable Energy Systems at the State Fair now for six years.
“This was one of the first projects that we did,” he said. “We really don’t sell anything here. We are just here for information and to visit with folks. It’s good to visit with Nebraskans and see what they are thinking and what their thoughts are.”
A University of Nebraska-Lincoln Nebraska Rural Poll released on Friday found that 78 percent of rural Nebraskans believe that bioenergy/biofuels are important to the state’s future.
The poll also found that 86 percent of the poll respondents said government support and incentives for alternative energy sources such as wind and solar power should be increased.
That is the kind of enthusiasm that Byrnes hopes to increase when it comes to promoting renewable energy.
According to Nebraska Renewable Energy Systems, while Nebraska has been blessed with many sources of renewable energy, only ethanol has seen any significant growth. However, Nebraska is starting to catch up in developing its wind energy potential, which has been ranked as fourth best in the United States.
A lot of the company’s focus has been in developing alternative energy resources, such as wind, solar, biodiesel and methane systems.
“Our goals are to change this imbalance by helping individuals to gain their own stake in their energy future by utilizing the resources available to them,” according to the company’s website.
Byrnes said, along with educating people on Nebraska’s potential with renewable energy, his business also consults and designs projects for clients.
He has developed renewable energy systems that he uses on his farm, such as operating his vehicles on biodiesel.
“I make fuel from everything that moves,” Byrnes said, including rendering the fat from his livestock into fuel.
“I want Nebraskans to realize that we have tremendous resources, such as wind, solar, geothermal, biomass — we have the raw materials for clean energy,” he said. “But what we lack is the resolve, and we lack the policy to make that happen.”
He said developing the state’s many alternative energy resources is not just about today but also for tomorrow’s generation.
“We seem today to care not for the next generation but more about ourselves,” Byrnes said.
He said that’s contrary to the pioneer spirit that built America to make it better for the generations that would follow.
“I have four kids,” Byrnes said. “That’s an important part of this whole process.”By: Robert Pore | September 4, 2010 | robert.pore@theindependent.com
Original Source: http://www.theindependent.com/articles/2010/09/04/news/local/state_fair/doc4c81d21245e71817631454.txt
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119 One-Liners to Respond to C 119 One-Liners to Respond to Climate Science Myths
- From: yiehk21
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Description:
Over 100 one-liners for arguing with a climate “skeptic” or climate disinformer, with links to the science behind them.
Climate science expert, physicist and highly respected blogger John Cook of SkepticalScience.com spends much of his time creating long, detailed, scientific rebuttals to climate change disinformers.
For detailed debunking of hundreds of climate change disinformer myths, you can surf his website for hours. But for all of us who do not spend so much time debating with disinformers and do not have such deep knowledge of climate science, or who just need a short (science-backed) one-liner time and again to refute a climate science myth, one of his readers — ex-theoretical physicist and Director of the Climate Initiative of the Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office Dr. Jan Dash — helped him to create a list of 119 one-liners to use in such circumstances, with links to more detailed, scientific arguments.
By the way, you can also get these on the skeptical science apps for the iPhone, Android, or Nokia.
You can read all about the history of this project on SkepticalScience but without further delay, here are the one-liners courtesy of John and Jan (first is the disinformer statement, then the response with link):
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Greenpeace, Facebook Convo on Greenpeace, Facebook Convo on Coal, Renewable Energy, and Power
- From: yiehk21
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Description:
Greenpeace has had a campaign going on both on Facebook and off telling Facebook to “Unfriend Coal.” In other words, Greenpeace and 500,000 supporters (so far) are urging Facebook to stop using energy from dirty coal plants.
The Executive Director of Greenpeace International, Kumi Naidoo, recently got into the discussion and wrote a letter to Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.
In the comments section of that blog post, Barry Schnitt, Director of Policy Communications at Facebook, wrote a lengthy response, the heart of which was basically this: coal is bad and the world needs to use more renewable energy but Facebook has no power over the power mix they are supplied.
If he thought that was going to pacify Greenpeace or the half a million people behind this campaign, I’m not sure how he got his job at Facebook.
Greenpeace policy analyst Gary Cook responds with a lengthy letter of his own. Here is the beginning of this letter:
Dear Barry:
Thanks for your response.
We appreciate your recognition that Facebook has a coal problem with its Oregon data center. However, where we disagree is your claim to be powerless to do anything about it as, like Greenpeace and others, Facebook simply has to buy whatever electricity is available. This is not the case for Greenpeace, and is certainly not the case for Facebook, who is an industrial scale consumer of electricity.
As evidenced by the 500,000 users who have asked Facebook to get off of coal, we expect and demand more leadership from such an innovative company that is a playing an important role in bringing the world together.
Facebook is buying electricity in bulk to meet the needs of 500 million+ users, and is becoming a very influential company both inside and outside the IT sector. The expected power consumption of the Oregon data center alone gives Facebook the purchasing power of 30,000-40,000 homes, which gives you the ability and standing to shape how power is generated in Oregon and far beyond.
As we have seen with other environmental challenges, motivated companies with big purchasing power can make a powerful difference in driving environmental solutions and policy change. Greenpeace’s recent campaign targeting Nestlé (using Facebook no less) over their purchase of palm oil that is destroying the rainforest in Indonesia led the company to change its procurement policy, and has now led Burger King to announce yesterday that they will no longer buy palm oil from this supplier. This is sending a powerful signal both to the marketplace and to the policy makers in Indonesia and well beyond….
I imagine the conversation will continue on. And, hopefully, Facebook will get the point that they can and should do more. If you haven’t already joined the Facebook group or the campaign, you can do so now in order to tell Facebook that coal is a technology of the past that needs to be dropped and Facebook has the power to help unfriend coal!
Photo Credit: Greenpeace
http://planetsave.com/2010/09/05/greenpeace-facebook-convo-on-coal-renewable-energy/
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leaders, Born or Made? leaders, Born or Made?
- From: Ernest69
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Description:There are countless questions about whether leaders are born or made. I see, anyone with the desire and willingness to work can become a great leader. At the same time there are certain characteristics or qualities that are vital in leaders, namely;
1 .- Enthusiasm
"Even if I knew that the world would end tomorrow, just plant my apple tree."
— Martin L. King —
Those who are successful leaders are enthusiastic and optimistic. They know that maybe not everyone share all their ideas, which may not have all the skills or knowledge they need. However, they are very positive and know there is a solution to the obstacles encountered, just need to find it. One of the real benefits of being enthusiastic and positive is that it is contagious. The enthusiasm with an ability to illuminate the internal light. For inspiration, enthusiasm, vigor, growth, contagion, which generates, its complement, perseverance, keep the flame alive. What do you prefer a leader who is optimistic and positive, or a leader who is negative and pessimistic?
For the primary motivation is wanting to know what you want, which begins at 4 "L" to which education should aim: Learning to Be, Learning to Learn, Learning to do and Learning to Live together. Hence arise the four "E" Learning to undertake, from the power of Stimulation: Enthusiasm, Energy, Excellence, Effort.
To develop enthusiasm must have a clear goal. The feeling is not subject to reason but to action. So you need to start driving, and do it now. The accompanying moods who mobilized. Must be appropriate to excite enthusiasm, and transform it into action. There is no worse than the attempt fails.This power is growing self-knowledge. This spiritual power is produced, which move in the lane to the brain generates creative ideas.
2 .- Integrity
"It's always the right time to do the right thing."
— Martin Luther —
Personal integrity is the second key characteristic of leadership. Leaders with integrity set the standard in terms of expectations of how they conduct themselves and how others behave. Another way to see the professional integrity. Professionalism is the sum of the values inherent in a profession, for instance:
- The vocation or altruism (social over economic).
- The discipline and subordination of the individual and his interests to the rules established by the community.
- The Competition, which includes the group of knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary for the performance of the profession.
- Commitment.
Integrity is the foundation of character. A person who has integrity also has an unblemished character in all areas of your life. Success is really about self-evaluation. Always be willing to improve things in your life that need improvement, and the things you are doing well, make them even better! This sets a great example that others will follow. Todd Smith (littlethingsmatter) mentions Dr. H. James Harrington:"Measurement is the first step That leads to control and Eventually to improvement. If You Can not measure something, you Can not Understand it. If you can not understand it, you can not control it. If you can not control it, You Can not Improve it. "
Which I summarize in a quote from the Father of Quality:"The one who does not measure can not Improve."
— Joseph M. Juran —
3 .- Courage
"Courage. Starting the day with this word, and following with faith in God, you will get to where you need it."
— Paulo Coelho —
If you study the success of autobiographies of people can identify a continuing trend, and they were all people with courage. They are willing to go and try things and take risks. You, are you willing to take risks?
The Courage awaken in you the very essence of creative power, courage is not being afraid to experiment, is not afraid to stand out from the crowd and be different. It's something you should consider if you plan to move forward, overcome and achieve success that yearn.
It also requires having the strength and conviction to follow his conscience. A powerful way to cultivate the interior presence of courage is to choose a model that represents the qualities of courage, strength and vitality. That person could be a character in a movie, a book, a historical life or person you admire. To incorporate these features, close your eyes each day and includes the power quality that appeals to you this person, knowing that the same potential for life is within you.
4 .- Good Judgement
"To see clearly enough to change the direction of gaze."
— Antoine de Saint Exupery —
While leaders are brave are not reckless. They carefully analyzed the pros and cons in certain situations and take risks balanced. The wisdom has to do with making the best decision you can with the information you have available.
To me, this encompasses many qualities and attributes. A leader has discretion when it comes to understanding their impact on others, and have the right balance between empathy and objectivity.
According to wikipedia, empathy means literally "suffering inside" dictionary.com defines empathy as the ability of a person to understand and participate in affective and emotional reality of others. It´s the process of understanding and appreciation of emotions and positions of others. To put it in simpler terms, means "step into the shoes of others." To increase empathy, you must start with yourself.Paying close attention to your emotional state, noting the situations in which change their emotions, what leads to positive emotions and negative emotions?. Interact with a wide range of people. Look for similarities between you and the others. Think taking into account the other's perspective.
5 .- Be tough but fair
"Justice without force is negligible, the force without justice is tyranny."
— Blaise Pascal —
Leaders recognize that they can not be popular all the time. They know they need to make difficult decisions from time to time. They take difficult decisions and at the same time try to act fairly.
Leadership characteristics take time to develop, then, what leadership characteristics you could start working to achieve greater success?
Honestly, I think we can all achieve success, dreams and desires. It's just a matter of always walk forward and do whatever is necessary to bring up the value within inside ourselves.
Thanks, if you don´t like what you are reading, please fell free to tell me, and if you like:·Tell everyone!
