Wind Turbine Donated by Mariah Power Demonstrates Michigan’s Commitment to Renewable Energy and Greening it’s economy.

A few weeks ago we wrote an article about laid off auto workers in Michigan, getting new jobs building Windspires.

In that article I wrote that “We are moving toward a future of sustainable responsibility, where we have to fix the things that are broken and create new alternatives, products and energy sources that will move us into the future.”

Well, Windspire, continues to inspire. From their press release:

A Windspire wind turbine, manufactured in Michigan by Mariah Power, is now helping generate electricity for the Michigan governor’s official residence in Lansing and demonstrating the state’s commitment to renewable energy.

Mariah Power donated the Windspire to the state of Michigan for use at the governor’s residence following the grand in a tour of the residence’s new green features that include a green roof and water-conserving irrigation system.

Michigan Governor Jennifer M. Granholm has been working to make the state a leader in the new green economy and a top manufacturer of wind turbines, advanced batteries, solar panels and other green products.

“I am proud to showcase the Windspire wind turbine at the governor’s residence as an example of a Michigan-made renewable energy product,” Granholm said. “Our ongoing efforts to grow the state’s renewable energy sector are taking root, and I commend Mariah Power’s leadership for their commitment to Michigan.”

“Governor Granholm is a terrific supporter of clean energy,” said Mariah Power CEO Mike Hess. “Having a Windspire at the governor’s residence will help people see how easy wind power can be, and shows how committed Michigan is to a clean energy economy.”

The Windspire is a 30-foot tall, propeller-free, vertical-axis wind turbine designed for harnessing wind power in urban, suburban and rural locations. It is the most affordable alternative energy appliance in the 1 kilowatt range, costing about $8,000 to $10,000 after installation but prior to a 30 percent federal small wind tax credit.

The unit’s powerful, trim and sleek design enables it to blend in well with a variety of environments, making it an attractive alternative energy option for homeowners, businesses and institutions. Windspire’s Plug’n Produce™ design connects directly to the power supply, offsetting electricity use and reducing energy costs.

Approximately 30 employees produce 100 Windspire wind turbines every month at Mariah Power’s 30,000-square-foot facility in Manistee. The company hopes to grow to 120 employees and 1,000 Windspires produced monthly.
Materials for the Windspire, such as steel and aluminum, are supplied by local Michigan companies.

ABC’s “20/20” recently featured the Windspire factory as a shining example of a company’s ability to transition from the automotive industry to renewable energy.

Photo used by specific permission of Mariah Power

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Heat from old windows and soda cans, renewable energy’s dark side, pollution cleaning water robot, Traitor Joes and the 5X5.

Free Heat From An Old Window And Some Soda Cans.

“Some of you may remember a post I wrote back on my birthday that offered a sneak peek of a top-secret project I have been working on in my garage, and asked you to guess what the picture might be. Here is the picture that I posted on that day.”

Renewable Energy’s Dark Side: Solar Panels and Hazardous Waste

“The push for building a clean energy economy has a dark side: the hazardous waste generated and the toxic chemicals used in the manufacturing of renewable energy components like solar panels. The factory of one rising star in green energy, Evergreen Solar, operating at only 40% capacity, produced a million pounds of hazardous waste in 2008.”

WatCleaner Robot Cleans Up Water Pollution

“Robots cleaning polluted water sounds futuristic? Not anymore.

Ye Yao, Chinese industrial designer, has designed a water cleaning device to combat the growing issue of where clean and potable water will come from. The WatCleaner, a new device created in the worldwide battle for clean water, is designed to automatically clean water.”

Traitor Joe’s: Greenpeace Rates Trader Joe’s Unsustainable Seafood Policies

“The environmental watchdog Greenpeace has gone after Trader Joe’s with a snarky campaign called Traitor Joe’s, complete with a website, a Traitor Joe’s Twitter account, and a singing fish telegram for consumers to let the company know how they feel about the store’s unsustainable seafood policies. ”

The Daily Five: 5 Green Tech Articles for a 5 Minute Read

Free Electric Car Charging; Truth About Cheap Biodiesel; Free power for the world; Energy Star 5.0; Solar Thermal Energy

photo credit: Amnemona

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A new video series from the Sundance channel, Grains of Change, showcases community leaders who help connect people with nature. The series, sponsored by Kashi, is about re-evaluating the way our food choices impact our environment, our bodies and our communities. The videos are short and to the point, well worth a watch and then sharing with friends and family.

