Al Gore's "Green" Home Almost Ready

If you were waiting for Al Gore to follow through on his promise to make his Nashville, TN home a model "green" home, wait no more.

Here it is - the new rooftop of Al Gore's house with spanking new solar panels

(AP photo)

In an Associated Press interview, Gore responded to the phony attacks levelled against him a few months ago by a conservative think tank in Tennessee for consuming too much energy

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Al Gore, the environmental activist stung by criticism over his house's energy efficiency, said Friday that renovations are nearly complete to make it a model "green" home.

"This plan has been in the works for a long time," the former vice president said in an interview with The Associated Press. "The only thing that has changed is that we're more public about it because of the misleading attack by a global-warming denier group."

Gore's renovation project, which he said has been in the works for months, seeks to meet the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, standards established by the U.S. Green Building Council.

read the whole article at Daily Kos

A bee-friendlier garden

There's serious debate about the disappearance of so many honeybees, major pollinators of fruits and flowers. Writing in Salon, Kevin Berger puts it this way: "If the tireless apian workers didn't fly from one flower to the next, depositing pollen grains so that fruit trees can bloom, America could well be asking where its next meal would come from." While the experts debate the reasons for the shrinking population, the rest of us can do what we can to encourage more bees in our gardens – unless you or family members are allergic to bee stings.

There are thousands of separate bee species in America. Even though most do not produce honey, they earn their keep in pollinating service. What do they contribute to a garden? They make it healthier, livelier, more interesting, and more productive of fruit and flowers.

Before going any further, let's point you toward a terrific resource: the Urban Bee Project at UC Berkeley.

How to encourage more bees in your garden?

• Start by planting things that will be attractive to bees. Check out the Bee Project's recommendations for plants that will do well in your area. In my garden, I can attest that bees love blooming lavender.
• Create as much plant diversity as possible.
• Plan your plantings to bloom over a long season – so there will always be flowers.
• Keep in mind bees' preferences: no mulch (bees tunnel into bare soil) and a slightly wild look. How far you go with calculated neglect is up to you. This is not permission to refrain from weeding and mulching your garden.

If you are concerned about getting stung, see the tips from Urban Bee Project. You'll learn that bees are defensive, not aggressive, that males don't have stingers, and much more.

Welcome to Home Greening

Welcome to all my readers from Freelance Geek who have hopped the fence to check out the greener side.

I have moved the green, organic, environmental, and alternative energy blog entries to this forum, as well as posting a few new ones.

Please feel free to read as much as you'd like.
For the RSS fans, the subscribe link is at the bottom of the page.

I look forward to your comments and ideas.
Thanks for dropping by!

Recycle, get with the program!

• Organize a recycling program in your office or community if one isn't already in place.
• Recycle your old newspapers. If everyone in the United States recycled one-tenth of their newspapers, we would save about 25 million trees every year.
• Recycle your old glass bottles. The energy saved from recycling one glass bottle will light a 100-watt bulb for four hours.
• Recycle your old tin cans when you can. Recycling and reusing the material in tin cans reduces related energy use by 74 percent; air pollution by 85 percent; solid wastes by 95 percent; and water pollution by 76 percent.
• Recycle your old aluminum cans when you can. When you toss out one aluminum can you waste as much energy as if you'd filled the same can half full of gasoline and poured it onto the ground.
• Recycle your old plastic soda bottles, milk bottles, detergent bottles, and whatever other plastic your community accepts for recycling. These can be used to produce a variety of items, including other detergent bottles, plastic lumber, fiberfill sleeping bag insulation, and clothing. Twenty-six recycled plastic soda bottles can make one polyester suit.
• If you change your own motor oil, recycle the old oil. One gallon of used motor oil when recycled yields the same amount of refined lubricating oil--2.5 quarts--as is refined from 42 gallons of crude oil (along with other petroleum products). Consider closing the loop by using rerefined motor oil in you car.
• Recycle your dead car battery. The typical car battery contains 18-20 pounds of lead and acid, toxic substances that can cause serious adverse health effects if not disposed of properly. Contact your local government or battery vendor for recycling sites.

Reduce and Reuse

REDUCE

• Buy products made from recycled materials.
• Buy the economy size of products when feasible. You will probably save money, and it will reduce the number of containers being thrown away or recycled.
• Buy products that have the smallest amount of packaging materials.
• Purchase long-lasting, durable items rather than disposable ones.
• Request that your name not be sold to mailing list companies. The average American receives an amount of junk mail each year that is equivalent to 1.5 trees.
• Choose returnable bottles instead of throwaway bottles when you have the option. Disposable (throwaway) bottles consume three times as much energy as reusable, returnable bottles.

REUSE

• Use a mug for coffee at work and home rather than a disposable cup.
• Use rechargeable batteries instead of disposable batteries.
• Start a compost pile.
• Use a mulching mower to mow your lawn. You'll do your lawn a good turn by putting the lawn cuttings back into the soil and you'll eliminate the need to dispose of these cuttings. The cuttings will serve as mulch, retaining moisture in the soil, and are a natural fertilizer.

Green substitutes to commercial household products

1. Mosquitoes?
   Keep them at bay by burning lemon grass oil or lemon grass scented candles.
   
   
2. Ants?
   A natural recipe for ant prevention is salt, ground cloves and talcum powder sprinkled on your table top.
   
   
3. Vinegar can make your mirror, glass tops, windows and wall tiles clean and shiny. Just dip some newspaper in a vinegar and water mixture and clean.
   