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- 4 days ago
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Local schools make summer chan Local schools make summer changes
- From: yiehk21
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Description:
Local school districts have spent the summer renovating buildings, finding ways to ease student transitions and looking toward technology as a way to give students another path to learning.
Oneida City School District Superintendent Ron Spadafora said the most obvious change in the district is the closed high school campus which will keep all but seniors with privileges from leaving campus during lunch periods. The move was made in order to address student safety and skipped classes.
Senior privileges are earned if a student passes all credit-bearing classes, has less than two unexcused absences or late arrivals to school and has no disciplinary referrals. Seniors will be required to sign out when leaving campus and are not allowed to use their vehicles during lunch hours.
The high school cafeteria was recently expanded to accommodate the large number of students required to stay on campus during lunch hours.
Spadafora said there are new security systems with 24-hour monitoring at all schools. A new school security coordinator position was created to monitor the security systems.
The student parking lot was completely redone and the tennis courts were resurfaced over the summer. The majority of renovation work being done at other schools in the district is scheduled to be done by the opening day of school.
Canastota Superintendent Fred Bragan said one of the biggest changes this year is how he interacts with the community. He will hold a once-a-month “coffee with the superintendent” in the morning and in the evening. A superintendent’s blog will also be put up on the school website.
He said after the failed school building referendum and bus proposition that the district was looking for new ways to interact with the community.
He said the online parent portal will be launched in phases this year. The portal will allow parents to access their children’s grades and attendance record among other information online.
He said a new initiative known as the “Gather Program” will allow ninth graders to meet with a teacher for guidance about the transition into ninth grade.
“It’s a tough transition,” he said.
Small groups of students will meet with a mentoring teacher on a regular basis.
There are a number of changes in the Vernon-Verona-Sherrill School District for the upcoming school year.
W.A. Wettel Elementary School is beginning a new leadership-themed character education program.
J.D. George Elementary School is welcoming Kimberly LeBlanc as its new principal.
One of the goals of the most recent capital project was to increase the physical safety and security of the schools, said Mark Wixon, VVS assistant superintendent for finance, in a written statement.
He said they accomplished that goal with “the replacement of exterior doors throughout the district in combination with electronic card key door access and closed circuit video camera monitoring at single point of entry at each of our schools.”
During regular school hours, visitors will be limited to a single entrance near the school’s main office which will be equipped with an intercom and video camera system, he said. Visitors will have to use the system to request access to the building.
A new course will be added this year for ninth graders. The Freshman Seminar is designed to “strengthen and improve our students’ success as they transition from middle school to high school,” said Pamela Fuller, VVS High School interim principal, in a written statement.
Chittenango Central School District Superintendent Thomas Marzeski said there are some big changes in store for the upcoming year in the district.
This will be the first year for the full day kindergarten in the district.
He said it was necessary to move to a full day schedule to allow for more time for instruction.
He said there are no major technology updates in the district but that the schools are “continuously trying to keep it up to date.”
He said he was proud that despite the financial cuts by the state, the district was “able to maintain the same well-rounded course offering this year.”
Stockbridge Valley Central School District Superintendent Chuck Chafee said the district has been working on a $5.8 million building project over the summer. The project involved a new security system, electrical work and replacing skylights.
He said the district will continue trying to drive reform and work with the “Race to the Top” standards.
“We want to make them more ready for college,” he said.
The district is working with Syracuse University Project Advance which is offering two American history courses for college credit. Stockbridge Valley now offers 10 dual credit courses including some from Morrisville State College and Mohawk Valley Community College.
“It gives them a head start,” he said.
Hamilton Central School District Superintendent Dr. Diana Bowers said the district has been finishing summer building projects which included painting and other renovations.
The district recently received a $21,000 grant from the Hamilton Emerald Foundation.
The district is rolling out more SMART Boards, which act as interactive whiteboards, into classrooms and will be providing iPod Touch devices for use by students in fourth and fifth grade classrooms.
She said the iPods can be used in research, interactive learning and to provide instant electronic feedback to teachers.
There are new agricultural elective courses being offered this year including a “green” technology course and a horticulture course.
The Hamilton drama department will be active in the fall as they put on the play “Little Women”.
Morrisville-Eaton Central School District Superintendent Michael Drahos said the district will be changing requirements and using new technology to evaluate student performance.
“A new graduation requirement is being implemented this year,” he said. “All students must take an Information Literacy course.”
He said in addition to reinforcing study skills, students will learn the Dewey Decimal and Library of Congress system and learn about the use of Internet research and database research.
“Students will also learn how to read and think critically about current events,” he said. “The goal is to have students successfully navigate the skills necessary for the 21st century learner.”
The English Department will be using the Criterion Online Writing Evaluation Service.
“This program gives students instantaneous feedback to make corrections and evaluates their essays,” he said. “This will help students to self adjust their writing, while allowing teachers feedback to help students progress with their writing skills.”
The district is also considering ways to reach out to the community.
He said the district will “investigate and hopefully implement a more useful website to improve communication between school and community.”
Calls to Madison Central School District were not returned by press time.http://oneidadispatch.com/articles/2010/08/31/news/doc4c7dc23f0c32c619504833.txt
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Local Refinery has Breakthroug Local Refinery has Breakthrough in Green Technology
- From: yiehk21
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A Sparks refinery is the first of its kind in Nevada to get approval from state regulators for a cleaner fuel. Advanced Refining Concepts currently sells "G-Diesel" to five local and regional fuel distributors.
But, they're hoping to increase their current output from 100,000 gallons a day to 300,000 gallons a day. Refinery officials say "G-Diesel" fuel has zero-emissions and is now designated as an alternative fuel by the state.
There's no doubt that diesel fuels major industry, like getting cargo and shipments around the country by big rigs. "There's a lot of people that were thinking they'd have to move away from the diesel product because of the emissions, " Peter Gunnerman with Advanced Refining Concepts says.
But, that may not be the case anymore. Advanced Refining Concepts, which employs 30 people, found a way to make diesel fuel much cleaner. They call it "G-Diesel" "basically we're re-refining regular diesel and we're turning it into a clean alternative fuel," Gunnerman says.
Because of that "G-Diesel" has a lower molecular weight and burns more efficiently. The product is now certified by the state's alternative fuel program and it's already in use.
"It still meets all of the government regulations for diesel fuel which means absolutely no modifications to the engines or the vehicles are required," Gunnerman says.
And that's the positive for the company, as they are trying to get more local and regional fuel distributors on board. What's also a plus, the green technology is low cost in how it's stored and how fuel would be pumped at the gas station.
"A lot of the green technologies that are out there require huge infrastructure changes and when ever you say change it means cost," Gunnerman says.
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The Case Against Corporate Soc The Case Against Corporate Social Responsibility
- From: ashleysoon
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The idea that companies have a duty to address social ills is not just flawed, argues Aneel Karnani. It also makes it more likely that we'll ignore the real solutions to these problems.
Can companies do well by doing good? Yes—sometimes.
But the idea that companies have a responsibility to act in the public interest and will profit from doing so is fundamentally flawed.
Large companies now routinely claim that they aren't in business just for the profits, that they're also intent on serving some larger social purpose. They trumpet their efforts to produce healthier foods or more fuel-efficient vehicles, conserve energy and other resources in their operations, or otherwise make the world a better place. Influential institutions like the Academy of Management and the United Nations, among many others, encourage companies to pursue such strategies.
It's not surprising that this idea has won over so many people—it's a very appealing proposition. You can have your cake and eat it too!
But it's an illusion, and a potentially dangerous one.
Very simply, in cases where private profits and public interests are aligned, the idea of corporate social responsibility is irrelevant: Companies that simply do everything they can to boost profits will end up increasing social welfare. In circumstances in which profits and social welfare are in direct opposition, an appeal to corporate social responsibility will almost always be ineffective, because executives are unlikely to act voluntarily in the public interest and against shareholder interests.
Irrelevant or ineffective, take your pick. But it's worse than that. The danger is that a focus on social responsibility will delay or discourage more-effective measures to enhance social welfare in those cases where profits and the public good are at odds. As society looks to companies to address these problems, the real solutions may be ignored.
Well and Good
To get a better fix on the irrelevance or ineffectiveness of corporate social responsibility efforts, let's first look at situations where profits and social welfare are in synch.
James Steinberg
Consider the market for healthier food. Fast-food outlets have profited by expanding their offerings to include salads and other options designed to appeal to health-conscious consumers. Other companies have found new sources of revenue in low-fat, whole-grain and other types of foods that have grown in popularity. Social welfare is improved. Everybody wins.
Similarly, auto makers have profited from responding to consumer demand for more fuel-efficient vehicles, a plus for the environment. And many companies have boosted profits while enhancing social welfare by reducing their energy consumption and thus their costs.
But social welfare isn't the driving force behind these trends. Healthier foods and more fuel-efficient vehicles didn't become so common until they became profitable for their makers. Energy conservation didn't become so important to many companies until energy became more costly. These companies are benefiting society while acting in their own interests; social activists urging them to change their ways had little impact. It is the relentless maximization of profits, not a commitment to social responsibility, that has proved to be a boon to the public in these cases.
Unfortunately, not all companies take advantage of such opportunities, and in those cases both social welfare and profits suffer. These companies have one of two problems: Their executives are either incompetent or are putting their own interests ahead of the company's long-term financial interests. For instance, an executive might be averse to any risk, including the development of new products, that might jeopardize the short-term financial performance of the company and thereby affect his compensation, even if taking that risk would improve the company's longer-term prospects.
An appeal to social responsibility won't solve either of those problems. Pressure from shareholders for sustainable growth in profitability can. It can lead to incompetent managers being replaced and to a realignment of incentives for executives, so that their compensation is tied more directly to the company's long-term success.
When There's a Choice
Still, the fact is that while companies sometimes can do well by doing good, more often they can't. Because in most cases, doing what's best for society means sacrificing profits.
This is true for most of society's pervasive and persistent problems; if it weren't, those problems would have been solved long ago by companies seeking to maximize their profits. A prime example is the pollution caused by manufacturing. Reducing that pollution is costly to the manufacturers, and that eats into profits. Poverty is another obvious example. Companies could pay their workers more and charge less for their products, but their profits would suffer.
So now what? Should executives in these situations heed the call for corporate social responsibility even without the allure of profiting from it?
You can argue that they should. But you shouldn't expect that they will.
Executives are hired to maximize profits; that is their responsibility to their company's shareholders. Even if executives wanted to forgo some profit to benefit society, they could expect to lose their jobs if they tried—and be replaced by managers who would restore profit as the top priority. The movement for corporate social responsibility is in direct opposition, in such cases, to the movement for better corporate governance, which demands that managers fulfill their fiduciary duty to act in the shareholders' interest or be relieved of their responsibilities. That's one reason so many companies talk a great deal about social responsibility but do nothing—a tactic known as greenwashing.
