Frankly Green

Video: The End of the Line

2010-03-03T15:58:54-08:00

The makers of The End of the Line were kind enough to send me a couple copies of this new film. It is very well done and I highly recommend taking the time to see it. You can check out the trailer below.

This extraordinary documentary is a wake-up call to the world about the global issues surrounding overfishing. If we continue to fish the way we do there may be no fish left in the ocean by 2048. Narrated by Ted Danson (an active member of Oceana) and endorsed by National Geographic and Greenpeace, the documentary educates us about this growing issue and what we can do in our everyday lives to combat the problem (support restaurants that only serve sustainable seafood, etc.).

As a special treat to our readers, I have a brand new copy to send to the reader with best comment on this post. Simply post your reply using the link below.

Powering the Earth - CNN.com Interactive Graphic

2009-12-23T08:45:00-08:00

I could not figure out how to imbed this graphic but just follow the link below.

via edition.cnn.com

Ever wondered how much carbon the world emits from the power it uses?

The colored circles show each region's population and their electricity consumption and carbon emissions.

Use the slider at the top to see annual emissions generated from 1980 to 2007.

Click on the name of the regions at the top for a closer view of the relevant figures.

Hawaii in Early Stages of Energy Revolution

2009-12-22T09:31:00-08:00

By John King, CNN Chief National Correspondent

View Full Article via www.cnn.com

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Using alternate energy, Susan Chandler's energy bill is a third of what it was a year ago
Hawaii's electricity rates are the highest in the country
State law now requires new homes to use solar panels at least to heat hot water

It was an energy audit at work that first nudged Susan Chandler to think green.

"The first thing I did was change all my light bulbs" to energy-efficient models, Chandler said during a recent visit to her Honolulu home. "Then I started tracking my energy bill."

She began walking into rooms her husband and son had just left to turn off the lights. A significant cutback in the use of the clothes dryer was another step. Still, Chandler said she wanted to do more.

"So I put up the panels."

...

Hawaii's electricity rates are the highest in the nation. A year ago, Chandler's monthly power bill topped $100. Her most recent bill was $36.

That's a big financial plus, but what Chandler said she enjoys the most is the evidence of how she is cutting her carbon footprint.

...

Hawaii already is in the early stages of what it hopes will be an energy revolution.

At the moment, imported oil accounts for 90 percent of the remote state's energy needs, a major reason its electricity costs are so high. The state's ambitious goal is to generate 70 percent of its power from clean energy sources by 2030, and it is looking everywhere.

Solar is one component. State law now requires all new homes being built in 2010, at a minimum, include a solar system for heating hot water.

Biofuels is another, including fuel derivatives from sugar cane.

Water is yet another abundant resource that Hawaii sees as part of its energy future.

"Our source is renewable -- infinitely renewable," said Tom Wilkolak, chief operating officer of Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning.

...

Wind is another ample resource, though it took a spike in oil prices to the $150 a barrel range a few years ago to diminish the opposition to the 20-turbine wind farm that now sits on hillside conservation land overlooking Maui.

"That was very helpful to everyone's understanding of how important clean energy is," said Noe Kalipi, director of government and community relations for First Wind.

Some locals still don't like the nearly 200-foot high turbines, but to others they are nicknamed the "angels on the mountain."

The 20 turbines up and running have sensors that tell them to turn automatically to capture the wind in the most efficient manner. They run only part of the time because of technical issues related to Maui's electricity grid. Still, they provide power to 11,000 homes on Maui, roughly 9 percent of its power needs.

There are plans in the works to double nearly the number of turbines at the Maui location, and other wind farms are in the planning stages across the state.

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Business Delivers Christmas Trees for Rent

2009-12-20T09:07:40-08:00

View full article via www.nytimes.com

By Jennifer Steinhauer

It is a nibble weird that a guy who describes his relationship to Christmas as “hostile” runs around greater Los Angeles in a floppy red Santa hat and answers his iPhone, “Merry Christmas, this is Scotty Claus!”

But bummed as false merriment and gift obligations render him, Scott Martin — landscape architect and tree hugger in a literal sense — was unnerved by the sight of post-Christmas trees lying about like so much discarded sausage casing.

What people really ought to do, he reasoned, was rent a Christmas tree, and return it, alive, to the nursery after the season.

Mr. Martin’s idea, enabled by a rotten economy that made his free time greater and his potential labor pool deeper, is now manifest in his new business delivering live, potted Christmas trees that are taken away once the toys have been unwrapped and, possibly, already broken, and the New Year’s confetti has been swept away.

Rentable Christmas trees, which have been tried in Oregon and a smattering of other places over the years, are a perfect match for Los Angeles, he said, where Christmas trees have “an image issue,” and escaping a drive through traffic with a tree strapped to a car roof is especially welcome.