Here’s a couple of my favorites:

“Plow to Plate is a dynamic coalition of physicians, farmers, chefs, restaurateurs, community leaders, land preservationists who have come together to promote and increase consumption of healthy, locally grown food by the community at large, as well as within institutional settings. It is the brainchild of three extraordinary women; Marydale Debor, a hospital administrator, Diane D’Isidori, a pediatrician and Ann Gallagher, a chef. Through the efforts of these women, Plow to Plate advocates nutrition first, involving an entire community to support local food production and alter the way that healthcare is dispensed.”

“Plant a fruit tree and help save the world”. Rico Montenegro is the Chief Arborist at Fruit Tree Planting Foundation (FTPF), an international non-profit organization that operates on the principle that where there is a fruit tree, there is no hunger and the air, water and soil are clean. Realizing all the ways that fruit trees benefit communities – protecting the environment and combating global warming, while improving human health and animal welfare – FTPF has set a goal to collectively plant 18 billion fruit trees, 3 for every person alive.

“With MyFarm, Trevor Paque transforms private urban yards into abundant gardens that supply the local community with vegetable boxes directly from the farms through a decentralized Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model. Paque and his crew follow organic as well as permaculture farming methods. They travel by bicycle as much as possible, even for deliveries. For My Farm, it’s about working with, rather than against nature.”

For the full series, head over to the Grains of Change at the Sundance Channel.

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We’ve talked about how all Electric Vehicles have both positive and negative traits, but now Michael Grosman from EVE Motor Group helps us sort it all out.

Guest Article by Michael Grosman -CEO EVE Motor Group

The environmental benefits from using an all Electric car are enormous.

BIG Statement………..so how are you going to back that up?

Well lets see………..To quantify some of the benefits, the average internal combustion car puts out 4 to 6 tons of green house gas a year and a lot of smell…but like when I visit my friend who is a panel beater and spends his day in a paint shop I ask him ….“How he stands the strong smell of thinners in the air?”    He says….. “What are you talking about; there’s nothing that smells here”

It’s the same for all of us…we just don’t know the difference…

So enter the age of ‘upgraded or converted petrol vehicles to all electric’…….. Not one ounce of petrol in an all electric car. Zero tailpipe emissions

Ok so the story you might hear from uninformed on lookers when you say I am upgrading my smelly petrol vehicle goes something like this…

Aren’t we just giving up one type of pollution for another?

Burning coal is worse than burning petrol!

Well here is a short outline of some of the facts to help give you weight and validity when you reply to your friend’s opinion.

There is so much excess electricity generated at night by the power companies that we could plug in a million electric cars at night and not bother the grid one little bit.

You see what happens in a coal fired power station is that they can not quickly just turn up or turn down the power out put to satisfy current demand.

A power station takes about 5 days to come on line from dead stop. This time is taken to bring the furnaces up to temperature slowly then the steam turbines, which are huge, have to be very slowly revved up to operating speed and all the other processes that go along with this just to get to a stage where there are ready to start making electricity. Then the coal needs to be stockpiled, brought in and loaded ready to go into the furnace, the switch gear energized and so on and so on…you get the idea though it’s not like turning on a switch

Because of this sheer scale of things it is not easy to quickly change the output or generating capacity.

So what happens at night in our coal fired power stations is that they are bringing up the output to match the expected load or need for electricity during the next day. So they are almost at full output during the night ready for everybody to get up and start turning on lights and computers and machinery, heaters , elevators , trains to get to work, etc, etc, etc.

This huge amount of excess capacity at night time is lost to the ether…pity huh! The coal station is burning all that coal whether we use the electricity or not. That’s why we have such low off peak rates…to try and motivate people to switch their usage habits and use this excess capacity at night rather than waste /lose it or add to the usage during the next day.

So you can see now whether we plug our Electric vehicles in or not to re-charge them ………….. All those power stations are still going to be burning all that coal.

So now we have this fantastic opportunity!

To take that spare or excess electricity at night time and store it in our electric vehicles batteries ready to be used the next day to get us about in our daily lives ……and all this with out adding one micron of extra greenhouse gas into the air we breathe.

Imagine the quality of air in our local communities if everyone upgraded just one of their cars to electric. Do you think we would be able to smell the difference as well?

There are reports by the department of energy in the US that say that Americans can upgrade 70% of their existing vehicles into all electric and not change the grid at all. No new power stations need to be built; the existing grid infrastructure will cope.  I think we can assume we would be similar in capacity if not better as we have quite good grid infrastructures’ here in Australia.

70% ??? , well that would be utopia if we could get to the stage where we have upgraded 70% of Australian vehicles to all electric…just close your eyes for a minute and image what your part of the world would be like to live in if we made a substantial reduction in all that exhaust spewing smelly mess that we have been so dependant on was to disappear…… without losing our mobility!

