Real Green Tips

King Coal

2010-08-21T22:08:00.000-07:00

An Associated Press examination of U.S. Department of Energy records and information provided by utilities and trade groups shows that more than 30 traditional coal plants have been built since 2008 or are under construction.

I was under the mistaken impression that we weren't really building new coal plants. Guess I was wrong.

Green Fourth of July?

2010-07-04T08:21:00.000-07:00

Inhabitat has 5 Free and Easy ways to green your 4th of July. None of which will really matter, although I can get behind the switching to Tofu burgers and dogs, turning off the AC, and carpooling, if you keep it up. The other two are a waste of time. I suggest the alternate way to have a green fourth of July, don't buy any fireworks, if you must go somewhere to watch them.

(PS You're going out of your way for this? [Photo Credit: Jason McHuff])

Green links

2009-06-06T20:15:00.000-07:00

A few links that I found interesting:

A Look at Wind's Key Players: Wind power is poised to keep growing quickly, who stands to profit? Or maybe where should you be sending your resume?

Rooftop Farm in Brooklyn: This is a great use of a roof, I'm glad people have the time to do this and someone was willing to loan a roof.

The Location Efficiency of Your Neighborhood: Higher population density is better, we know this and its confirmed again.

Green meats

2009-05-02T09:32:00.000-07:00

Which Meat is best for the planet? Slate says stay away from cows and sheep, focus on poultry with pigs in between. This mirrors other studies of the same type, see here. Next time you're at Wendy's order the chicken sandwich instead of the hamburger and you'll be doing the planet a favor.

Obviously, not eating meat is the best choice of all if you're looking to decrease your carbon dioxide emissions.

Greening your house

2009-04-22T20:07:00.000-07:00

Going Green -- One step at a Time is an interesting article on cutting the electricity use in your house. It is great how they kept at it and over time significantly cut their energy use. It doesn't really do justice to the article to pick out a quote, so go read the whole thing.

31 tips for reducing your impact

2009-04-19T20:01:00.000-07:00

No Impact Man's Blog has 31 tips for reducing your impact and saving your money, while I don't necessarily agree with all of them (and I think some are incorrect, like candles don't save you any money and have greater impact than a standard lightbulb) and some of them aren't going to save you any money, the list is interesting nonetheless, some highlights:

1) Air dry all laundry
4) Use baking soda and vinegar for cleaning the bathroom.
13) Bokashi (a way to deal with indoor kitchen scraps with NO odor and yields compost WAY faster).
17) Use water from rinsing dishes to water flower beds.

Knock yourself out!

Solar placement problems

2009-04-05T09:40:00.000-07:00

Fortune has an article about some people wanting to slow down solar power development in the Mojave desert (right, image Jeff T. Alu) Desert showdown:

"California Senator Dianne Feinstein’s move to put a large swath of the Mojave Desert off-limits to renewable energy development is splitting the environmental movement and could derail some two dozen solar and wind power projects the state needs to comply with its ambitious climate change laws."

While it may be "big" solar (how far we've come if we can use that term) I'm betting the percentage of land use is small. This obviously will not encourage future development of renewable energy, one of the things it had going for it was that it was easier to site than coal, oil, natural gas facilities. Wind energy development has already been largely halted in California, will solar plants be next, with solar panels restricted to already developed areas?

On the plus side, these plants are portable to some extent, so they can be moved to Arizona or New Mexico, but that is still going to cost money that wasn't otherwise budgeted.

The Cheese Burger Footprint

2009-04-04T09:26:00.000-07:00

An interesting analysis over at Open the Future on the carbon footprint of a cheeseburger:

"To make it clear, then: the greenhouse gas emissions arising every year from the production and consumption of cheeseburgers is roughly the amount emitted by 6.5 million to 19.6 million SUVs. There are now approximately 16 million SUVs currently on the road in the US. "

Chicken and pork are more environmentally friendly meats than beef. Or the best of all, go vegetarian.

Mass transit CO2 savings.

2009-03-22T20:56:00.000-07:00

BART (the San Francisco Bay Area subway) has a neat new feature, every time you plan a trip, it tells you how much CO2 emissions you are would save:

Simple and easy, I like it. That number seems big, it apparently would not take long to save your body weight in CO2.