Managers who sacrifice profit for the common good also are in effect imposing a tax on their shareholders and arbitrarily deciding how that money should be spent. In that sense they are usurping the role of elected government officials, if only on a small scale.
Privately owned companies are a different story. If an owner-operated business chooses to accept diminished profit in order to enhance social welfare, that decision isn't being imposed on shareholders. And, of course, it is admirable and desirable for the leaders of successful public companies to use some of their personal fortune for charitable purposes, as many have throughout history and many do now. But those leaders shouldn't presume to pursue their philanthropic goals with shareholder money. Indeed, many shareholders themselves use significant amounts of the money they make from their investments to help fund charities or otherwise improve social welfare.
This is not to say, of course, that companies should be left free to pursue the greatest possible profits without regard for the social consequences. But, appeals to corporate social responsibility are not an effective way to strike a balance between profits and the public good.
The Power of Regulation
So how can that balance best be struck?
James SteinbergThe ultimate solution is government regulation. Its greatest appeal is that it is binding. Government has the power to enforce regulation. No need to rely on anyone's best intentions.
But government regulation isn't perfect, and it can even end up reducing public welfare because of its cost or inefficiency. The government also may lack the resources and competence to design and administer appropriate regulations, particularly for complex industries requiring much specialized knowledge. And industry groups might find ways to influence regulation to the point where it is ineffective or even ends up benefiting the industry at the expense of the general population.
Outright corruption can make the situation even worse. What's more, all the problems of government failure are exacerbated in developing countries with weak and often corrupt governments.
Still, with all their faults, governments are a far more effective protector of the public good than any campaign for corporate social responsibility.
Watchdogs and Advocates
Civil society also plays a role in constraining corporate behavior that reduces social welfare, acting as a watchdog and advocate. Various nonprofit organizations and movements provide a voice for a wide variety of social, political, environmental, ethnic, cultural and community interests.
The Rainforest Action Network, for example, is an organization that agitates, often quite effectively, for environmental protection and sustainability. Its website states, "Our campaigns leverage public opinion and consumer pressure to turn the public stigma of environmental destruction into a business nightmare for any American company that refuses to adopt responsible environmental policies." That's quite a different approach from trying to convince executives that they should do what's best for society because it's the right thing to do and won't hurt their bottom line.
Overall, though, such activism has a mixed track record, and it can't be relied on as the primary mechanism for imposing constraints on corporate behavior—especially in most developing countries, where civil society lacks adequate resources to exert much influence and there is insufficient awareness of public issues among the population.
Self-Control
Self-regulation is another alternative, but it suffers from the same drawback as the concept of corporate social responsibility: Companies are unlikely to voluntarily act in the public interest at the expense of shareholder interests.
But self-regulation can be useful. It tends to promote good practices and target specific problems within industries, impose lower compliance costs on businesses than government regulation, and offer quick, low-cost dispute-resolution procedures. Self-regulation can also be more flexible than government regulation, allowing it to respond more effectively to changing circumstances.
The challenge is to design self-regulation in a manner that emphasizes transparency and accountability, consistent with what the public expects from government regulation. It is up to the government to ensure that any self-regulation meets that standard. And the government must be prepared to step in and impose its own regulations if the industry fails to police itself effectively.
Financial Calculation
In the end, social responsibility is a financial calculation for executives, just like any other aspect of their business. The only sure way to influence corporate decision making is to impose an unacceptable cost—regulatory mandates, taxes, punitive fines, public embarrassment—on socially unacceptable behavior.
Pleas for corporate social responsibility will be truly embraced only by those executives who are smart enough to see that doing the right thing is a byproduct of their pursuit of profit. And that renders such pleas pointless.
By: Aneel Karnani | August 23, 2010 | Dr. Karnani is an associate professor of strategy at the University of Michigan's Stephen M. Ross School of Business. He can be reached at reports@wsj.com.
Original Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703338004575230112664504890.html
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Genpact: Instilling social res Genpact: Instilling social responsibility in its staff
- From: ashleysoon
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It had GE as a founding parent. It became the test bed of the Indian outsourcing business. It’s been growing between 14-17% and has operations across the world. It is Genpact.
It might be just 13, but Genpact has a history of innovation that has defined the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry in India. It’s an end to end service provider applying science to managing business processes. It has a similar approach to its corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities as well. It is a BPO driven by its workforce; this workforce is also the army that drives its corporate citizenship programmes.
Zinnia, Amit, Pankaj and Vinit from Genpact have been working with the children in RTI Vidyapeeth in Gurgaon for a while now and they will continue for the next two years. Through fun activities in which the class has to choose a leader, these volunteers are trying to help these kids understand concepts like leadership and teamwork.
Genpact is conducting this programme in partnership with not for profit organisation Junior Achievement, a worldwide partnership between the business community, educators and volunteers working together to inspire young people to dream big and reach their potential.
Zinnia Mitra, Senior Manager-BFSI, Genpact says, “All volunteering from yourself, if people get motivated and they want to do something different from their usual work and self-actualise oneself and specifically for groups of people who have done enough, seen it all, they want to do this kind of stuff.”
In an effort to digitise and streamline the volunteering initiative, Genpact is partnered with Angelpoints to deploy a web based volunteer management system. This is an online networking system that connects employees across the world with local volunteer opportunities in their communities.
Volunteers who signup are put through an induction and training programmes post with their interactions with students begins. Because this is Genpact, the focus is always on the process, project leaders manage detail records of all interactions and maintain progress report of each student. This helps the next set of volunteers take the programme forward.
CNBC-TV18’s Executive-Editor Shereen Bhan caught up with Pramod Bhasin, President and CEO, Genpact, to talk to him about Genpact’s social activities.
Below is a verbatim transcript. Also watch the accompanying videos.
Bhasin: We have always felt that we are privileged to work in the economies we do. We work in a lot of emerging economies who are surrounded by a lot of issues, all of us as employees are representing a very small proportion of the population. So, giving back just comes from that atmosphere and environment we work in.
But beyond that, we have come to respect the fact that we have 42,000 employees around the world. The best way to give back is to utilise the resources and skill of the 42,000 people to make whatever difference we can. That’s where we have evolved our philosophy into focusing on employee ability on education, on healthcare and in areas where we have skills, which we can then use very productively to give back.
The second element, I would add, is it’s not just around CSR, it’s really mainstream into the heart and soul of what we are.”
Q: Now, we have a situation over the years where companies have voluntarily decided to give their time and resources to things like education, healthcare, which do not necessarily directly impact their business. Where do you stand on this entire debate?
Bhasin: I need to say that all we will do is look after shareholder value in monetary term is extremely short-sighted. We work in Gurgaon, for instance, if we can’t help the environment, it is going to impact us in someway. Now, we can do it without necessarily quantifying the benefits we will get in dollar or rupee terms, so that’s one and I am very clear about this.
Second, I think there are a lot of things that we should do just as privileged members of society. I think the role of companies has to be more; companies play a too bigger role in the world to be compartmentalise into trying to make money only for its shareholders. I think that’s very incredibly narrow view and not something I will ever subscribe.
Q: What is the approach then because as far as your core business is concerned, you have annual budgets, you have short-term targets, quarterly targets and all of that? How do you approach the CSR part of your business?
Bhasin: You are right about the annual budgets and targets, so the amount of money I can put away for it is limited and it will be limited by pulls and pressures of margins, double dip recessions etc. What is not limited is the skills of our people. So, we have just announced very recently a programme where we have said every employee in our company can take a few hours of a month and will expand into a day, if necessary, to provide support and help and volunteering help.
We have done things like in healthcare where we have run a fairly good practice, which looks at optimisation of hospitals. We work with the Delhi government on completely pro-bono basis, we have gone into two of the biggest public service hospitals in Delhi and helped reconfigure the trauma rooms, help reconfigure the emergency rooms, so that our people can help us and help change how public services are provided in those hospitals.
August 31, 2010
Original Source: http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/genpact-instilling-social-responsibilityits-staff_481764.html
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Credibility 'Gap': Oilsands bo Credibility 'Gap': Oilsands boycott could increase global warming
- From: ashleysoon
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Scientists have found higher concentrations of metal pollutants downstream of oil-sands projects.
Photograph by: Jimmy Jeong/Bloomberg News, Bloomberg News
We're all for corporate social responsibility, but we wonder if Walgreens, The Gap, Levi Strauss and Timberland are aware that they may be contributing to global warming by joining the naive Forest Ethics boycott of fuel derived from Alberta's oilsands.
According to a study released earlier this month, the implementation of a low-carbon fuel standard in the U.S. would increase global greenhouse gas emissions by up to 19 million metric tonnes because it would force U.S. refiners to import more oil in tankers from the Middle East, Venezuela and elsewhere.
It would also force Alberta to seek markets in India, China and other Asian nations. The study says the result of this global "shuffle" of oil via tankers across thousands of kilometres of oceans would cause higher carbon dioxide emissions than by simply extracting Canadian oil at its source.
The study, by Barr Engineering of Minneapolis for the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association, says that a shift to low-carbon fuels "is not expected to change overall trends in energy use and demand for crude resources throughout the rest of the world. A shift in U.S. crude-supply preferences will simply cause redirection of crude supplies elsewhere."
Executives eager to portray their corporations as green need to examine the unintended consequences of their decisions and be reminded that global warming respects no borders.
Taking at face value the arguments of the factually challenged Forest Ethics is especially disheartening for Walgreens, which has made concerted efforts to adopt solar energy and other green initiatives, and the ethically aware Timberland, which makes a substantial amount of its leather footwear -- not exactly a clean process -- in China.
In its glee to demonize Alberta while ignoring heavy oil extraction in the U.S. and other nations, the idealists at Forest Ethics -- a participant in Corporate Ethics International's shameful Rethink Alberta anti-tourism campaign to this province -- wrongly claimed that Alberta's oilsands are destroying boreal forest twice the size of England. It later amended that information to say that the destruction is as big as England, which is still erroneous.
There are issues with oilsands extraction, as a recent University of Alberta report on the release of heavy metals in the Athabasca River watershed has shown.
But the leaders of these companies know that it is possible to improve practices, as The Gap demonstrated after settling a $20 million class-action lawsuit with workers in Asian sweatshops in 2003.
The company resolved those alleged abuses, just as the research and development arms of oilsands companies are feverishly working to improve extraction techniques in Alberta -- which is more than can be said of the dubious, unfriendly nations to which America will increasingly turn for its oil if the Alberta spigot is turned off.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary HeraldBy: Calgary Herald | August 31, 2010
Original Source: http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Credibility/3462809/story.html#ixzz0yGOrRdZj
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Bloom Energy Fuel Cells a Clea Bloom Energy Fuel Cells a Clean Energy Alternative, But at What Cost?