Some friends might get really technical on you and say well what about if you need to recharge during the day, huh now you’re adding to the electricity usage ……got you there!

A quick reply from you  stating that the Car engine in an internal combustion car is about 20 -25% efficient and smells……the motor in an Electric vehicle is 87% -95% efficient with no smell at all.

It means that you need to burn a lot (4 times as much) more petrol to move that old smelly car compared to the little energy needed to silently glide along in your new upgraded fully electric chariot………..

Also a coal fired power station has CO2 as a by product a petrol powered car has co2 and so many other nasties mixed in with the exhaust it just does not compare……..plus a petrol car still smells.

Then your ‘coup de grace’ goes like this………you say,

“I subscribe to Green power and all my electricity for my vehicle is sourced from renewable energy anyway”!

Are you thinking about your next commute and sitting in smelly traffic ……you can almost taste the pollution, cant you …its going to be hard for you now, because you know it does not have to be like this anymore.……..Who has been through the airport tunnel lately??

There is another form of pollution that we just have learnt to live with as well. Some call it white noise other’s just call it a @#%^& in the backside. They’re the ones who live near busy streets.

Its noise pollution, yep all those engines revving out up and down the street.

Well guess what……….. All that noise will go pretty much as well. Pretty much means you still hear the tyre noise a little but that’s all. Upgraded Electric Vehicles are quiet, in fact at low speeds the electric car is quite stealthy……….to the point where we have to think about playing some sort of music outside the car just so people know where we are… …… “Make mine Vivaldi for the morning commute and a little Brooks and Dunn for the trip home.”

Headline of the near future…”Real estate prices on busy roads heads north “

The next amazing environmental benefit for you to know about is that if you upgrade or convert an existing petrol powered vehicle to all electric you are taking about the best possible course of action to not add any more greenhouse gas and other pollutants to the environment ever from owning a car or van. (This point is so important that I think it needs repeating……….go on read it again)

You see there is so much energy and green house gas produced in the manufacturing of our vehicles that it makes so much sense just to not make another car. Just re-power a pre loved car with brand new all electric.

It is the engine and all the bits that make the petrol powered car go that smell and pollute and breakdown. The engine and extras eventually become obsolete and expensive to maintain over time.

Take a late model car, it depreciated a lot but if it’s been looked after the body looks brand new, the interior is just fine, the radio works and the seats are comfortable. You are happy driving it…you like the look, then why change……just repower it.

Running an electric car is cheaper than running a petrol powered car……….but that is not your motivation……..you want to make the world especially your little part of it better.

So now you know the truth about pollution and the electric car …and the truth shall set you free !…. free from stopping at petrol stations, free from costly mechanical repair bills, free from regular servicing costs, free to enjoy a cleaner environment, free to breathe fresh air where you smell the roses instead of dusting them off.

This truth is also an obligation for you….it means that you are now charged with spreading the word…..even if you are not in a position to upgrade your car right now that’s OK………we do what we can do.

However if you can afford to upgrade or convert at least one of your cars then show your kids and others some leadership and vision………………UPGRADE!

For the others who just want to look cool gliding around town in their new electric car……well that’s fine too.

Whatever you do…………………. Just get on with your life with an electric vehicle. Enjoy the independence.

HOW to get my car converted.

Michael has long been involved in the Automotive and renewable energy markets. He has been an advocate for Electric vehicles in Australia for a long time. Recently he was  brought in to head up the EVE Motor Group in their  push to take the converting of petrol powered cars to all electric mainstream.

Please feel free to leave a comment or question for Michael.

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The results of your voting for your two favorite charities are in! The dollars have been tallied, and we have the winners!

Our “Buck For Charity” Drive asked you to vote for your two favorite charities out of a list of five that we provided, and then asked you to donate $1.00 into a general pool, with the two charities with the highest vote counts splitting the money.

But before I get to the results, let me take a second to tell you what we learned about you, and about ourselves.

I was a little surprised to find that more of you actually contributed to the charity, than actually voted. That means that for a lot of you, it wasn’t so much about which charity got your dollar, as it was about the act of giving. When I say surprised, what I mean is online polls are notoriously manipulated, with people voting and not donating, or people voting multiple times. That didn’t happen, and that tells me a lot about you, our readers and defenders of the earth.

I know that economic times are difficult. That’s one of the reasons we decided to run this charity drive. Times are tough for everyone, including charities. I know that many of you may be experiencing these tough times yourselves, and the fact that you donated, even a little bit, says a lot about you.