It IS easy being green

2009-03-08T11:19:00.000-07:00

In the article It isn't easy being green Despite obstacles, eco-developer sees business opportunities in sustainable building methods, a commenter (BBnet3000) hits the nail on the head:

most of these stories seem to about free standing houses taking up tons of land per capita, and using "green" technology. when are we going to see more "green" condo towers? even the standard, more wasteful condo towers are probably more sustainable than these "green" houses in the boonies.

Exactly, increasing population density is still the best way to go green. Its not hard if you move into a downtown condo, but it is extremely hard if you try to match that condo living 3o miles away from the nearest big city in a 2000 sq ft house.

Solar Electric Thermal Power plant

2009-03-01T11:06:00.000-08:00

Future Pundit has an interesting post on the Large Solar Electric Thermal plant near Granada (Andasol) Spain (picture from Sci Am) which can generate electricity at night.

"In a market that 182 million kwh might sell for, say, 10 cents per kwh. It would probably sell for less in the US where the average retail cost of electricity is about 11 cents per kwh. But let us assume a higher price in Europe. Okay, that would still only amount to $18.2 million per year. Seems like a small return on a few hundred million [$380 million] dollar investment plus operating costs and maintenance costs. But if this electricity is sold during peak hours maybe it sells for more than 10 cents per kwh? Does a political deal assure a higher price? If so, how much higher?

Let us consider the avoided CO2 emissions. If the 172,000 tons of avoided emissions were taxed at $30 per ton (which is one figure I've heard proposed for how much carbon emissions should be taxed) then the amount of avoided carbon taxes would be only $5.2 million per year. That doesn't improve profitability very much."

While expensive now, this seems to have a couple things going for it, its use of readily available technologies and materials and limited storage. However, it is ugly, expensive, and would seemingly require lots of desert land.

Christmas lights bad for the environment

2008-12-24T08:17:00.000-08:00

Scientists warn Christmas lights harm the planet, causing global warming. Well duh. While they suggest using LED lights or buying from renewable energy power sources. I suggest anyone who takes being an environmentalist seriously can do without strings of lights, despite what the comments in the article say. Really- its not even a sacrifice, just don't put them up, find something else to do, check the air level in the tires on your Prius or something.

Photo by Jonathon McIntosh

eco-celebs strike!

2008-11-09T19:20:00.000-08:00

MSN Green has an article Hollywood's REAL eco-celebrities, which is good for a laugh. It starts off with a few halfway decent examples, Johnny Depp (Solar Hydrogen technology- whatever that means), Orlando Bloom (solar panels and lightbulbs), and a few other good examples, then gets to:

Actress Rachel McAdams, currently on the big screen in The Lucky Ones opposite Tim Robbins, tells People she is planning a green remodel on her newly purchased house.

and

Celebrity home designer and Holmes on Homes TV personality Mike Holmes is another go-to green tip guy. The home renovation advocate is planning to build sustainable houses...

Planning?! This is the best they can do, they can't even find 10 or so green celebs with solar panels and CFLs so they have to count people who are planning? Come on guys.

The article also doesn't discuss what is probably the number one CO2 emitter for the stars, private jets, which stars fly commercial, thats how I'd sort out the real "eco-celebs".

San Francisco Solar goes collective

2008-10-14T04:01:00.000-07:00

Collective bargaining that is:

Known as 1BOG, for 1 Block Off the Grid, the fledgling group was able to offer its members a standard 2-kilowatt system for roughly $6,000 (after rebates) in its first foray into collective bargaining. Tack on the $2,000 federal tax credit, and suddenly a solar installation starts to seem very affordable. A similar system for someone going it alone (and before rebates) could cost as much as $18,000.

Sounds like it might provide a useful service, if you live in San Francisco. Check out a solar estimator/calculator to see if solar power works for you, I have a feeling that solar costs will come down soon and the solar energy tax credit has been extended, enjoy.