- From: ashleysoon
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Bloom Energy fuel cells are a clean energy alternative, but at what cost? Many are hailing the Bloom energy servers as “revolutionary”, claiming that they will forever change the landscape of how we get electricity for our homes. However, the innovation – albeit novel, does have some quirks that many are overlooking.
How much will the Bloom Energy fuel cells cost?
Right now, the energy servers currently being used are about the size of a parking spot and cost nearly three quarters of a million dollars. Yes, that’s right – between $700,000 and $800,000. However, for large companies such as Google, Walmart, or Staples that cost may pay for itself over time in reduced energy costs.
Fortune Magazine reported back in February about the overall number crunching involved in making a business decision to install the Bloom Energy Device. It’s been cited that the cost of a kw hour of electricity is 8 to 10 cents, which is lower than the coal power electrical grid.
However, that total includes huge government subsidies and incentives from the state of California. I’d venture to say that the incentives won’t be there forever, and so the Bloom Box may not be as cost effective years down the road.
In addition, the energy servers come with a 10 year warranty, and Bloom Energy maintains the box. However, if you lose power you will have to re-connect to the grid in order to get energy again. This comes at a cost to the consumer.
Still yet the innovation shows promise. It may not all-out replace the electrical grid, but it will go a long way in supplementing it. In order for one of these units to be viable for a residential home, it would need to be cut in price by over 90%. Even at $3,500 you’re looking at about two to three years of energy costs for the average household.
Photo Credit: Bloom Energy
By: Jeff Wong | August 30, 2010
Original Source: http://www.adannews.com/11711/bloom-energy-fuel-cells-a-clean-energy-alternative-but-at-what-cost/
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Why are green printing eco – f Why are green printing eco – friendly?
- From: arboinks
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by The Udall Legacy Bus Tour: Views from the RoadWhy are green printing eco – friendly?
A new trend is being followed by the people known as “Go Green”. Similarly take part in green printing which means saving the environment. Green printing means making the environment eco – friendly by using eco – friendly colors. The industries have polluted the environment hugely but now they are trying to use eco – friendly color. Even with the new technologies we still haven’t change the way of printing.
The environment can be saved by using papers which can be recycled. A printer which is eco – friendly to the environment is used by most of the companies. Petroleum based ink produces carbon emission which is harmful to both environment and to people. It is better to use vegetable or soy ink. This ink gives better quality and brighter colors. The news paper company mainly uses the soy ink. The benefits of recycling the paper are – less pollution, trees are live and less energy. Just think that in few years there won’t be any trees.Recycle paper are benefit for global warming and trees. The wastage of paper is generated from printing industries. The petroleum ink releases a harmful gas like volatile organic compounds. If this vapor is inhaled by a person then there are chances for getting asthma attack. The printing industries consume lot of electricity and fossil fuels in higher volume. Due to this, the natural resource poses a threat to the lives on earth.
Tips on environment printing:
* Recycle the cartridge which is less expensive.
* Save and recycle paper by printing both sides. Print only when it is important.
* Buy eco – friendly printer.
* Use only soy inkA printing factory is dependent on trees and water for paper. These are the main key ingredients which are not eco – friendly to the environment. The four main uses of green printing is – ink, paper, electricity and knowledge. The soy ink is extracted from soya bean oil. Then the oil is mixed with wax, resins and pigments to provide desired color. The ink is harmless because it needs fewer pigments. The ink can be easily removed from paper.
Setting up a green printing company is not easy and is very expensive. The printers cost a lot but are very useful. In green printing, only green graphic design is provided with paper which is recycled. This means that a lot of trees are not chopped and the water is use for eco – friendly printer is reduced. This leads to reduction of destroying the forests for paper and water wastages is less which is healthy for the environment. The company should be registered with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). The FSC supports the forest conservation and ideas for eco – friendly environment.
Paul Vijaythomas specializes in eco-friendly printing articles. He has authored many articles for Environmentally Friendly Printer and fsc printing. Find more packages at Green Printing
Source: http://moso-technology.com/
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CAN LEGO SAVE THE WORLD WITH T CAN LEGO SAVE THE WORLD WITH THEIR RENEWABLE ENERGY SETS?
- From: arboinks
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These days all you hear about on the news is how fast the environment is collapsing and how the world is doomed to destruction if we don’t start searching for a renewable source of energy to replace our love of fossil fuels. There are small signs arising that show a shift in public awareness and an increasing change in the way manufacturers and large corporations deal with waste issues. Unfortunately you and I are probably not destined to see any visible changes within our life times, but if we teach them right our children and their children’s children will develop new forms of renewable energy technologies that will blow our minds.
We can be told time and time again, but the average person over 30 finds it difficult to remember to recycle those cans or build a compost heap in their back garden. If we want to affect some real change the teaching and learning needs to be done at the lowest levels, in kindergartens and primary schools. People are beginning to take notice of environmental changes probably because it is hammered into us on a daily basis through television programs and other forms of media. If this works on us forgetful aging adults imagine the affect it would have on the young, by the time your toddlers reach 25 years old they will have the necessary knowledge and enthusiasm to save the planet.
To help things along the well known LEGO Company has come up with their own line of educational LEGO sets that demonstrate a number of renewable energy forms; these include wind power, water power and solar energy. The special green toy kits were initially designed as teaching aids for science classes, but are available to the public as an alternative to batman figures and Barbie dolls. To find out more about these great educational LEGO games you can go to their official home page.
Source: http://gadgetgogo.onblogme.com/
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Green Living Relocation Guide Green Living Relocation Guide
- From: arboinks
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Relocating іѕ one οf thе mοѕt stressful events іn ουr lives. Whаt wе tend tο forget іѕ thе stress thаt relocation hаѕ οn thе environment.
Thеrе аrе many things thаt уου саn ԁο – before, during, аnԁ аftеr уουr mονе – tο minimize thе impact уουr relocation wіƖƖ hаνе οn thе environment. Here’s a list οf easy things уου саn ԁο tο mаkе уουr mονе environmentally friendly.
Before Yου Mονе
• Shed Sοmе Pounds – Whether уου’re moving асrοѕѕ town, οr асrοѕѕ thе country, now іѕ thе time tο ɡеt rid οf thе things уου don’t need οr υѕе. Consider thіѕ: еνеrу extra pound уου рυt οn уουr moving truck requires thаt much more energy tο mονе. Thаt means more gas, more emissions, аnԁ more money! Yου саn save money – аnԁ save ουr environment – bу following thеѕе simple tips.
o Sell οr donate things уου haven’t used іn two years. Lеt’s face іt, іf уου haven’t used іt іn two years, уου probably aren’t going tο υѕе іt. Now’s thе perfect time fοr a materialistic reality check. Sell οr donate уουr used items. One person’s trash іѕ another peron’s treasure. Remember tο keep аn ассυrаtе account οf уουr donations fοr tax purposes.
o Books аrе heavy аnԁ bulky. Iѕ thаt Grisham novel thаt уου’ve read 3 times gathering dust? Donate іt аnԁ уουr οthеr οƖԁ books tο уουr local library, whеrе thеу саn bе read аnԁ еnјοуеԁ over аnԁ over bу οthеr people.
o Older appliances аrе hυɡе energy wasters. Newer, Energy Star™ rated appliances аrе typically much more efficient. Front loading washing machines υѕе a fraction οf thе water οf thеіr older top loading counterparts, аnԁ аrе gentler οn уουr clothes аѕ well – extending thе life οf уουr favorite shirts аnԁ jeans. Refrigerators, especially older models, саn bе thе bіɡɡеѕt energy consumers іn уουr household. Before уου mονе, consider donating οƖԁ major appliances tο уουr local church οr charity, аnԁ purchasing more energy efficient models fοr уουr nеw home. Nοt οnƖу wіƖƖ thіѕ reduce thе amount οf energy required tο mονе, bυt уουr nеw energy efficient appliances wіƖƖ give уου savings fοr years tο come.
• Location location location: Whеn уου’re selecting уουr nеw home, take іntο consideration thе daily activities thаt require уου tο drive. Chοοѕе a home close tο daily conveniences, mаkіnɡ іt easier tο bike / walk tο thе store, dry cleaners, etc. If уου walk tο thе store, уου’ll save money, gas, аnԁ ɡеt ɡrеаt exercise tοο.
• Downsize : Mοѕt οf υѕ hаνе twice аѕ much room аѕ wе need. Anԁ thаt means thаt wе hаνе twice аѕ much space tο heat аnԁ сοοƖ. Nοt tο mention аƖƖ οf thе “junk” wе collect tο fill thаt extra space. Consider simplifying уουr life, аnԁ downsizing уουr living space. Yου’ll find thаt іt іѕ nοt thаt difficult tο ѕtаrt using уουr space more efficiently. Publications Ɩіkе simpleliving.com mаkе іt easy tο stay organized, аnԁ live a hарріеr, simpler life.
• Uѕе οƖԁ newspaper fοr packing, thеn recycle іt whеn уου ɡеt tο уουr nеw home. Mοѕt еνеrу town recycles newspaper, whіƖе nοt аƖƖ recycle packing materials such аѕ Styrofoam “peanuts”. Newspaper іѕ аƖѕο ɡrеаt fοr cleaning thе windows іn уουr nеw home!
• Don’t рυrсhаѕе moving boxes. Uѕе recycled card board boxes. Thеу аrе far less expensive (FREE), јυѕt аѕ ɡοοԁ аѕ nеw boxes, аnԁ hеƖр reduce thе impact уουr mονе wіƖƖ hаνе οn thе environment. Yουr local grocery аnԁ liquor stores аrе ɡrеаt places tο ɡеt moving boxes. Try tο ɡеt boxes οf uniform shape аnԁ size, tο mаkе іt easier tο efficiently load уουr moving vehicle. Anԁ whеn уου аrе fіnіѕhеԁ moving, recycle уουr card board boxes. Mοѕt еνеrу town recycles card board boxes. Fοr items уου аrе рƖаnnіnɡ οn storing, consider moving thеm іn plastic tubs. Yου саn reuse thеѕе tubs fοr years tο come, οr donate thеm tο needy charities. Thеrе аrе groups whο wіƖƖ rent уου plastic moving tubs.
• Uѕе οƖԁ blankets tο protect furniture. Thеn donate thеm tο a homeless shelter іn уουr nеw home town.
• Recycle hazardous materials locally. Don’t throw corrosive οr flammable materials away, аnԁ сеrtаіnƖу don’t dispose οf thеm іn уουr sewage. Contact уουr local municipality fοr proper disposal procedures.