I also learned that it takes a team effort to make change. This wasnt just about The Good Human , Twilight Earth, Grass Stain Guru, Lighter Footstep, My Green Side, The Smart Mama, A Little Greener Every Day, Fake Plastic Fish, Allies Answers, and Natural Papa raising money. It was about all of us, websites and readers together, engaging in a collective effort to do good and make positive change.

And now for the results!

The total amount of donations received is $653.00! This is actually a lot of money considering that we only asked each person to donate $1.00, and the money that you donated will be happily received by Sustainable Harvest with 27% of the votes and Water for People with 24% of the votes!

The runner up’s are:

Environmental Working Group received 21% of the votes

Healthy Child Healthy World received 15% of the votes and

Kiva received 13% of the votes

Thank you all very much for helping to make the “Buck For Charity” drive a success!

Keep up the good fight, and don’t forget to Alter the Eco!

photo credit: db*photography

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Twilight Earth makes fun of itself with 10 Things Every Green Blogger Must Do.

1.  Create some type of Green top 10 list.

Top 10 lists are cool, right? I mean it’s what brought you here in the first place! A lot of people who seem to know what they are talking about, keep telling bloggers that the one thing that is lacking in readers is an attention span. What better way for the newbie blogger to cut his teeth on some instant traffic, than to whip up a top 10 list? This is the equivalent of journalistic Ramen Noodles!

2.  Write at least one article each on CFL’s, Polar Bears and Al Gore.

Nothing says “I’m an environmentalist” more than conjuring up an image in your readers minds of Al Gore riding a polar bear while proudly displaying a CFL. In fact, while going to see the movie “The Golden Compass“, I kept hoping to see an Al Gore like character, riding a polar bear into battle with a low energy type light emitting weapon. Wait! Maybe I did see that!

3.  Create a Twitter account and start following @TreeHugger, @Grist, and @PlanetGreen.

These guys are powerhouses not only in online environmental media circles, but on Twitter as well. These are the guys you try to model yourself after, and after all, who doesn’t like big Green friends? (Accidentally dropping the F-bomb to 17,000 followers while trying to send a direct message to 1 person is always good for a laugh too! Thanks for the help with the cover up on that one too, @balmeras!)

4.  Write one article titled “It’s not easy being Green.”

I must admit, we kind of cheated on this one, but apparently, there are a lot of other bloggers who did not. Honestly though, if there is one phrase that drives me up the wall, it’s that one!

5.  Put up lots and lots of photos.

Everybody loves a photo, and they are easy and fun to do!

6.  Use the word “Green” as often as possible and always make sure you capitalize the word “Green.”

So Green is Cliche, you say? Well, Green is also the new Brown.

7.  Create an article about a company or organization that is counter to everything you stand for.

This is great for getting the word out on the street about the low down dealings of the planet polluters. It’s also great for comments and controversy. (And hey, now I can say that I’ve been called a Commie Marxist Socialist, on my resume!)

8.  Make sure that you have a photo of yourself in which you look like you are either hiking a trail, or just getting off work.

If you don’t photograph well,  (like me) go through the thousands of photographs of yourself that have been taken in the last 10 years and pick the one that sucks less.

9.  Don’t take yourself too seriously. Ever. Really. You don’t want to turn into that Commie Marxist Socialist that people keep calling you!

10. Always keep them guessing.

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photo credit: mackz

A new report from Amnesty international accuses oil companies, specifically Shell, or directly engineering the environmental devastation in Nigeria.  But Shell isn’t backing down so easily.

Guest Article by Elaisha Stokes

Natural resources, in theory,  bring prosperity to the countries fortunate enough to house them.  But when Nigeria struck oil in 1956, it was anything but a blessing.  The once friendly nation now suffers the curse of black gold.  Nigeria is poorer than ever, violence is rampant, and the waters run black.  Critics point to the paradox of plenty which seems to blight the potential of so many African nations.  But last week Amnesty International declared that the failure of the Nigerian state has less to do with the existence of oil, and more to do with the oil companies, specifically Shell, that operate in the region.

The report, Petroleum, pollution and poverty in the Niger Delta, doesn’t mince words:

“The oil industry is responsible for widespread pollution in the Niger Delta…. oil spills, waste dumping, and gas flaring are notorious and endemic.  Undoubtedly, in many parts of the Niger Delta, community action and reaction is part of the problem of pollution.  However, as long as companies continue to deny that their poor practice is a major factor in community hostility, the situation will not improve.”