   
4. With a brush and a little scrub, a cupful of vinegar poured into the toilet bowl and left overnight will it squeaky clean
   
   
5. Smelly Fridge?
   Place 4-5 lemon slices on the shelves and in the door of an empty fridge and leave for a few hours before removing.
   
   
6. Freshen up your microwave oven and your kitchen at the same time. Just place sliced lemons in a bowl of water. Heat on a high setting for 4 minutes and let it stand with the microwave door open.
   
   
7. Give your cooking a richer flavor and aroma, use banana leaves to bake or grill your food instead of aluminum foil.

Tree-Free Journals and Notebooks

Boku Tree-Free Kenaf Paper Makes Beautiful Books!

Our world is losing its forests at an alarming rate. Nearly half the trees currently harvested are used to make paper, but there is now a sustainable substitute source for paper-making fiber. The growing demand for paper made with kenaf, a fibrous plant from the Mallow family that's related to cotton and okra, has made it an increasingly viable alternative economically.

Boku Books' use of tree-free kenaf fiber paper has saved literally hundreds of trees already and is contributing significantly to the building of the first kenaf-only pulp mill - which will be the cleanest pulp mill in the US. Put simply, Kenaf offers a way to make paper without cutting trees, and the company's goal is to increase the amount of kenaf fiber in Boku Books to 100% before long.

Made from 30% kenaf fiber and 70% recycled sheet, Boku Books replace larger, loose paper systems for things like grocery lists, passwords, notes and messages, logs, etc and they are contained in a very small and beautiful package.

World-Wide Opportunities for Organic Farming (WWOOF)

If you’re interested in an intensive, hands-on organic gardening learning experience, check out World-Wide Opportunities for Organic Farming (WWOOF) at http://www.wwoof.org. You can live on an organic farm anywhere in the world, and learn organic techniques firsthand.

Grow and Learn at the same time.

New Energy Bill passed the Senate

What a fantastic victory for our environment!

On Thursday, 21 June, the U.S. Senate passed an energy bill that would greatly improve the fuel economy of our nation's cars for the first time since 1975 -- cutting America's oil dependence and
global warming pollution in the process.

By a 65 to 27 vote, the Senate adopted a measure that would require cars, trucks and sport-utility vehicles to get 35 miles per gallon by 2020 -- compared with a paltry 25 miles per gallon today.

It was a stunning setback for the auto companies, who fought tooth and nail against an energy bill that will drag America out of our gas guzzling past and into a more energy efficient
future.

And what a historic moment for millions of us who have worked so hard -- for so many years -- to break the automakers' stranglehold on Washington for the sake of a healthier planet.

Thousands of you exemplified that can-do spirit yesterday when you received the emergency alert and swamped the Senate with phone calls in opposition to the automakers' latest amendment.

You spoke out for the vast majority of Americans who are sick and tired of our oil habit and the terrible price we pay for it.

And that's why the Senate, after decades of doing Big Auto's bidding, made a sudden U-turn last night.

What a difference five years makes! The last time we fought this battle, in 2002, the automakers barely broke a sweat. But since then, the American people have glimpsed an oil-dependent future of skyrocketing gas prices, catastrophic global warming and unending wars over fossil fuels.

America does not want to go there. You delivered that message to the Senate loud and clear, and the Senate heard you.

We still have to fight this battle all over again in the House before this fuel economy measure becomes law. And we'll be calling on you to make your voice heard in that chamber at the critical moment.

Googleplex went Solar

In the last 24 hours, Google produced 10,044 kilowatt-hours of electricity from the sun.

In October 2006, Google announced a commitment to solar energy production and launched the largest solar panel installation to date on a corporate campus in the United States. Google has installed over 90% of the 9,212 solar panels that comprise the 1,600 kilowatt project. Panels cover the rooftops of eight buildings and two newly constructed solar carports at the Googleplex (check out this fly-over video).

This installation is projected to produce enough electricity for approximately 1,000 California homes or 30% of Google's peak electricity demand in our solar powered buildings at our Mountain View, CA headquarters.

We built this page to monitor and share the day to day production of clean, renewable energy from our very own rooftops. Keep checking in to see how we're doing. We think the future looks bright!

The Model G: Google's Plug-in Hybrid Program

Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin in one of the company's new plug-in hybrids. Mr. Page points to the dashboard fuel economy display, which reads 99.9 mpg. (Photos by Bradley Berman.)

When Henry Ford’s neighbors watched the young inventor roll his first gas-powered contraption out of a backyard shed, they had no way of knowing how the rickety four-wheeled carriage would begin a revolution in human transportation.

More than 100 years later, the billionaire founders of Google, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, backed out of a parking space in a Toyota Prius converted to run almost exclusively on energy from solar panels. This demonstration of the capabilities of plug-in hybrids, and the two-way flow of electricity between car and electric grid, could have a profound impact on transportation in the 21st century.

“Symbolically, this event is very important” said Stephen Schneider, one of the authors of the recent United Nations report on climate change. Dr. Schneider, a professor of enviornmental studies at nearby Stanford University, was at Google's headquarters to observe. “We have to get people to stop thinking big is cool, and start thinking efficiency is cool” he said.