Real Green Housewives

2008-10-12T08:56:00.000-07:00

Laura McKenna of Pajamas media gets it (from 11D):

The greenest people are totally unhip and unlikely to be photographed for the Times or a glossy magazine. They’re still wearing their clothes from twenty years ago. They aren’t keeping their home spa-worthy clean. No need to worry about polluting the air with chemicals, if you aren’t dusting every five minutes. They aren’t constantly renovating their kitchens and bathrooms, all of which uses enormous amounts of energy and resources; they are still living with the Formica numbers from the 70s. They aren’t jetting off to Europe to browse the Paris markets; they go bowling in the next town over. They aren’t constantly shopping for new things and tossing out the old things.

Sorry, there is nothing glamorous about living green. The good news is that it isn't particularly hard either, especially now.

Chevy Volt Pictures

2008-09-08T19:13:00.000-07:00

Many pictures of the Chevy Volt are out on Autoblog, you know you have a hit on your hands when people tolerate a bunch of men in the pictures.

Biofuels update

2008-09-04T04:38:00.000-07:00

Oil Drum has this great biofuels table (click to enlarge) comparing the current greenhouse gas emissions of various types of biofuels (ethanol, biodiesel) made from corn, sugar cane, switch grass, soybeans, etc.:

And Climateer Investing has another one showing what corn is used for, surprisingly, we eat very little of it directly:

Since it is all very obvious by now that ethanol is not good for the environment, and in fact may be harmful to the environment and the world's population, what are we going to do about it? Unfortunately, our options are limited, Obama supports ethanol, while McCain doesn't, but this probably doesn't matter since more than 75% of Congress supports ethanol, heck, even Al Gore is for it. Which I think means we're stuck with it for now, hopefully in a few years we will wisen up.

Green Bits

2008-09-01T04:34:00.000-07:00

Big Yards and Walkable Communities don't mix, you have to share your yard in the form of a park.

Tearing down buildings to make Green Buildings is not great, you're losing the embodied energy in the buildings. If embodied energy is taken into consideration, a new building that's replaced an older building will take up to 65 years to start saving energy. No impact man discovers the same principle regarding old appliances.

The carbon footprint of food, turns out transportation isn't as much as we thought: Only 11 percent came from transportation, and even then, only 4 percent came from the transportation between grower and seller (which is the part that eating local helps cut). The best thing to do to reduce greenhouse emissions is switch from a meat diet to vegetarian, or at least cut out beef.

The Yaris is cheaper to own than the Prius. Not surprising since it costs about half as much.

$1 Billion per year could prevent a tenth of tropical deforestation, what are we waiting for? Seems cheap compared to the theoretical global warming benefits.

California goes BIG solar

2008-08-29T04:06:00.000-07:00

From Green Wombat:

California utility PG&E on Thursday announced that it will buy 800 megawatts of electricity produced from two massive photovoltaic power plants to be built in San Luis Obsipo County on the state’s central coast. The 550-megawatt thin-film plant from Bay Area startup OptiSolar and a 250-megawatt PV plant from Silicon Valley’s SunPower dwarf by orders of magnitude the five-to-15 megawatt photovoltaic power stations currently in operation around the world.

NY Times has more. This project was criticized for taking up a lot of room, while vast parking lots all over southern California have usable space. If we are after efficiency, wouldn't it be better to locate all solar panels made in the US in large installations in southern California, Texas, Florida, New Mexico or Arizona (presumably the best location would currently burn the most coal, probably Texas)?

This would generate the most renewable energy for the money. For example, if you were from New Jersey and wanted solar panels, you would buy them, they would be installed cheaply on a place in Texas, maybe the Astrodome, and through various agreements, you would get your electric bill reimbursement. Your reimbursement would actually be higher, since your solar panels are producing more electricity than they would have in New Jersey, and you would be more efficiently saving the planet.

Wind Power Updates

2008-08-27T04:57:00.000-07:00

Climateer Investing discusses the testing of Vestas' world's longest turbine (pictured left, photo from Climateer Investing) and a new wind ETF, FAN.

While Knowledge Problem describes the supply chain problem in getting wind turbine parts, perhaps an opportunity for enterprising manufacturers, but unfortunately, this also makes the claims we can have 50% renewable energy power by 2020 (or similar claims) unrealistic, as both wind power and solar power manufacturers have 2+ year backlogs in orders. It is hard to increase the amount produced if you don't have the capacity.