Strong words, but perhaps not unwarranted.  The Niger Delta is the world’s largest wetland – a complex system of rivers and creeks vein the marsh that once provided food and livelihood for the over 130 million Nigerians who call Africa’s most populace nation home.  But decades of oil spills and acid rain from gas flares have destroyed the natural landscape.  Mangroves and fisheries have been replaced by contaminated waterways and carcinogenic fields.  The once self sufficient food producing nation now imports more agricultural products than it domestically produces.  And because the oil refineries are constantly breaking down due to technical malfunctions or rebel attacks, Nigeria must also import the bulk of its fuel.

Nigeria rates below all other major oil producing nations in terms of the quality of life index.   Its annual per capita income of $1,400 is less than that of Senegal, which exports mainly fish and nuts.   Oil accounted for $2.6 billion in revenue in the first quarter of 2009 alone.  By all accounts, Nigeria should be an African success story.

Instead Nigeria has become a dangerous country, addicted to black gold.

Last month it looked like justice might finally be served in the Niger Delta.  In a landmark settlement, Shell oil agreed to pay the family of Ken Saro Wiwa, a Nigerian environmental and human rights activist, $15.5 million in an out-of-court settlement.  The case alleged Shell was complicit in murder, torture and other human rights abuses of the Nigerian government against local activists who were protesting the corporations presence in the oil-rich Niger Delta.  For a brief moment, it looked as though big oil might finally be held accountable, if only financially.

But 2009 has been a year of violence for the region, with rebel groups declaring all out war on the oil companies.  And although it agreed to a settlement, Shell continues to deny any wrong doing in the Niger Delta.  In an official response to the Amnesty report, the corporation stated: “The root causes of the Niger Delta’s humanitarian issues are poverty, corruption, crime, militancy and violence.  This report does not acknowledge these issues to any substantive degree, but concentrates on the impact of oil and gas operations in isolation — as such its value is limited.”

Perhaps it’s isn’t fair to point the finger square at Shell – Nigeria has a long colonial history, and ethnic tensions have existed in the fragile southern delta since time memorial.  Certainly Shell should not be held accountable for the $14 billion in oil revenues that regularly go missing, siphoned by corrupt officials.

Then again, it was the oil companies that paid off village chiefs to build their pipelines, with little thought to community consultation or environmental impact assessments.  It was the oil companies that opted to use the process of gas flaring,  which poisoned the wetland and contributed to more greenhouse gas emissions than all other sources in sub-Saharan Africa combined.  And between 1986 and 2003, it was the oil companies that let more than 50,000 acres of mangroves disappeared from the coast, largely because of land clearing and canal dredging for oil and gas exploration.

Ultimately, perhaps it’s us who are to blame.  The United States and Western Europe are the primary consumers of Nigerian oil.  It is our dependency on black gold that has ultimately allowed this environmental and human rights travesty to occur.  It is our persistent ignorance that will allow it to continue.

Elaisha Stokes is an environmental filmmaker and journalist based in Toronto, Canada.  For more on the relationship between international development and the environment check out her blog:  www.theearthfeed.com

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Coal Country, the new film about coal mining, could be considered kin to the film Food, Inc., covering the dirty coal energy issue instead of dirty food issues, and Big Coal probably wishes the movie would just disappear…

For those of us who don’t live in a coal mining region, how can we understand the local environmental impacts of mountaintop removal mining (MTR), or the health and water problems for both the miners and other local residents? Coal Country takes us inside modern coal mining, from Big Coal officials down to Big Coal’s employees, and over to those who just witness the effects.

“Both sides in this conflict claim that history is on their side. Families have lived in the region for generations and most have ancestors who worked in the mines. Everyone shares a deep love for the land, but MTR is tearing them apart.

Are the people fighting against mountaintop removal really protecting the earth, or do they stand in the way of affordable energy for all Americans? What is behind promises of “cheap energy” and “clean coal.” Are they achievable, and at what cost? And what are the alternatives for our energy future?” – WV Gazette

Coal Country premieres July 11th, in South Charleston, West Virginia.

Image: unanimousgraphics at Flickr under CC License

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photo credit: brownpau

Yesterday may have been the 4th of July, but enjoy the photos of the Washington DC Fireworks!

photo credit: Mike Murrow

photo credit: rwhitesi37

photo credit: brownpau

photo credit: Poldavo (Alex)

photo credit: kendrickhang

photo credit: ▌ÇP▐

photo credit: Poldavo (Alex)

We hope you enjoyed your 4th of July (if you celebrated it here in the United States.) Please remember, with liberty and freedom, come responsibility. Please live responsibly, keep up the good fight and Alter the Eco!

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