The Google founders’ two-minute journey was part of the company’s celebration, on June 18, announcing the switching on of the largest solar installation to date on any corporate campus in the United States. The installation will help the company reduce its environmental footprint and power its new fleet of plug-in cars with clean solar electricity. The dashboard display of the converted Prius driven by Mr. Brin and Mr. Page showed a fuel economy reading of 99.9 miles-per-gallon, the highest number that the Toyota hybrid is capable of showing.

One highlight of the event occurred when Mr. Brin tapped a key on a laptop computer to launch the so-called “vehicle-to-grid” capabilities of the “ReChargeIt” project. With the keystroke, a nearby energy meter, paused and then spun backwards, showing the flow of energy out of the plug-in car’s batteries and back into the electric grid. The crowd cheered when the meter, projected on a large flat-screen monitor, reversed directions.

Google teamed with Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) to pull off this demonstration of the two-way flow of electricity between car and electric grid. "Clean energy technology can dramatically shift how we make and use energy for our cars and homes by charging cars through an electric grid powered by solar or other renewable energy sources, and selling power back to the electric grid when it's needed most" said Dr. Larry Brilliant, executive director of Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google which is spearheading the ReChargeIt project.

Mr. Brin taps the key to launch Google's vehicle-to-grid initiative.

“The new energy economy is being created right before our very eyes,” said Brad Whitcomb, vice president of customer products & services, Pacific Gas & Electric. “We’re also exploring how this new energy economy can transform our transportation infrastructure.”

For several years, academic researchers and government labs have pointed to vehicle-to-grid (V2G) exchange as a way to provide greater stability to America’s aging electric grid. In a V2G world, cars will become mobile energy storage devices—and garages, parking lots, and roads will become a distributed transportation energy web, much the same as the Internet has become a distributed system for information.

Google.org also partnered with Enterprise Rent-A-Car to create a free car-sharing program for Google employees. With Enterprise’s backing, the program will eventually expand to include 100 plug-in hybrids. Greg Stubblefield, president of California and Hawaii Enterprise Rent-A-Car, said “If Google can do for automobile engines what they did for search engines, then we’re off to a great start.” The addition of 100 plug-in hybrids to Google’s fleet will provide invaluable data related to the performance and long-term viability of plug-in hybrid technology.

David Vieau, president and CEO of A123 Systems, the company supplying the lithium batteries in Google’s new plug-in Priuses and Ford Escape Hybrids, admitted that there was still a lot of work to do on the battery systems before plug-in hybrids are ready for mass production. Vieau said that the battery industry has recently made great progress. “But if you think I’m saying game over, I’m not.” Many prominent auto battery experts view the safety, cost, and longevity issues associated with lithium batteries as the Achilles’ heel of plug-in hybrids and electric cars.

When Mr. Page was asked if his family roots in Detroit had an effect on his support of advanced car technology, he declined to answer. One attendee associated with the project was more forthcoming. “This project tells General Motors and Ford and the American political establishment that it’s time for a change, and we’re not going to wait any longer,” said the gentleman, who asked not to be identified. “If Detroit doesn’t lead, California will.”

Google.org also announced that it will distribute $10 million in grants to organizations accelerating the development of battery technology, plug-in hybrids, and vehicles capable of returning stored energy to the grid.

source: HybridCars.com

More uses for Vinegar

Vinegar is not just for cooking anymore.

1) Cut Flowers: Mix two tablespoons of vinegar and two tablespoons of sugar in a liter of water to keep cut flowers longer. Change the water and trim stem ends every four or five days.

2) Dry Skin: Add a cup of apple cider vinegar to your bath water to sooth itchy, dry, or cracked skin.

3) Microwave Clean-up: Wet a dish cloth with vinegar and place it in the microwave. Set microwave on high for ten to fifteen seconds to loosen food spatters. Once cloth is cool enough to be handled, wring it out and wipe the dirt away. It will clean and deodorize at the same time.

4) Polish Metal: Clean brass, copper, and silver by mixing equal parts of vinegar and baking soda into a paste. Use a wet cloth to gently rub the tarnish away. Rinse thoroughly with clear water and polish dry.

5) White Cup Rings: Remove white marks on wood furniture by mixing equal parts cooking oil and vinegar. Apply with a soft cloth rubbing gently with the grain. Shine with a dry soft cloth.

6) Toilet Bowl: Deodorize your toilet bowl by adding three cups of white vinegar to to it. Let stand about a half hour before flushing.

7) Winter Salt Marks: Remove salt marks on boots and shoes by wiping them with a cloth dipped in undiluted vinegar.

8) Car Windshield: Washing your windshield in winter with equal parts water and vinegar will discourage frost from forming.

9) Loosen Rusty Screws: Spray vinegar full strength onto stubborn rusted screws and leave sit for half an hour before loosening.

10) Kill Weeds: To kill grass and weeds that grow between flagstone, pour vinegar onto plant full strength.

11) Skunk Odor: If your pet has tangled with a skunk, rub his fur well with a cloth soaked in vinegar.

12) Cat Scratches: To keep cats from scratching your furniture, spray upholstery with vinegar. Cats are able to smell the vinegar much longer than humans . (always test a small area of fabric for staining or running before use)

13) Set Color in Clothes: To set color in clothes to keep them from running, soak clothes in warm water and one cup of vinegar.