Blog Update

2008-08-24T14:16:00.000-07:00

I updated the blog list to Google's newest list type, I also weeded out a bunch of no longer active sites, it wasn't a pretty year for green blogs! It seems to be increasingly hard for the solo blogger to keep it up for extended periods of time without burning out, the rewards just aren't there. I will probably try to make the list more up to date later on. Leave a comment if you know someone I missed.

Chevy Volt Update

2008-08-24T12:40:00.000-07:00

I love rooting for the Chevy Volt, its partly because US automakers are such underdogs, and partly because who doesn't like to see a big idea pan out, bonus that its good for the environment.

Green Car Congress has Volt Teasers (where the picture is from): Boniface said that the mules are performing very well, and that the actual production body should be dropped on the chassis next summer. And GM wants to price the Volt under $30K: “GM has a very clear goal: We want to bring the Volt to market in 2010 at a price of less than 30,000 US dollars,” said GM CEO Rick Wagnoner to the Frnakfurther Allgemeine Zeitung.

While Futurepundit has news about the Volt Starting at low production volumes: General Motors Corp. aims to manufacture 10,000 plug-in electric Chevrolet Volts in 2011, the vehicle's first full year of production, and 60,000 the following year, Vice Chairman Bob Lutz told the Free Press in an e-mail Thursday. and the price now being $40,000.

The Atlantic has a great, well worth reading, longer article on the Volt's development, Electro-Shock Therapy.

Think twice about ditching your SUV now

2008-08-03T17:11:00.000-07:00

While I'm all for the recent trend away from SUVs to small cars due to high gas prices, those that own SUVs now may be better off keeping their SUVs from a financial and environmental standpoint. The NYT covers the financial angle, while Ask Pablo makes the case environmentally, ecosalon also has tips on getting the most from your SUV. Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do to completely erase the shame of buying an SUV, but I hear sticking a GORE 2000 bumper sticker on it helps.

One part of this that I haven't heard discussed much is just how much economics has trumped the environment in this case. For YEARS environmentalists have been going on about how small cars are better, yet SUV sales kept increasing. Then we get one year of high gas prices and SUV sales plummet like nothing we've ever seen before. I will use that argument as a vote for a carbon tax instead of a cap and trade system to reduce CO2 emissions.

Switch to a motorcycle of scooter

2008-06-29T22:11:00.000-07:00

FuturePundit has the roundup:

Heyser Cycle, a dealer in Laurel Maryland, lists the scooters Yamaha Zuma at 123 mpg and the Yamaha Vino at 89 mpg. They list the motorcycles Honda CBR 600RR at 45 mpg and the Kawasaki Vulcan also at 45 mpg. These are disappointing numbers for the motorcycles.

The thought that strikes me about scooters and motorcycles: People who are driving longer distances are going to tend to do so on highways and will lean toward motorcycles for commuting. So the scooters probably get driven shorter distances and so their higher fuel efficiency has less impact since people who drive shorter distances do not use as much fuel anyway.

Heck, even Donald Rumsfeld has a Vespa LX 150 (I would love to see a picture of that).

Wind Power Updates

2008-05-26T04:56:00.000-07:00

(Far) Offshore Wind: A proposal for a Cape Cod Wind farm so far off shore it wouldn't be visible from land. I'm sure someone will find some reason to complain.

Caught the wind bug? Why not put up a small turbine at your place? Top Five Micro Wind Turbines I would only install one if you think it is an interesting hobby, not because you want to make a buck.

Interesting News regarding renewable energy shortfalls:

"The National Energy Renewable Lab reported recently that clean-energy demand will outpace generation by at least 37% come the year 2010. The laws in 25 states dictate that clean energy - such as wind, biomass and solar - must constitute up to 30% of a utility's energy portfolio in five to 15 years."

Sounds like some RE opportunities will be available!

Perhaps that explains this:

Hydro-Québec has accepted 15 bids from companies offering to provide the provincial utility with a total of 2,004 megawatts of wind-generated electricity that would come on stream between 2011 and 2015 if final approvals are reached.

The average price is 10.5 cents per kilowatt-hour and the projects involve estimated capital outlays totalling $5.5-billion, including $1.1-billion for transmission infrastructure, Hydro-Québec said Monday.

Sounds expensive, hopefully the jobs created are worth it.