• Gеt rid οf thаt οƖԁ car. Older cars аrе less fuel efficient. Mοѕt families hаνе more cars thаn thеу really need. Whу nοt donate thаt οƖԁ car tο a local charity BEFORE уου mονе. Yου’ll bе helping a family іn need, helping tο save thе environment, аnԁ іn ѕοmе cases уου саn receive a healthy tax deduction fοr уουr donation.
• Sign up wіth a green utility company. In ѕοmе communities, уου саn сhοοѕе уουr utility company. Whу nοt select a “green” utility company thаt uses solar οr wind power tο generate power?
• Don’t mονе уουr food. PƖаn ahead аnԁ eat thе food іn уουr house. Donate excess tο a local charity. Don’t pay tο ship thаt саn οf soup асrοѕѕ thе country.
During Yουr Mονе
• Jυѕt Dο It Once. Moving саn bе аn arduous task thаt spans thе course οf several days. Bυt јυѕt bесаυѕе іt takes several days doesn’t mean thаt уου need tο mаkе more thаn one trip. It mау cost a ƖіttƖе more fοr a bіɡɡеr moving truck tο carry уουr stuff іn a single trip, bυt уου’ll save уου time, money, аnԁ gas bу taking one bіɡ trip versus several trips. Anԁ, believe іt οr nοt, іt іѕ fаѕtеr! Yουr local self moving company саn hеƖр уου select thе rіɡht truck fοr уουr needs.
• Drive 55. Driving thе speed limit οr a ƖіttƖе slower саn dramatically increase уουr fuel efficiency. Keep уουr engine RPM (revolutions per minute) аѕ low аѕ possible tο save thе mοѕt fuel. Another ɡrеаt tip – turn οff thе air conditioning іn уουr car. Air conditioning zaps уουr vehicle’s fuel efficiency.
• Uѕе alternative fuels. Aѕ уου аrе traveling асrοѕѕ thе country, consider using alternative fuels such аѕ E85 οr biodiesel. Biodiesel іѕ a сƖеаn burning alternative fuel produced frοm domestic, renewable sources. Biodiesel саn bе used іn mοѕt diesel engines wіth ƖіttƖе tο nο modifications.
More ƖіkеƖу thаn nοt уου’ll hаνе a hard time finding pure biodiesel (whісh hаѕ nο petroleum) commercially, bυt уου саn readily find biodiesel blends. Thеѕе hаνе anywhere frοm 5% tο 20% biodiesel mixed wіth traditional diesel fuel.
• Stay іn a Green Hotel. If уουr mονе requires уου tο stay overnight іn a hotel, look fοr a green hotel. Green hotels аrе environmentally-friendly properties whose managers hаνе instituted programs tο save water, energy, аnԁ reduce solid wastes. Staying іn a green hotel іѕ a ɡrеаt way tο learn easy ways іn whісh уου саn reduce уουr everyday impact οn thе environment, tοο. Yου саn find a list οf green hotels here: http://www.greenhotels.com/members.htm
• Drive a Hybrid. If уου аrе taking a long trip, consider renting a hybrid. Hybrids drive јυѕt Ɩіkе аnу οthеr car, уеt thеу υѕе a fraction οf thе fuel.
• Fuel уουr car аt night. Ozone requires sunlight tο bе сrеаtеԁ. Yου саn reduce ozone bу refueling уουr vehicle аt night.
• Carry bottled water wіth уου, аnԁ refill аѕ needed. Eνеrу bottle οf water уου рυrсhаѕе hаѕ аn environmental cost associated wіth іt, such аѕ thе cost tο ship іt, package іt, аnԁ recycle thе packaging. Eνеrу time уου reuse a water bottle, уου аrе saving thе environment. Even better, υѕе biodegradable water bottles (thеу аrе mаԁе out οf corn, nοt petroleum). Aftеr уου’re through using thеm (уου саn reuse thеm tοο!), јυѕt recycle thеm. Thеу wіƖƖ biodegrade іn 80 days аftеr уου recycle thеm.
• Take home уουr hotel soap. Mοѕt οf υѕ “steal” thе hotel shampoo аnԁ conditioner. Don’t ѕtοр thеrе. Take thе soap tοο. Thе fact οf thе matter іѕ thаt, thankfully, hotels don’t recycle thе soap. Sο іf уου don’t take іt, іt gets thrown away. Sο before уου check out, рυt уουr soap back іn іtѕ packaging аnԁ take іt wіth уου tο υѕе аt home, οr thе next hotel.
Aftеr Yου Mονе
• Shed Sοmе Nеw Light. Whеn уου mονе іѕ thе perfect time tο upgrade аƖƖ οf уουr lighting tο Compact Florenscent Lightbulbs (CFLs). CFLs υѕе up tο 75% less energy οf traditional lightbulbs, аnԁ last frοm 7 tο 10 years, saving уουr money еνеrу month аnԁ reducing ουr need tο build more power plants. Thе CFL lightbulb equivalent οf a traditional 75 watt lightbulb οnƖу uses 18 watts, saving аƖmοѕt ¼ ton οf coal over thе course οf 6 years.
If уου аrе moving іntο a nеw home, request CFLs before traditional light bulbs аrе installed. According tο thе Environmental Protection Agency, іf еνеrу household іn јυѕt thе state οf Nevada replaced јυѕt one bulb wіth a CFL, wе’d reduce energy consumption іn thе state οf Nevada bу 45 million kWh a year. Wе’d аƖѕο save .9 million іn energy costs, whіƖе diminishing carbon dioxide emissions bу over 69 million pounds. Thаt’s enough energy tο light over 24,000 homes fοr a year. Now imagine hοw much wουƖԁ bе saved іf еνеrу light bulb іn America wеrе changed!
If уου саnnοt afford tο change аƖƖ οf thе bulbs іn уουr house, change those lights thаt уου υѕе thе mοѕt.
Anԁ don’t throw away уουr οƖԁ bulbs. Uѕе thеm іn thе places whеrе уου υѕе уουr lighting thе Ɩеаѕt!
• Time tο Weatherize. Before уου mονе іntο уουr nеw home іѕ thе best time tο weatherize. Air leakage аnԁ improperly installed insulation саn waste 20 percent οr more οf thе energy уου pay tο heat аnԁ сοοƖ уουr home. Typical homes hаνе ѕο many leaks, іt’s Ɩіkе having a window open аƖƖ thе time, winter аnԁ summer. Worse, thеѕе leaks саn сrеаtе mold, whеn warm air comes іn contact wіth сοοƖеr surfaces аnԁ condenses. Weatherizing уουr home wіƖƖ hеƖр lower уουr energy bill, saving уου money еνеrу year аnԁ saving ουr environment! Consider thеѕе easy tips :
o Insulate уουr windows. Take thе time tο insulate уουr windows before уου mονе іt. Insulating window film іѕ easy tο install, аnԁ саn cost energy loss through thе window bу 60% οr more. A better option іѕ tο install Energy Star rated windows. Eіthеr solution wіƖƖ hеƖр уου save money, аnԁ аƖѕο save уουr furniture аnԁ carpeting frοm sun ԁаmаɡе.
o Mаkе sure thаt уουr exterior facing walls аrе insulated.
o Check fοr exterior air leaks. Before уου fill уου nеw home, take thе time tο inspect іt carefully fοr costly leaks. Inspect under doors, around windows, аnԁ pay particular attention tο power outlets οn exterior walls. Thеѕе аrе thе places whеrе thе mοѕt conditioned air (both warm іn thе winter, аnԁ сοοƖ іn thе summer) escapes. Remember, јυѕt a ƖіttƖе bit οf caulking саn fix mοѕt аƖƖ οf уουr air leaks.
o Check fοr leaks іn уουr duct work. In a typical home 20% οf thе air thаt moves through thе duct system іѕ lost, due tο leaks, holes, аnԁ improper connections. Yου саn сοrrесt leaks іn уουr air duct system bу caulking cracks, applying mastic tο аƖƖ seams οf уουr duct work, аnԁ insuring proper υѕе οf duct tape аt joints. Another ɡοοԁ tip іѕ tο insulate exposed duct work, helping tο maintain thе temperature οf thе air аѕ іt passes through thе duct system.
o Yουr Attic Needs Attention. Before уου fill уουr home wіth furniture, add аn extra layer οf insulation іn уουr attic іf needed.
o Install ceiling fans. Ceiling fans hеƖр keep thе air іn уουr home circulating, аnԁ саn mаkе thе temperature feel several degrees сοοƖеr. Best οf аƖƖ, thеу υѕе a fraction οf thе energy οf air conditioning.
• Donate tο offset carbon emissions οf уουr mονе. Donating tο offset carbon emissions isn’t јυѕt fοr thе rich аnԁ famous. Thеrе аrе several websites whісh hеƖр уου calculate уουr carbon emissions bу channeling уουr donations tο worthy green projects. Bυt јυѕt bесаυѕе уου аrе donating tο offset уουr carbon emissions, doesn’t give уου a license tο bе environmentally unfriendly. Remember thе basics οf environmental friendly living – reduce, reuse, recycle.
• Convert tο paperless billing. Utilities, investments, car loans, … аƖmοѕt еνеrу company offers online billing аnԁ e-statements. Thіѕ wіƖƖ save paper, аnԁ thе energy cost tο deliver уουr bills.
• Sign up fοr аn anti-junk mail service. Thіѕ wіƖƖ hеƖр minimize thе amount οf junk mail уου receive, аnԁ hеƖр save countless trees used tο mаkе thаt junk mail.
• Plant low-water using indigenous plants. Throughout thе world wе аrе facing severe water shortages. Much οf ουr water waste occurs іn maintaining ουr landscaping, particularly whеn wе try tο introduce foreign plants tο a nеw environment. Using low-water indigenous plants іn уουr landscaping іѕ аn easy way tο save water. Ideally уου want plants thаt саn grow іn уουr environment, wіth ƖіttƖе tο nο irrigation. Thе local home improvement center аnԁ іn ѕοmе cases local water municipalities саn hеƖр уου determine thе best plants fοr уουr area. Believe іt οr nοt, thе choices аrе nοt limiting. Yου wіƖƖ bе surprised аt hοw many bеаυtіfυƖ plants аrе indigenous tο уουr area.
• Install low flow shower heads, water faucet irrigators, аnԁ toilets. Aѕ уου know, water іѕ a limited resource. Installing low flow shower heads, water faucet irrigators, аnԁ toilets аrе easy ways tο save water еνеrу day – without dramatically inconveniencing уου. Thеѕе low flow water devices аrе inexpensive, easy tο install, аnԁ саn bе found аt mοѕt аnу home improvement store.