14) Computers: Clean computers, printer, fax machine, keyboard, etc, by wringing out a cloth dipped in half water and half vinegar, then dry. Not only will it leave them clean but the vinegar will help repel dust.

15) Coffee and Tea Stains: Coffee and tea stains can easily be removed from cups by cleaning with a mixture of half vinegar and half salt. Just rub the stains away.

16) Cooking Fish: Add a tablespoon of vinegar to water when poaching fish to keep it from falling apart so easily. (Using vinegar for cooking will not leave a vinegar taste on food.)

17) Boiled Eggs: When boiling eggs, add a tablespoon of vinegar to the water to keep the white of the egg from leaking out if the shell cracks.

18) Poached Eggs: When poaching eggs, add a tablespoon of vinegar to keep the white of the egg from running.

19) Tough Meat: Tenderize tough mean by marinating it overnight in vinegar.

20) Salty Food: If you find that you have over salted your food while cooking, add a bit of vinegar. You won't taste the vinegar and it cuts the taste of salt.

source: Darlene McFlarlane

Google is going Carbon-Neutral, too

Just a couple of months after Yahoo! announced plans to go carbon neutral, Google is laying down it's cards as well. Google has a bit of a head start, though, as they've just switched on their multi-megawatt solar installation and so automatically have less carbon to offset.

On their own, carbon offsets are not capable of creating the kinds of fundamental changes to our energy infrastructure that will be necessary to stabilize global greenhouse gas emissions to safe levels, but we believe that offsets can offer real, measurable, and additional emissions reductions that allow us to take full responsibility for our footprint today.

Strikingly similar to the language from Yahoo's announcement really. Google will obviously focus on decreasing emissions through efficiency and renewable energy first. And then they will fund projects that decrease greenhouse gas emissions.

One project Google will fund, for example, is a methane capture facility at Mexican and Brazilian farms. As Methane is a much more powerful greenhouse gas than CO2, it's an easy target for global warming offsets. Google has set it's neutrality date for early 2008.

source: Reuters

David Saw Wah: Refugee Camp Environmentalist and Inventor

David Saw Wah teaches camp residents how to easily manufacture environment-friendly fuel briquettes made from waste paper and decomposed leaves. And after only two hours in the tropical sun, one of David’s 25 cent-solar panels generates enough energy for cooking. Photo: Peter Biro/The IRC Nearly 20,000 people, most of them subsistence farmers, live in the crowded Site 1 camp. In addition to supporting environmental work like David Saw Wah’s, the IRC provides health, and water and sanitation services in the camp. Photo: Peter Biro/The IRC David Saw Wah is a true environmentalist. Walking through his ecological garden in the Site 1 refugee camp in northwestern Thailand, the middle-aged man explains how saving the environment and making refugees self-sufficient is crucial to the future of his people. “In a refugee camp like this it is very important that we take care of our resources and teach our children how we used to work the land before we became refugees,” he says, inspecting a row of corn in what he calls his ‘outdoor classroom.’ Nestled on a small hilltop, the office of David’s IRC-supported organization, the Karenni Development Department, is a bamboo hut overlooking the lush foliage of the camp. Nearly 20,000 people live in this settlement only a few kilometers from the Burmese border. Most of them belong to the Karenni ethnic group and worked as subsistence farmers before they were driven out of their homeland by the Burmese regime. “We teach people living here traditional, as well as alternative, farming methods,” David continues. “We talk about using organic fertilizers, how to use the land in the best way possible and that almost everything we use day-to-day can be recycled.” A father of four children, David graduated from the University of Rangoon in Burma before pursuing another degree in mechanical engineering from Bochum University in Germany, where he was awarded a scholarship in the 1980s. Since then, he has taught thousands of people inside the camp and in displaced settlements along the Thailand-Burma border about food security, environmental protection, water conservation and alternative energy sources. “I never wanted to stay in the cities,” David says. “My experience is much more useful here on the border among my people. I got married in the jungle and my youngest child was born in the camp.” David teaches special farming techniques that suit the steep mountain slopes of the camp. One of these methods is what he calls ‘guerrilla gardening,’ a technique often used by displaced people inside Burma to hide their settlements from the Burmese army. The crops are grown around a vertical bamboo frame designed to look like natural foliage so that it blends in with the forest. “But the method is perfect for the camp environment as well, since it saves space,” David adds. David is also specializing in renewable energy, teaching the refugees to use compost waste and dung to produce biogas. “You mix 100 kilos of pig manure with 100 liters of water here,” David explains, pointing to a large metal container hooked up to a gas burner. “The methane gas that is created can then be used to provide a family with electricity and gas for two months. The manure from three pigs is enough for one family’s daily energy consumption.” Biogas is only one of David’s many innovative ways to save energy and protect the environment in the camp. The IRC’s medical clinic in the camp, where around a hundred patients are treated each day, is completely generated by hydropower from the camp’s many water streams. “We lead the water through pipes to a cheap, 200-dollar turbine,” David explains. “This is enough to provide the entire clinic – or 50 light bulbs – with electricity.” David also teaches camp residents how to use simple solar panels and easily manufacture environment-friendly fuel briquettes. “Our home-made briquettes are a perfect energy source,” he says enthusiastically. “Instead of cutting down the forest to get firewood or use expensive and polluting charcoal briquettes, we use waste paper and decomposed leaves to make fuel briquettes. The heat capacity is 30 percent less than coal briquettes but they are still perfect for cooking. “ “And if you add some lemongrass to the mix, the briquettes also repel mosquitoes and help protect against malaria.” David’s overall vision is simple yet inspired. He sums it up as he fills up a bucket of leftover food to feed the two pigs in his backyard pen. “I want to help people help themselves, while protecting the eco-system. A lot of the people here can’t read or write, but with a little help they can create a relatively good life for themselves in spite of their hardships.”