...

To rent a tree, a customer visits Mr. Martin’s Web site, livingchristmas.com, picks out a tree from among several varieties and then awaits delivery. Delivery days are determined by geography, to save time and gas. Prices range from $50, for a two-to-three-foot number, up to $185 for something bigger. While two weeks is the recommended length of stay for a live tree in a house, Mr. Martin lets his customers keep them for three.

The tree is then picked up to join its evergreen cousins; they will summer together on industrial properties where Mr. Martin rents space for pennies on the dollar to house his inventory. People who want the same tree next year ask for it to be tagged with their name, so it might return next December, taller.

Extra-credit points: The delivery trucks run on biodiesel; the trees are cared for by adults with disabilities; the drivers will pick up donations for Goodwill and used wrapping paper for recycling; and the Web site also sells eco-friendly, fair-trade ornaments.

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Energy-Saving Stoplights Blamed in Crashes

2009-12-20T09:01:22-08:00

I had read about about this when Ann Arbor, MI converted all their downtown lights to LEDs. This issue obviously needs to be addressed. That being said, the energy savings of LEDs is significant - they use 90% less than incandescent bulbs!
Slightly switching gears, I recently converted our most frequently used lights in our home to LEDs with the help of my friends at illumigarden. The light is fantastic, better than the incandescent bulbs that I replaced. If you have not tried an LED bulb, I would strongly encourage you do do so.
Here is a link to a site called Productdose.com that has good information and comparisons on Incandescent, CFL and LED bulbs. While LEDs are more expensive, they last 60,000 hours compared to 10,000 hours for CFLs and only 1,500 for incandescent bulbs. And if you live in San Francisco or Marin, stop by and see Michael or George at illumigarden. They can help you and give you some samples to test in your home.

View full article via www.msnbc.msn.com

Cities around the country that have installed energy-efficient traffic lights are discovering a hazardous downside: The bulbs don't burn hot enough to melt snow and can become crusted over in a storm — a problem blamed for dozens of accidents and at least one death.

...

Many communities have switched to LED bulbs in their traffic lights because they use 90 percent less energy than the old incandescent variety, last far longer and save money. Their great advantage is also their drawback: They do not waste energy by producing heat.

Authorities in several states are testing possible solutions, including installing weather shields, adding heating elements like those used in airport runway lights, or coating the lights with water-repellent substances.

...

Around the World in an Electric Car

2009-12-15T21:30:43-08:00

Four University of Chicago Alumni Prove Environmentally Friendly Vehicles Can Go the Distance

Link to Full Article

Jeff Bladt says he has a penchant for traveling “by the seat of his pants.” The idea of buying a plane ticket and figuring out the rest of the trip once he gets there is very appealing to him. Next spring, Bladt plans to embark on an expedition with three of his friends that promises to be more extensive than any he’s been on previously: the first trip around the world in an electric car.

The group has titled their expedition Project EVIE (EV for Electric Vehicle) and for the last several months, they have been involved in rigorous planning, a search for sponsorship, and ongoing research in preparation. As Bladt anticipates the trip, he depicts it as simultaneously paying homage to the spirit of self-reliant, pants-seat travel and following a carefully mapped-out course, contingent on the support of other people.

...

Project EVIE hopes to work towards recreating the image of the electric vehicle in American media and convention. Now primarily conceived of as a purchase exclusively suitable for a particular sociopolitical niche, the electric vehicle is something that Project EVIE hopes to promote as capable of performing the standard tasks of a gas-powered car, and as something with its own history of use. Statistically, Americans consume more than twenty million barrels of oil every day, forty-six percent of which is used for motor gasoline. If the entire American population were to make the transition from gas-powered to electric vehicles, gas consumption and carbon emissions would be cut by almost half, according to Project EVIE.

There is a certain irony in the classic American vision of driving from one end of the States to the other, since such travel is dependent on the import of oil from countries that are both far away from the U.S. and at odds with the U.S. politically. According to Project EVIE’s website, the most common reason Americans cite for not switching to electric vehicles is a concern about their range. Project EVIE plans to address that concern by proving that an electric vehicle can be taken on one of the longest road trips imaginable.

...

Next year, when the team sets off on the road, they will be welcomed into the homes of strangers. The people whom they’ve gotten in touch with through their social media networks have been strikingly receptive to their plan, and various media enterprises, such as a Spanish news channel and a talk show in Tel Aviv, are already planning to feature Project EVIE in their programming. It may be that this is the right time for this kind of project, and that the general public is beginning to embrace the electric car. Many major U.S.-supplying motor companies plan to unveil electric vehicles in 2010, and increasingly electric cars are coming out that are designed to target particular audiences: Chrysler will soon come out with a Jeep EV, and Tesla, a California company that produces electric vehicles exclusively, has a high-end two-door electric sports car already on the market. As part of their ongoing electric vehicle education, the Project EVIE team has sampled various models. They are awaiting word from potential sponsors before announcing which model they will be taking on their expedition, but they know it will be a four-door sedan-sized vehicle that may feature the names and logos of sponsors.