• Insulate уουr water heater. A lot οf heat іѕ lost јυѕt frοm thе walls οf уουr water heater. Thе solution tο thіѕ problem іѕ simple – a specially designed sheet οf insulation known аѕ a water heater blanket. A water heater blanket іѕ аn inexpensive way tο сυt down οn уουr energy bill. Yου саn рυrсhаѕе thеm аt аnу home improvement store – thеу cost аѕ ƖіttƖе аѕ – аnԁ thеу wіƖƖ easily pay fοr themselves іn thе first year. Installation іѕ simple аnԁ ѕhουƖԁ οnƖу take уου a few minutes – јυѕt follow thе instructions.
• Bυу οnƖу Energy Star ™ appliances. Appliances wіth thе Energy Star rating hаνе bееn proven tο hаνе met thе strict energy efficiency guidelines οf thе U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) аnԁ thе U.S. Department οf Energy (DOE). Energy Star іѕ a join program οf thе EPA аnԁ DOE. Thе program іѕ designed tο hеƖр υѕ аƖƖ save money аnԁ protect thе environment through thе υѕе οf energy efficient products аnԁ practices. A complete list οf Energy Star appliances саn bе found here: http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=find_a_product.
• Bυу аn Energy Star ™ rated home. Energy Star rated homes hаνе met thе strict energy conservation guidelines аnԁ building standards οf thе EPA аnԁ DOE. Thіѕ means thаt particular attention tο detail hаѕ bееn met, helping tο insure minimal energy waste such аѕ air leaks аnԁ poor insulation. Purchasing аn Energy Star rated home mау seem Ɩіkе аn additional expense, bυt іt саn save уου quite a bit οf money over thе years.
• Consider hi-rise living. Hi-rise living hаѕ many benefits. Hi-rise condos аrе energy efficient, offer shared resources thаt typically аrе aren’t environmentally friendly (such аѕ pools, аnԁ extensive landscaping) , аnԁ аrе usually located more centrally – allowing уου tο walk οr take convenient public transportation tο more places.
• Analyze уουr homes Energy Star ™ rating before уου mονе. http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=home_energy_yardstick.showStep2
• Hаνе уουr heating аnԁ cooling system serviced. Regularly servicing уουr heating аnԁ cooling system helps save money, energy, аnԁ protects уουr investment. Mаkе sure tο specifically аѕk уουr repair specialist аbουt οthеr ways іn whісh уου саn save money οn уουr heating аnԁ cooling costs. Thеу аrе a wealth οf knowledge. Remember, іf уου mυѕt replace уουr heating / cooling system, сhοοѕе Energy Star ™ rated equipment.
• Cover уουr pool. Water evaporation іѕ јυѕt one οf thе ways thаt pools саn bе very environmentally expensive. An easy way tο resolve thіѕ іѕ tο install a safe pool cover. Thіѕ wіƖƖ hеƖр reduce evaporation, аnԁ keep уουr pool warmer – saving уου money οn уουr heating bill. It wіƖƖ аƖѕο mаkе уουr pool easier tο сƖеаn!
• Install solar heating fοr уουr pool / spa. Another ɡrеаt way tο lower уουr energy bill іѕ tο install solar water heating fοr уουr pool аnԁ / οr spa. Solar water heating hаѕ become very inexpensive, аnԁ саn pay fοr itself іn јυѕt a couple οf years. AƖѕο, іt mаkеѕ іt easier tο keep уουr pool аnԁ spa heated – allowing уου tο еnјοу уουr pool аnԁ spa more οftеn.
Thеѕе аrе јυѕt a few things thаt уου саn tο minimize thе impact уουr relocation аnԁ mονе hаѕ οn thе environment. Thеrе аrе countless οthеr things thаt уου саn ԁο! Remember tο always υѕе уουr οwn best judgment whеn following аnу recommendation.Source: http://www.inexpensive-furniture.com/
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11 Bizarre Sources of Clean En 11 Bizarre Sources of Clean Energy
- From: arboinks
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Description:
Why stick with boring old oil when you could be powering your home, car and gadgets with slaughterhouse waste, garbage and onions? As strange as transforming these substances into renewable fuels might seem, many of them are viable energy sources and some are already in use around the world.
Watermelons
The newest wild n’ crazy renewable energy on the scene is watermelon juice, which can be a valuable source of biofuel. Researchers say juice from ‘cull’ watermelons – imperfect ones that can’t be sold for consumption – can be efficiently fermented into ethanol. These ‘cull’ watermelons are currently just being plowed back into the field, so they’re technically a waste material.
Slaughterhouse Waste
As insanely disgusting as it sounds, turkey guts can be used to produce oil. No, really. It works in the same way that any fossil fuel is created, through pressure and heat, only at a faster pace.
A company called Changing World Technologies is transforming slaughterhouse waste – including a sickening blend of rotting heads, feet and intestines – into oil at a thermal conversion plant in Carthage, Missouri. Other surprising items that go into the mix include old tires, mixed plastics and municipal sewage. But, the process still needs a lot of refinement to be commercially applicable.
The process of turning your Thanksgiving leftovers into oil is complicated, but not impossible. Mental Floss has an overview, which starts with chopping and churning those giblets into a fine, grainy mess. Mmm. Who’s hungry?
Poo (and Pee) Power
It may be distasteful, but waste – from both humans and animals – has proven to be a surprisingly efficient form of renewable energy. In Norway, city buses run on biomethane, which is a by-product of treated sewage. Not only is it a free source of energy, using biomethane in this way prevents it from being emitted into the atmosphere as a greenhouse gas.
Cows are also a major source of methane, emitting it in all sorts of unsavory ways, from both ends of their bodies. An Ohio company has developed a way to refine that methane gas in a way that could potentially power homes.
Then there are urine-powered batteries. That’s right, pee is a promising source of renewable energy as well thanks to its particular composition of its main component, urea, which is made up of hydrogen and nitrogen. Using a nickel-based electrode, scientists can create large amounts of cheap hydrogen from urine that can then be burned or used in fuel cells.
Garbage
There’s quite a bit of controversy as to whether trash is really a source of renewable energy – it’s certainly not ‘clean’. In fact, groups like Greenpeace warn that classifying garbage as a source of renewable energy risks ‘enshrining it’ rather than trying to produce less in the first place. Then, there’s the fact that trash incinerators are the leading source of extremely toxic chemicals called dioxins.
Modern incinerators use heat from the incineration to boil water, causing steam, which then generates electricity. These incinerators are cleaner than their predecessors, but they still pollute the air. Some argue that, with the looming threat of catastrophic climate change, using this energy is worth breathing in dirty air.
An Ottawa company called Plasco Energy Group is working on a method that transforms garbage into a synthetic gas without emitting greenhouse gases, but it’s got quite a few technological and financial hurdles to cross before it can be applied on a wide scale.
Onions
One onion farmer is now crying all the way to the bank after finding a way to turn onion juice into fuel. This process has big up-front costs – about $9.5 million in this case – but they’ll make it back fairly quickly. Gills Onions saved a whopping $700,000 off their facility’s annual electric bill by using the juice to run his refrigerators and lighting, and another $400,000 on disposal costs. They also received $2.7 million from SoCal Gas, which offers financial incentives to customers that reduce natural gas consumption through on-site generation.
An anaerobic digester converts treated onion waste into biogas, which is then conditioned and turned into methane. The methane is pumped into a 600-kilowatt fuel cell to make electricity. The same concept can be used for other waste products.
Viruses
Common viruses that are harmless to humans can be harnessed to create both the positively and negatively charged ends of a lithium-ion battery. Researchers at MIT genetically engineered viruses that build cathodes and anodes, producing batteries that have the same energy capacity and power performance as state-of-the-art rechargeable batteries. The process of creating the batteries is environmentally friendly in and of itself, using non-toxic materials and requiring no harmful solvents.
Currently, the MIT prototype is about the size of a coin and can only be used 100 times, but researchers intend to pursue even better batteries using materials with higher voltage. Once that next generation of virus batteries is ready, they’ll be ready for commercial production.
Burning Bodies
There’s nothing like staying warm in the dead of winter thanks to the heat given off by burning corpses. The Swedish town of Halmstead figures that heat generated by crematoriums shouldn’t be wasted, so they decided to divert it into local buildings instead of just letting it escape into the sky.
Of course, they can’t just pump hot crematorium air directly into people’s houses. That air is chock full of nasty stuff like mercury from dental fillings, so the off-gases must be filtered before the heat is usable. But, this ‘byproduct energy’ saves costs, uses less water, and uses an available resource in an incredibly efficient and creative way.
Booze
Sweden customs officials confiscate a million bottles of booze every year from purveyors of smuggled alcohol trying to evade local taxes. That’s a lot of alcohol – and until recently, it was all being poured down the drain. What a waste. Luckily, someone came up with a brilliant idea: shipping it to a waste-to-fuels plant where it’s added to bioreactors along with other waste, creating methane that is used to fuel biogas-powered vehicles.
Then there’s the Scottish distilleries that run their own plants on byproducts of the distilling process, along with sustainably harvested wood chips. Combination of Rothes Distillers Limited (CoRD) teamed up with Helius Energy to build a combined heat and power (CHP) plant along with a fertilizer factory fueled by all that booze waste. Makers Mark Distillery in Kentucky has been using a similar technique for a number of years.
Bugs that Poop Oil
Bug excrement may seem like a most unlikely source of fuel, but scientists have actually found a way to genetically engineer bacteria that produce ‘renewable petroleum’. Silicon Valley company LS9 claims that this “Oil 2.0” will be carbon negative, as well. LS9’s bugs are single-cell organisms about a fraction of a billionth the size of an ant, which have been modified to produce crude oil when fed agricultural waste.
It’s essentially the same process as using natural bacteria to produce ethanol, it just sounds way crazier. The main challenge being faced by LS9 right now is that, although it can produce its bug fuel in lab beakers, meeting America’s weekly oil needs would require a facility roughly the size of Chicago.
Chocolate
Before you freak out at the idea of perfectly good, delicious chocolate being used as fuel instead of going into your mouth, relax: this source of renewable energy is made with cocoa bean shells, not the chocolate itself. Cocoa bean shells are a waste product that can be mixed with coal at power stations to produce sort-of-greener-ish fuel.
Cocoa bean shells will be donated to Public Service of New Hampshire when chocolate maker Lindt USA begins producing its own chocolate from raw cocoa beans by the end of 2009.
Unfortunately, though this sounds cool, adding cocoa shells to the coal doesn’t make a huge difference because of the tiny ratio of shells to coal.
Man-Made Tornadoes
The average tornado contains as much energy as a typical power plant – but how in the world can you safely harvest that energy? Well, as it turns out, that requires creating man-made tornadoes in a controlled environment.