source: International Rescue Committee

Wired LivingHome

Wired Magazine has teamed up with LivingHomes to create an efficient green house called the WIRED LivingHome. LivingHomes is already known for designing cutting-edge, modern green homes. The 4057 square foot house will have a 4 kilowatt solar power system and be outfitted with efficient appliances. Green building materials will be used throughout. It will be located in the modernist home community of Los Angeles called Crestwood Hills, and finished by Fall 2007. The LivingHome is designed to attain at least a Gold rating from the United States Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED for Homes Program.

What is Organic Food and what good is it?

What is organic food?

The concept of organic food is simple: If it's produced without the aid of chemical pesticides and is processed only with natural additives, it's organic food. What's far more challenging is trying to determine whether a head of lettuce or loaf of bread at your local supermarket actually meets these requirements.

As of October 2002, shopping for organics became much easier. The U.S. Department of Agriculture finally put in place a national system for labeling organic food. Although states can continue to maintain their own certification programs -- for a long time California's program was the de facto standard for organic farmers -- their requirements cannot be less strict than the national guidelines.

Under the 2002 standards, produce and other foods that consist of at least 95 percent organic ingredients can carry the USDA's organic seal, while foods that are at least 70 percent organic can bear the phrase "Made With Organic Ingredients." Animal products certified as organic must come from livestock that has had access to the outdoors, has not been treated with hormones or antibiotics and has been reared on organic feed.

These standards are much stricter than those the USDA initially proposed, which would have permitted the use of genetically modified foods and sewage-based fertilizers. Angry letters from the public -- 275,000 of them -- sent the USDA back to the drafting board.

Even with these labeling rules in place consumers should be prepared for some confusion when shopping for organic foods. For one thing, organic products are not uniformly labeled because many farmers using organic methods do not pursue certification at all. And, as some small organic farmers point out, the standards do not differentiate between foods produced by small-scale, eco-friendly farms and those produced by huge factory-style farms -- which take a heavy toll on the environment whether they use organic methods or not.

Why organic?

There are numerous problems associated with traditional chemically-dependent, land-intensive agriculture:

• Topsoil erosion. One-third of our nation's topsoil has eroded due to modern industrialized farming practices. Not only does each lost inch cause a 6% drop in farm yields, but it also leads to increased flood exposure as a result of siltation.
  
  
• Toxic runoff. Pesticide-heavy runoff from farmland into rivers, lakes, and streams takes a toll on wildlife. Riparian habitats within watersheds are destroyed by chemical contamination. Additionally, the conversion of wild habitat to agricultural land significantly reduces fish and wildlife populations through erosion and sedimentation, the effects of pesticides, removal of riparian plants, and the diversion of water.
  
  
• Decreased biodiversity. With its emphasis on yield, uniformity, market acceptability and pest resistance, present-day agricultural norm sacrifices variety of species. Before the advent of modern industrialized agriculture, farmers produced roughly 80,000 species of plants; today farmers rely on about 150. The increasing reliance on a small number of crop species means declining nutritional variety for consumers as well as increased strain on overburdened farmland.
  
  
• Health risks. Heavy reliance on pesticides by conventional farmers is suspected of leading to increased rates of cancer and reproductive problems in humans. More than 80% of the most commonly-used pesticides today have been classified by National Academy of Sciences researchers as potentially carcinogenic -- and are routinely found in mothers' milk.

DIY Solar Water Heater

Once while traveling through the southern US I saw a DIY solar hot water heater made from an old Chevy, that was up on blocks, painted black and the proud owner had run 200 feet of garden hose through the interior. It provided enough heat for his family to shower he said.

From the "Weird Asia News" blog we get the story of a man who made his family a solar hot water heater from 66 recycled beer bottles. He should have called, I could have helped him empty the bottles.

Weird Asia News:

A Chinese farmer has made his own solar-powered water heater out of beer bottles and hose pipes.

“I invented this for my mother. I wanted her to shower comfortably,” says Ma Yanjun, of Qiqiao village, Shaanxi province.

Ma’s invention features 66 beer bottles attached to a board. The bottles are connected to each other so that water flows through them.

Sunlight heats the water as is passes slowly through the bottles before flowing into the bathroom as hot water, reports China Economy Network.

Ma says it provides enough hot water for all three members of his family to have a shower every day.

And more than 10 families in the village have already followed suit and installed their own versions of Ma’s invention.

source: Wierd Asia News

Honda drops off the Hybrid radar - for now.

Honda is dropping the hybrid version of the Honda Accord. Honda’s decision to place a hybrid system in the V-6 version of the Accord, rather than the more fuel-efficient four-cylinder vehicle, was a critical error. That decision—to use hybridization to offer greater performance rather than maximum fuel efficiency—came during the early days of the hybrid market. Honda took one on the chin for the entire hybrid market, learning a bitter lesson that hybrid buyers want fuel efficiency in a gas-electric vehicle.