If all continues to go smoothly in their planning, Bladt, Azrielant, Fjeld, and Vance will be departing in March or April of 2010 from New Zealand, and will end their journey in New York City eighteen months later. Their exact route is still subject to ongoing adjustments and incorporation of new information. There are a couple of places they want to make a special point of visiting, such as Alaska and Machu Picchu. For the most part, however, their route will be fairly continuous. They will be stopping in many major cities, where their passing through can be received and covered by local media. Over bodies of water they will board car ferries, and in two instances they will ship their vehicle separately and take a boat to the next land mass. For those stuck at home, they will be updating their blog (blog.project-evie.org) regularly while on the road.

The group does not see their project as ending upon their arrival in New York; they have plans to go on a national speaking tour, and have been in touch with filmmakers concerning a possible documentary using footage they’ll shoot on the trip. Consistent with the ethos of the rest of their process, the documentary component is something the Project EVIE team is embracing without any particular prior experience. Vance compares the experience of experimenting with so many new ideas while starting up this project to pursuing a big research project and writing a paper. “There’s something about the philosophy of starting a project like this—the individualism, pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps kind of thing—that I think UofC people can identify with.”

Tracking a Trail of Trash in the Pacific Northwest

2009-11-28T15:49:28-08:00

By Patrick Oppmann, CNN

Link to Article

Trash study tracks how pieces of garbage may travel hundreds of miles

MIT researchers hope study will help people better understand impact of garbage they produce

"Can we create a situation of minimum waste?" researcher says

Seattle, Washington (CNN) -- The plastic Ziploc bag thrown in the trash in Seattle, Washington, spent a week traveling 300 miles to an Oregon landfill. The old Apple iBook that was recycled is a month into its journey. And a pair of worn Asics running shoes is still logging miles even after being dropped in a bin for used shoes.

Those are just some of the trails of trash exposed in a high-tech trash study.

...

The tracking is not part of some top-secret government program to spy on garbage, but rather the brainchild of MIT researchers who wanted to learn if society could more efficiently dispose of what it throws out.

"The idea with this tagging exercise is to bring an invisible system to life," said Assaf Biderman, associate director of MIT's SENSEable City Lab. "By knowing how long it stays in the system, where it goes, we are hoping to create an increased awareness in the public."

...

"It could make a huge difference," Waste Management spokeswoman Rita Smith said. "We want to do everything we can to get our materials to their destinations as efficiently as possible; not only because of the economic cost, but also because of the environmental cost. There's no point in hauling material around in circles."

Researchers are still compiling data as the trash makes its journey.

...

PiCycle - The Electric Bicycle

2009-10-15T09:27:03-07:00

Check out this LA Times video review of the PiCycle. The PiCycle is made by a company called PiMobility, based in Sausalito, Ca. Marcus, the founder, was kind enough to let me take the PiCycle for a spin one evening when we met at an event. In addition to the super cool design, the bike is rock solid, handles well and is quick! Very cool bike!! Check out the video.

World's First Sun-Powered City

2009-10-04T07:53:00-07:00

Australian Town First to Ban Bottled Water

2009-09-30T20:12:38-07:00

Kudos to Bundanoon for banning bottled water! Let's hope many more follow!

Link to Article

An Australian town pulled all bottled water from its shelves Saturday and replaced it with refillable bottles in what is believed to be a world-first ban.

Hundreds of people marched through the picturesque rural town of Bundanoon to mark the first day of its bottled water ban by unveiling a series of new public drinking fountains, said campaign spokesman John Dee. Shopkeepers ceremoniously removed the last bottles of water from their shelves and replaced them with reusable bottles that can be filled from fountains inside the town's shops or at water stations in the street.

"Every bottle today was taken off the shelf and out of the fridges so you can only now buy refillable bottles in shops in Bundanoon," Dee told AFP.

The tiny town, two hours south of Sydney, voted in July to ban bottled water after a drinks company moved to tap into a local aquifer for its bottled water business. "In the process of the campaign against that the local people became educated about the environmental impact of bottled water," said Dee. "A local retailer came up with this idea of well why don't we do something about that and actually stop selling the bottled water and it got a favourable reaction," he said.

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Activists say bottling water causes unnecessary use of plastics and fuel for transport. A New South Wales study found that in 2006, the industry was responsible for releasing 60,000 tonnes of gases blamed for global warming.