Canadian engineer Louis Michaud calls his tornado the Atmospheric Vortex Engine, and he says he could extract as much as 200 megawatts of electricity from it – enough to power a small city. Michaud heats an elevated layer of air so that the temperature is much higher than that of the air below, which creates a vortex, and then places wind turbines at the base of the vortex, which are able to suck up the energy contained within.
Michaud has built many small prototypes with nary a bump in the road, and producing a 200-megawatt facility would cost roughly $60 million, lower than the cost of any existing power source. He’s currently looking for investors.
Source: http://www.energy-dimension.com/
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Fireman's Fund Expands Green I Fireman's Fund Expands Green Insurance to Educational Institutions
- From: ashleysoon
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Description:
Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. is broadening its commercial green insurance appetite to include public and private schools, colleges and universities, and trade and vocational schools.
With Green-Gard commercial building coverages from Fireman's Fund, schools can replace standard systems and materials with green alternatives after a loss. In the event of a total loss, Fireman's Fund will pay the cost to rebuild as a green certified building. If the property is already green-certified it will benefit from a 5 percent premium discount on its regular insurance coverage. In the case of a loss, Fireman's Fund protects the school's green investment with coverage by allowing it to attain certification at one level above the certified green building level prior to the loss or damage.
"To meet the emerging sustainability needs of schools, Fireman's Fund will now offer comprehensive green insurance coverage. Whether the schools have built green buildings, made green renovations or want to rebuild green in the event of a loss, Fireman's Fund provides the premier insurance solutions for these financial and environmental investments," said Stephen Bushnell, senior director of emerging industries at Fireman's Fund.
As reason for the program expansion, the insurer said public schools spend $6 billion every year on energy, the second highest expense following salaries, while colleges and universities spend approximately $2 billion on utility bills according to data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has found that a green building typically uses 30 percent to 50 percent less energy and 30 percent less water, which can free up critical funds to support schools' core mission. USGBC data also shows that schools that have made green renovations save nearly $100,000 per year.
Going green also means attracting and retaining quality students and faculty for colleges and universities, the company said. The Princeton Review found that 68 percent of high school students are looking for a green campus in their search for their best fit college.
"Colleges and universities have long been on the leading edge of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, energy costs and their overall impact on the environment. A green campus not only conserves energy and makes a statement on climate change, it also reduces utility costs which can make a dramatic impact on a school's bottom line," said Bushnell.
Read more: http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2010/08/31/112868.htm#ixzz0yF6ALaNPAugust 31, 2010
Original Source: http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2010/08/31/112868.htm
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Sun Core's solar products Sun Core's solar products
- From: ashleysoon
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Description:
SunCore is a little known Irvine-based company that’s on the cusp of shipping some potentially revolutionary technology
SunCore’s products charge cell phones using light.
That’s “light” power and not “solar” power.
What’s the difference? SunCore, a five-year-old company, has patent-pending technology for absorbing light along with a “high-rate charge transfer” that makes it possible to charge a cell phone using room light, sunlight, or any light. Their systems get power from the entire spectrum, all the way up to ultraviolet and all the way down to infrared and are efficient enough to charge a cell phone in a normal room, according to SunCore CEO Steve Brimmer.
SunCore's upcoming Novacell external solar charger. You can plug in a mobile device and charge it via a USB connection. China gets it first, though. Photo courtesy SunCore.
According to SunCore, the company is preparing an $800,000 test order of its external Novacell chargers for China Mobile that will be followed by a $21 million order if the product is successful. Yes, China and their millions of built-in customers get this tech first.
Novacell is an external charger that will power mobile devices via a USB connection. That’s the connection found on most cell phone chargers today.
That’s not all SunCore is working on.
SunCore's embedded battery technology puts a solar cell into the battery cover of a cell phone. Photo courtesy SunCore.
The company also develops embedded light-powered batteries. Boy, that’s strange to write – light-powered. I’ll just go back to solar-powered for the rest of this post now that you know what I mean.
Virtually any phone can be retrofitted with SunCore technology before or after manufacturing. Which means the manufacturer can sell you a solar-powered phone that’s ready to go or you can rip the back off your current phone and install Suncore’s solar-powered battery yourself.
According to SunCore, cell phone maker HTC has ordered 100,000 of the company’s embedded batteries for a market test. RIM, makers of the Blackberry, are allegedly also testing out SunCore’s batteries.
“The only behavior change that we have to ask of consumers is that when they put their phone down they put it back side up. It’s actually a small change in behavior to more or less continuously charge your phone,” Brimmer said during an investment presentation at VC in the OC last week.
iPhone owners will note the iPhone doesn’t have a removable battery. You’d have to use Novacell or wait until Apple releases an iPhone with a removable battery.
Solar-powered phones are not new. They do exist and have been used for years, but there are limitations. I, for one, would never leave my phone to bake in the sun for four hours as it powers up.
Yes, this tech has the potential of uncluttering your life with one less wire to worry about, but it also has the potential of enabling more powerful applications to run on mobile phones. You’d be lucky to go a day on many of today’s smartphones given the way they suck juice if you’re watching video, listening to music or surfing the web.
Then there are the hundreds of millions of people in poorer countries who don’t have access to cheap or reliable electricity. Imagine the impact a cell phone that’s powered by light might have on those people.
I’ll be following SunCore closely and as soon as they have one of their Novacell products off the production line I’ll have hands-on impressions for you.
What do you think of this technology?
http://irvineretail.freedomblogging.com/2009/10/14/a-cell-phone-you-dont-plug-in/5757/August 28, 2010
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California’s Governor Schwarze California’s Governor Schwarzenegger Asked US Automakers to Go “green”
- From: yiehk21
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Description:
The remarkable speech delivered by California’s Honorable Governor Schwarzenegger has turned the afternoon at the Georgetown University into an inspiring event.
Here is the print version of the keynote address of Gov. Schwarzenegger (with the introduction part cut):
GOVERNOR: Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, John, for the wonderful introduction, I appreciate it very much. And it is great to be here today at Georgetown University, also known in my house as the alma mater, because of course my wife went to school here, and she graduated here at Georgetown. (Applause)
So I want to thank my wife also for coming here today and sitting here in the front row. And she is, of course, the most terrific first lady that the United States has ever seen, so give her a big hand again. (Applause)
So I have to say that I am somewhat amazed to be here, and the reason is because three and a half years ago when I ran for governor I was followed around by environmental protestors with signs. They didn’t like my Humvees and Hummers, and my SUVs, or anything that I did. As a matter of fact, when I promised that I would improve the environment when I became governor, they didn’t believe that either. So here we are, three and a half years later, and I’m on the cover of Newsweek as one of the big environmentalists. Only in America, that’s all I can say. (Applause)
But let me tell you something; even though I love being on the cover of Newsweek, but there should have been some other people on that cover as well, and those are people that were my partners in the Legislature. They have worked very hard, they were incredible partners, and I’m talking here about, first of all, Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez and Senator Perata. I invited both of them to come here but they couldn’t make it, but I just wanted to thank them publicly for being such great environmentalists and such great leaders in the environment. So let’s give them a big hand, even though they’re not here. (Applause)
And I want to thank also someone that is here with us today, and this is Assemblywoman Fran Pavley. She has been such a great, great warrior. (Applause)
Let me tell you something; this is the real deal. This is the real deal. This woman has been fighting for the environment way before I ever became governor, and she has really been the author of these very important legislations, and she has worked with our office, and she is a team player. And this is, you can see here, she’s a Democrat. Also the Speaker is a Democrat. Senator Perata is a Democrat. So this is what I’m talking about, working together in a bipartisan or post-partisan way, and this is how we get things done, because we work what is best for the people of California and for America. So thank you again to Assemblywoman Pavley. (Applause)
Now, I know this is an environmental conference, but I do want to start talking first about bodybuilding. And the reason is because bodybuilding is another passion of mine, as you probably know, and it has similarities there. Bodybuilding used to have a very sketchy image. As a matter of fact, so much so that some people that worked out seriously and pumped weights didn’t admit they were doing bodybuilding. As a matter of fact, say in the old days, some of the very famous Hollywood actors like Kirk Douglas, Clint Eastwood, Charles Bronson, and the list goes on and on, they all worked out with weights, but they never admitted it publicly because they didn’t want to be associated with the gymnasiums that were like dungeons and that had fanatics, and that had weird people training in there. That is the kind of an image that it had.
But we changed that, we consciously changed that. And what we did was, we came out with a book called Pumping Iron—I know a lot of you are familiar with that, especially the students—then the movie Pumping Iron, and that changed bodybuilding, the image of bodybuilding, dramatically. As a matter of fact, the perception of bodybuilding began to change and it became more and more hip and more and more attractive. And then all of a sudden, everyone wanted to exercise. As a matter of fact, today you can go to any place in the world and you will find a bodybuilding gymnasium or a place where you can do weight resistance training, and you can go into any gymnasium and you will find ordinary people talking about their abs, their lats, their deltoids, body fat, and all those kinds of things. So this is how much it changed. It became mainstream, it became sexy, attractive.
And this is exactly what has to happen with the environmental movement. Like bodybuilders, environmentalists were thought of as kind of weird and fanatics also. You know, the kind of serious tree huggers. Environmentalists were no fun; they were like prohibitionists at a fraternity party. (Applause)
So someone the other day just showed me a cartoon that was of a car salesman in a showroom talking to this couple. And the car salesman pointed at the car and said, “This car runs on an ordinary gasoline-powered engine, and then when it feels a little guilt, when it senses guilt, it switches over to battery power.” Now, that’s funny, it’s a cartoon. But let me tell you something; there’s a lot of truth to that. For too long the environmental movement had been powered by guilt.
But I believe that this is about to switch over from being powered by guilt to being powered by something much more positive, much more dynamic, something much more capable of bringing about major change. You know the kind of guilt I’m talking about; the smokestacks belching pollution that are powering our Jacuzzis and our big-screen TVs, and in my case powering my private airplanes. So it is too bad, of course, that we can’t all live simple lives like the Buddhist monks in Tibet. But you know something? That’s not going to happen.
So ladies and gentlemen, I don’t think that any movement has ever made it and has ever made much progress based on guilt. Guilt is passive, guilt is inhibiting, and guilt is defensive. You remember the commercials a number of years ago, the commercials specifically of a Native American who sees what we have done to the environment and then a year runs down his cheek. You all remember that? Well, let me tell you something; that approach didn’t work, because successful movements are built on passion, they’re not built on guilt. They’re built on passion, they’re built on confidence, and they’re built on critical mass. And often, they’re built on an element of alarm that galvanizes action.