The removal of the Accord Hybrid from the market follows Honda’s decision last year to discontinue the Honda Insight, the first hybrid to enter the market. While the Honda Insight was the reigning fuel efficiency king for six years, the two-seat teardrop designed vehicle was not practical for many car buyers. Unlike the Toyota Prius, a runaway hit because it strikes the right balance between practicality, adequate performance and superior fuel efficiency, Honda erred with the Accord Hybrid by falling below hybrid-level fuel economy levels and with the Insight because of impracticality.

As reported in the San Jose Mercury News:

The decision wasn't a surprise, as sales of the Accord hybrid have been tepid since it arrived in 2004. Most analysts blame the model's failure on Honda's decision to pair electric components with a V-6 engine instead of with a higher-mileage four-cylinder gasoline motor.

In the United States, Honda dealers sold just 5,598 Accord hybrids last year, and just 439 last month. Rival Toyota sold 24,009 Prius hybrids in May, the car's best sales month in history, and 106,971 in 2006.

"The cancellation of the Honda Accord hybrid points out the fact that hybrid manufacturers have largely been unable to expand the public's perception of hybrids beyond high fuel economy," said Jack Nerad, executive market analyst for Kelley Blue Book and its kbb.com Web site.

Mr. Nerad states the obvious point somehow missed by Honda with the Accord. The public expects hybrids to have high fuel economy. Honda learned that lesson the hard way. It remains to be seen if other carmakers will benefit from Honda’s mistakes.

To Honda’s credit, the company has apparently learned from its own miscalculations. The company will offer a new, smaller dedicated hybrid car—about the size of the Fit, but not based on that model—within two years. With the release of the yet-to-be-named new Honda hybrid, the company is likely to regain its position as producer of the most fuel-efficient vehicle available in the U.S. market.

Kneecapping California's Emission Rules

Source: Washington Post

Guess who's trying to kill the Golden State's emissions standards.

THERE IS a bald attempt in Congress to short-circuit California's effort to regulate tailpipe emissions -- with Democrats leading the charge. A bill from the chairman of the House energy and air quality subcommittee, Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va. -- or is that D-Big Coal?), would halt recent moves by states to limit the emission of greenhouse gases that cause climate change. He insists, "This is not an attack on California." Color us unconvinced.

The Supreme Court ruled in April that the Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to regulate greenhouse gases. Meanwhile, California has asked the EPA to do something it has done more than 40 times over the past 30 years: waive the agency's emissions rules to allow the state's more stringent regulations to take effect. That would mean a 30 percent reduction in greenhouse gases from car and light truck tailpipes by 2016, starting with the 2009 model year. Eleven other states have signed on to California's bold new standards. The only thing standing in the way is the EPA. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) asked for the waiver in December 2005; he has threatened to sue if it is not granted within six months.

Governors from eight U.S. states on Thursday protested to Congress about possible legislation that they claim will limit their efforts to cut automobile and small-truck emissions.

If passed as written in draft form, the legislation would wipe out California's landmark effort to cut auto and light-truck greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 30 percent by 2030.

California and seven other states are fighting a proposal by Rep. Rick Boucher, a Democrat from coal-producing southwest Virginia, that would prevent the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from allowing California to receive a waiver from federal rules so it could implement more stringent state requirements.

Eleven states have adopted requirements that match California's and six others are considering it, said BreAnda Northcutt, spokeswoman for the California Environmental Protection Agency.

If the EPA grants California's waiver, the other states would be free to implement similar emissions-cutting standards.

Seven states say they want to follow California in requiring that cars and light trucks reduce climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions -- primarily carbon dioxide -- by 18 percent by 2020.

"We urge you to pursue legislation that instead enhances and complements the efforts already under way in our states," the eight governors said in a joint letter to Boucher.

"This bill," the governors said, "will preempt California's passenger vehicles and light duty truck emission standards."

The eight states signing the letter were California, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Washington, Arizona, Oregon, and New Mexico.

The governors said the bill would deny not only states' rights to adopt California's vehicle emissions standards, a right granted by the federal Clean Air Act, but would also eliminate the EPA's regulatory authority over greenhouse gases as a pollutant.

"This amounts to an about-face reversal of the Supreme Court decision identifying CO2 as a pollutant within the scope of the Clean Air Act," they said.

A Zero Emission House

^{(1) Wind Catcher for summer ventilation (2) Solar Array for electricity and hot water (3) High Level of Insulation (4) Biomass Boiler}

In the U.K., various companies are building cutting-edge green homes as part of the Offsite 2007 Exhibition. Yesterday saw the official launch of a "zero emissions house" called the Lighthouse designed by the Kingspan company.

Tesla Roadster: Not your neighbor's electric car

If you have not yet heard of the battery powered Tesla Roadster, where have you been hiding your sustainable self? We are almost rendered speechless by the awesomeness factor of this amazing electric vehicle, which goes from 0 to 60 mph in four seconds, drives up to 250 miles per charge (which costs under $5) and comes with an aesthetic that not only competes with its luxury brethren - but leaves the stodgy non-electric models in the dust.

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Solar Recharging for your Hybrid

I pitched an idea like this one last summer.... I'm glad someone is making it work.