The environmental movement is, to use a popular term, about the tipping point. It’s about to get to the tipping point. There’s a tipping point, and I believe the tipping point will be occurring when the environmental movement is no longer seen as a nag or as a scold, but as a positive force in people’s lives. Now, I don’t know when that tipping point occurs, but I know where—in California. In California, we are doing everything that we can to tip the balance on the environment.
Now, first, let me start with government policy. I don’t want to go into all the initiatives that we have passed and all the laws that we have passed, because that was already eloquently explained by John when he introduced me. But there are two things that stick out that have gotten us the most attention.
1. We passed a law to cap greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by the year 2020. That basically means we are rolling back the greenhouse gases to the 1990 level by the year 2020, and then we go 80 percent below that by the year 2050.
2. I ordered a 10 percent cut in the carbon content of transportation fuels.
Now, do I believe that the standards that California sets will solve global warming? Of course not. But what we are doing is applying leverage so that at some point the whole environmental thing tips. That’s what we are trying to do. It’s like a seesaw. You walk up to it and then slowly it tips the other way. That is what we are trying to do. California, as you know, is big, California is powerful, and what we do in California has unbelievable impact and it has consequences. As a matter of fact, when you look at the globe, California is a little spot, but the kind of power of influence that we have on the rest of the world is an equivalent of whole huge continent.
We are sending the world a message. What we are saying is that we are going to change the dynamic on greenhouse gas and on carbon emissions. We are taking actions ourselves. We are not waiting for anyone, we are not waiting for the federal government or for Washington. We are creating our own partnerships. We are partnering with Great Britain, we are partnering with provinces in Canada, with states in the United States, with the western states, with the northeastern states. And you know something? Every year we are adding more and more partners to our team. We are increasing the momentum for change.
Now, there’s a billboard in Michigan that accuses me of costing the car industry 85 billion dollars. They say because of our new carbon fuel standards I cost them 85 billion dollars. The billboard says “Arnold to Michigan—drop dead.” The fact of the matter is, what I’m saying is, Arnold to Michigan—get off your butt. Get off your butt and join us. (Applause)
In fact, California may be doing more to save US automakers than anyone else, because what we are doing is we are pushing them to make changes, to make the changes so they can sell their cars in California. And we all know—let’s be honest—that if they don’t change, someone will. The Japanese will, the Chinese will, the South Koreans will, the Germans will, they all will. So what I want to do is, I want to prevent that from happening. I want them to sell their cars in California. I believe strongly in American technology, and I think in the end it will be technology that will ultimately save Detroit.
Now, California, for instance, has already a car company that’s called Tesla Motors. Tesla Motors has just designed and produced a car that’s called the Tesla Roadster. It’s 100 percent electric. Now, why is it that a car company that has never produced a car before is already producing a car with zero emissions—zero emissions—and Detroit is still lagging behind? Now, this car, let me tell you something, is a very sexy looking car. It’s really cool. I mean, I test drove it. It goes from 0 to 60 in 4 seconds. It drives 130 miles an hour, and it has 250 miles on a charge, and then the recharging only takes 3 1/2 hours. Now, that’s what I call cool. And the car cost 100,000 dollars—to be exact, 98,000 dollars—and it is so popular, it sold out immediately. And now the second version is being produced, and that car, the cost will drop down to 50,000 dollars.
So we can see where that is heading, economics tells us where this is heading. It’s like the cell phones. I remember when I bought a cell phone, the first cell phone, which was kind of a radio phone, 20 years ago. It was 1,600 dollars. The next version I bought a few years later was 1,200, and the next one was 750. I just recently bought a cell phone for my daughter and it was below 90 dollars. Now, because of the costs that have dropped down, almost everyone can afford a cell phone, and the same thing is going to happen to the environmental technologies in cars. Government can give a push by setting standards, so California is giving the nation and the world a push.
Now, beyond government policy, the second tipping factor is economic. California is the leading edge of what I call ‘the environmental economy’. The aerospace industry built the modern economy of southern California. The computer industry and the internet built the economy of Silicon Valley. And now the green clean technology, along with biotech, will be the next wave of California‘s economy.
Right now in California‘s university labs, corporate research parks, even in plain looking offices and in strip malls, something very exciting is happening—something very exciting. The nation’s brightest scientists and the smartest venture capitalists are all racing to find alternative or new technologies for alternative energy. It is a race that is fueled by billions and billions of dollars. Capitalism, interestingly enough, which was the alleged enemy of the environment, is today giving new life to the environmental movement.
Daniel Jurgen, the famous oil analyst, says that if this all-out activity continues, expect dramatic results. And the head of PG&E, California‘s largest utility, says that the energy industry is on the brink of a revolution. And you know something is up when General Electric says that it’s selling its plastic business because it sees more potential in growth and profits in environmental goods and services.
In an environmental economy the great thing is that we can do both; we can protect the environment and protect the economy, and that’s what I’ve been saying for years. Of course, people didn’t believe in it. People said that you have to choose between one or the other; we have to choose between the environment and the economy. And I said no, we can do both. We can protect the economy and protect the environment, and we have proven that in California.
Now, the third tipping point that I want to mention is the attitude of the people. I believe the environmental movement is in the midst of redefining itself as something more modern, more confident, and more positive. As governor, I talk to scientists in our universities, I talk to CEOs that run major corporations. And let me tell you, those are not wacky people. Mainstream scientists are convinced, mainstream CEOs are convinced, and if you look at the surveys, mainstream Americans are convinced that global warming and climate change is real and we have to do something about it. So who are the fanatics now? Who are the fanatics? They are the ones who are in denial. They’re in environmental denial, they’re in economic denial, and they are in political denial. Who are the fanatics when DuPont has hired the former head of Greenpeace International? Who are the fanatics when major companies are now demanding that the federal government once and for all passes new laws to set standards for greenhouse gas emissions? Major companies like DuPont, GE, Wal-Mart, BP and PG&E believe that the climate change is real. That is the mainstream speaking, that is the establishment speaking.
Now, some of you have maybe seen the cable TV show called Pimp My Ride. Have you seen that? Maybe not, maybe not everyone has seen it. But the fact of the matter is, it’s a real cool show. It’s a real cool show, and what they do is, they take old junk cars that we normally should crush, and they make them into lowriders and they make them into muscle cars. Now, my teenage son watches that show all the time, and sometimes I watch it with him.
As a matter of fact, I recently did a segment of that show that will air on Earth Day, and the reason why it will air on Earth Day is because we take this cool show and they did something, and added something that was environmentally hip. Here’s what we did. We took a 1965 Impala, and we made it into a lowrider, but not an ordinary low-rider. We dropped in an 800 horsepower engine, and that 800 horsepower engine goes from zero to 60 in 3 seconds. Now, you know how fast that is—in 3 seconds. But it is biofueled, and that means that it emits 50 percent less greenhouse gases and it goes twice as far. Now, that’s what I call cool.
You see, now we cut down on the greenhouse gas emissions, so we don’t have to really go and take away the muscle cars, we don’t have to take away the Hummers or the SUVs or anything like this, because that’s a formula for failure. Instead what we have to do is make those cars more environmentally muscular. That is what we have to do. Now, because of that, one of my Hummers now is running on biofuel, and another one of my Hummers is now running on hydrogen. So those are the kinds of changes that we have made instead of getting rid of the Hummers. (Applause)
So the new environmental movement is not about guilt, it’s not about fringe, and it’s not about being overwhelmed by the enormity of the problem, but it is about mainstream momentum, exactly what I talked about earlier with bodybuilding. We have to make it mainstream. We have to make it sexy. We have to make it attractive so that everyone wants to participate.
So finally, let me just say something about politics. Politics plays a big part in the tipping point here. If you are against taking action on greenhouse gases and common emissions your political base will melt away as surely as the polar icecaps, I can guarantee you that. You will become a political penguin on a smaller and smaller ice floe that is drifting out to sea. Good-bye, my little friend. That’s what is going to happen. (Applause)
Because the environment is a public value, and politicians who ignore it are doing so at their own peril. Now, privately I know many politicians have come up to me and said, “How can we do what you are doing in California?” And I tell them there are only two words that I have to mention, and this is mandates and markets, mandates and markets, like we have in California. And then I also added, I said, “And you have to have political courage.” I said, “Just remember that political courage is not political suicide.”
Now, some of my fellow Republicans, of course, are raising a very valid point. They say, “What good does it do if we do all of those great things for the environment, and in the meantime the developing world, where emissions are growing the fastest, doesn’t do anything?” Now, I believe in free trade, and I believe that it lifts everyone’s standard of living. But eventually, we will look at the countries that produce goods without regard to the environment the same way as we look at countries that produce goods without regard to human rights—and that means that those countries, of course, that I’m talking about are the ones that have sweat shops. My guess is that within the next decade or so if an economy ignores the damage that it’s doing to the environment, the civilized world will impose environmental tariffs, duties, and other trade restrictions to those countries. This is a matter of fair trade. Nations cannot dump products, nations cannot dump anything, and in the future they will not be able to dump carbon or greenhouse gases either, because this is an unfair trade advantage.
Now, ladies and gentlemen, in closing let me just say that there are still a lot of people that are pessimistic about how we’re going to deal with the environmental problems. I am optimistic—but I’m always optimistic—but in this case I’m very optimistic, and the reason is because I feel things tipping. I feel things tipping, I feel things moving forward. As a matter of fact, I say do not be downhearted about the environment, because things are about to tip our way.
Look what has happened this last month. A documentary about global warming has won the Oscar. You can today open up any newspaper and they’re talking about global warming and how we all can participate. Any television show, any radio show you can turn on, they’re going to talk about global warming and about the greenhouse gas emissions and green technology and so on.
Today I went to a magazine store, and in the magazine store I saw eight covers—eight covers. As a matter of fact it was nine, I found another one just an hour ago. Nine covers—nine magazine covers, all talking about green technology, about plug-in cars, and about Mother Earth, and Town and Country has a green issue, and it goes on and on. Including, of course, let’s not forget the best issue of all, Newsweek. You all saw that, right? (Applause)
So basically what I’m saying is, things are tipping our way. Thank you very much for listening, and I really appreciate you being here. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you very much. And now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to bring over to the podium my friend and a great environmentalist, great leader, great warrior for the environment, Fran Pavley, our Assemblywoman. Please. (Applause)
It can be noted that the speech of California’s Governor is directed to US automakers asking them to be vigilant in helping to resolve environmental problems by producing environment-friendly vehicles. The most popular “green vehicles” employed in the US today are hybrid cars and most of the brands that we love have joined the bandwagon except for the iconic Jeep brand which has not yet turned “green”. But in fairness to the Chrysler’s iconic brand it has improved its auto components like for instance its Jeep Wrangler parts to reduce harmful emissions.
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