Much like the roofs of houses and warehouses, a car roof is just empty space, so why not hook up some solar cells to the latest hybrids? Solar Electrical Vehicles is looking to do just that with a solar roof module for hybrid cars. The cost is about $2000-$4000 for a supplemental battery and solar module rated at 200-300 watts. For the Prius this adds up to 20 miles per day of electric mode driving with higher-capacity batteries adding another 10 miles.

Modules in production work with the Toyota Prius, Highlander and RAV4 EV, Ford Escape Hybrid and Dodge Sprinter Hybrid. In the future they hope to integrate them with Teslas and upgrade to a 320-watt module, up from 212-watts currently.

While not adding a whole lot of economic benefit to hybrid cars, it's an easy solution for people looking to squeeze more juice out of them. Unlike solar additions in homes, hybrid cars have the technology already built in to benefit from a solar add-on making them a simple installation.

source: Treehugger

Prototype Prius gets 125+ MPG

We've already heard that the 2008 Toyota Prius might be capable of over 80 miles per gallon, but it looks like Toyota isn't stopping there. Lithium Technology Corporation has just created a prototype plug-in Prius that demonstrably gets 125+ miles per gallon. The car uses a new kind of large-scale lithium ion battery that uses lithium iron phosphate as the cathode (wikipedia).

These batteries are well suited for cars. First, they don't explode when punctured and second, they have a very high discharge current. The Prius' battery stores 7 kWh of electricity in 63 Li-ion cells, and the vehicle relies exclusively on the batteries for the first 60 miles of travel. The prototype is, of course, a plug-in, so the mileage-boosting energy comes from the electric grid. And, no, grid energy isn't emissions free, but it's a heck of a lot more efficient than internal combustion.

This is a surprising leap from Lithium Technology Corporation. I've been expecting more news about Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries for a while, but to hear that they've boosted the mileage of a prototype vehicle so substantially is very exciting. Maybe Toyota will actually have something ready in 2010 to rival GMs ultra-efficient plug-in hybrid Volt.

source: EcoGeek.org

Hypermiling - Techniques for Maximum MPG

The passion that burns in Laurie With isn't visible until she gets behind the wheel of her Honda Civic hybrid -- and drives real slow.

She accelerates gently when the light turns green, and coasts down hills to save gas. On highways, she stays in the right lane and watches the big SUVs zoom past.

"When I see someone roar past me, I think, 'They just used enough gas to last me a week,' " she said.

She is part of a small and extremely dedicated group of drivers around the country who call themselves "hypermilers." They almost exclusively drive hybrid vehicles, and their goal is simple: squeeze every mile they can out of each drop of gas.

Some of their tips are a matter of common sense and could help any driver, especially now, with gas reaching $3.50 a gallon: avoid jackrabbit starts, use alternate routes to avoid stop-and-go traffic, anticipate lights and drive a bit slower.

But those are just a start. Hypermilers slightly overinflate their tires to cut rolling resistance, seize every chance to coast with their gasoline engines off and sometimes "draft" like race cars behind larger vehicles.

Some of these techniques are dangerous, and some can't even be done in certain vahicles.

Chuck Thomas, a 49-year-old computer programmer in Lewisville, Texas, milks his hybrid Honda Insight for about 75 miles per gallon, 10 more than the government estimate for the vehicle in mixed gas-and-electric driving.

"I do as few accelerations and brakings as possible to get up to speed and maintain it," he said. He cruises a bit below the speed limit, avoids lane changes and coasts to red lights.

Wayne Gerdes, who runs a Web site dedicated to high mileage ( www.cleanmpg.com) and claims to have coined the term hypermiling, lists a variety of other techniques:

• Park at the highest point of a lot, facing the exit, so gravity can help get the car moving.

• Use "pulse and glide": Accelerate to above the speed limit, then shut the gasoline engine down and glide to a speed below the limit. It is fairly easy to do in a hybrid, but in a gas-only vehicle it can be dangerous because power brakes might not work and some automatic transmissions won't re-engage at highway speeds. In a gas-only vehicle, without a lot of practice, "you can wind up killing somebody," Gerdes says. (It's also illegal in many places.)

source: The Columbus Dispatch

Updated EPA Calculations means lower Hybrid numbers

The EPA has changed the way it calculates mileage in vehicles in America. The result? Some pretty drastic changes.

Mileage for the Prius has dropped from 60/51 mpg city/hwy all the way to 48/45 mpg while the Honda Civic hybrid dropped from 49/51 mpg to 40/45. The change reflects the difference in testing environments, of course, but Sam Abuelsamid at AutoBlogGreen reports that there could be another reason there was such a significant drop.

Hybrid cars can be tuned to perform well in specific environments. They are largely computer controlled, and how the hybrid drive train operates is up to the engineers that create the car. Abuelsamid speculates that engineers at Honda and Toyota tweaked the computer control specifically for the EPA test. The result was inflated mileage and decreased real-world efficiency.

Seems more like something American automakers would do? Apparently not, the Ford Escape Hybrid only dropped from 36/31 to 31/29.

Source: AutoBlogGreen

PETA Wants Hybrid Car Tax Credits for Vegetarians

Source: PETA

SYNOPSIS: A University of Chicago report shows that switching to a vegetarian diet is more effective in countering global warming than switching from a standard American car to a Toyota Prius.

This morning, PETA founder and President Ingrid E. Newkirk dispatched letters to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid urging them to extend vegetarians the tax break currently given to hybrid car owners for purchasing a vehicle with low carbon emissions. Newkirk’s request comes in light of a University of Chicago report showing that switching to a vegetarian diet is more effective in countering global warming than switching from a standard American car to a Toyota Prius. Newkirk also cites a scientific report recently published by the United Nations that concluded that the meat industry generates more greenhouse gases than all the world’s transportation systems combined, including cars, trucks, planes and ships.

"The single best thing that any of us can do to for our health, for animals, and for the environment is to go vegetarian," says Newkirk. "Anyone who buys a hybrid in order to cut down on their contribution to global warming and uses it to drive to the supermarket to buy chicken, steaks, and milk should face up to the fact that there’s no such thing as a meat-eating environmentalist."

For more information, please visit PETA’s Web site GoVeg.com.

Well, I'm a Vegetarian who drives a Toyota Prius.... would I get double tax credits?

With the ElecTrec bike, pedal or not it's your choice.

ElecTrec full suspension electric bike
The ElecTrec Electric Bicycle is a really great find in an electric bike available today. This 8-speed full suspension electric mountain bike with 26" wheels is powered by a high torque 600 watt motor with a free-wheeling designed propulsion system. This allows for the greatest comfort while providing a significant amount of torque and power. Its 24 volt 14 amp battery supply allows for a 15-20 mile range per charge with nominal pedaling and can reach speeds up to 18 MPH. Its battery takes three to four hours to fully charge.

There are also conversion kits. For $500, people can turn almost any bike - hybrids, cruisers, mountain bikes - into an electric version of itself.

For every electric bike sold in the U.S., there's 148 sold in Europe. The numbers are even more significant in Asia.

I would like people to see electric bikes as a transportation mode, not simply for leisure.

PowerHub: Backup Power From Solar, Wind

Xantrex, a company well known the renewable energy world, is introducing a new product called the PowerHub. It's a self-contained power storage system that can be recharged with DC power from solar cells or wind turbines. Additionally, It can be charged via an outlet using AC power.

The Powerhub then provides 1800 watts of power (1400 continuous watts) through four AC outlets. This is useful for providing backup power for homes during an electrical outage, or for providing primary power for off-grid homes. The retail price is set at $899 for the device, and includes a 200 amp-hour battery.

The design of the Xantrex PowerHub allows customers to add additional batteries, along with a second battery box enclosure, to increase available power storage up to 400 amp-hours.

More info: Prepared With Power

Great apes 'facing climate peril'

source: BBC

Climate change may be putting great ape species at risk

Great apes are facing an "inevitable crisis" arising from climate change, a leading conservationist has warned.

Dr Richard Leakey said that growing pressure to switch from fossil fuels to biofuels could result in further destruction of the animals' habitats.

The chair of WildlifeDirect called for immediate action and proposed financial incentives to save forests from destruction as one possible solution.

He said: "Climate change will undoubtedly impact everything we know."

The great apes - gorillas, chimps, bonobos and orangutans - are already under threat from habitat destruction, poaching, logging and disease.

The Great Apes Survival Project (Grasp), a United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) initiative, has warned that great apes are at risk of imminent extinction unless drastic action is taken.

Palm oils

In advance of a talk at the UK's Royal Geographical Society, Dr Leakey told journalists that climate threats now had to be added to the mix.

The former director of the Kenyan Wildlife Service said: "I am concerned about the pressures on the land as a result of changes to the climate, but also the pressures on the land in terms of people's reaction to climate change and the shift away from fossil fuels to biofuels."

The great apes: Status check In pictures

He said that "great swathes" of forest had already been destroyed in South Asia to make way for palm oil plantations, and this had had a dramatic impact on orangutans, which currently number 50,000.

Palm oil is used in vegetable oil, soaps, shampoos, industrial substances, but it has also been proposed as an alternative to fossil fuel.

Dr Leakey said the growing pressure to turn to biofuels such as palm oil could place the great apes' habitat in further peril.

He added: "People shrug their shoulders and say what are poor countries to do if they cannot exploit their natural resources, and I can understand this, but it is not sustainable the way it is going."

There is also evidence that deforestation would further drive climate change itself by raising the amount of greenhouse gas carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, Dr Leakey said.

New incentives

Dr Leakey suggested "biodiversity credits" could be a possible solution.

"Being paid for not cutting down indigenous forests and getting credit for that is a further step that builds on the idea of getting paid for planting new forests," he explained.

"It does seem that we cannot stop development, but it does also seem that perhaps we can stop development where critical species are threatened, and perhaps there could be a price added to that."

Dr Leakey is a prominent conservationist in Kenya

He said that there could be creative ways to solve the problems that climate change could bring, but added that it was crucial that action was taken now.

Dr Leakey told journalists: "Could the great apes go because of climate change? Yes. Possibly not within our lifetime, but what about in 100 or 200 years?

"Climate change is measurable and is happening at rate that is almost unprecedented from what we know in previous history, and the implications for biodiversity are there for all to see."

Richard Leakey is a palaeo-anthropologist, responsible for extensive fossil finds related to human evolution, and renowned Kenyan conservationist. His parents, Louis and Mary Leakey, were prominent palaeontologists, finding and excavating key sites around Africa.

Profile: Dr Richard Leakey