The Ecoist Abode

Wind Farm Coops Taking Hold in England

2008-12-15T19:56:00.000-08:00

With annual returns of 10% coupled with low risk, wind farm cooperatives are drawing growing numbers of investors in England, good news for Europe's hopes to lead the world in renewable energy. Along with being a safe investment during turbulent economic times, the cooperatives are drawing interest from those concerned not just with global warming and climate change , but also with energy security.

"It's not only a climate issue, but it's also a problem with energy supplies," Clive Burke, a shareholder in the Westmill cooperative near Swindon, southwest England, told AFP. We are exceeding the ability of our planet to support our energy needs."

The European Union (EU) leaders last week agreed a landmark package to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020, make 20% energy savings and bring renewable energy sources up to 20% of total energy use.

The EU accord gave a boost to efforts to agree an historic new climate treaty in Copenhagen next December, to succeed the Kyoto Protocol's provisions when they run out in 2012.

Those lofty ambitions begin on the ground: Burke, who works as an electrical engineer at a nearby power station, is one of 2,500 people who invested between 250 and 20,000 pounds, the legal maximum, in Westmill. The cooperative, which began production in March, is the first wind farm to be wholly owned by individuals in Britain, which with gales sweeping in from the Atlantic has the best wind resources in Europe.

"We have produced energy every day since then," Adam Twine, a farmer who started the project 15 years ago on his plot of land by installing five wind turbines 160 feet in height.

Overall, the project cost $11.9 million, nearly 60% of which came from individual shareholders, with the remainder being funded by a bank loan that is to be repaid over the next 8 to 10 years. CO2 emissions resulting from the production, installation and the lifetime of the turbine, which stretches 25 years, will be offset in just six months. The turbines, which were installed by industrial giant Siemens and are maintained and operated remotely from Germany, produce sufficient power for 2,500 homes.

It's there, through the sale of electricity, that the cooperative has been making back its investment. When they first began appearing in Britain, wind farm cooperatives returned an average of 6% annually, but recent increases in the price of energy have spiked that up to 10%, 12.5% at Westmill, and that's the average return over 25 years, factoring in loan repayments but excluding tax incentives.

"And it's not finished," Burke noted, adding that cooperatives like Westmill have the added advantage of not tapping into already-strained government finances.

That opinion is backed by the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA), with spokesman Nick Medic noting: "The investment is not only financial, it's also emotional."

He added: "Community funded projects play an important role because they take a bit of the burden off the government, offer a financial return higher than most savings accounts and give communities a sense of ownership which is psychologically important."

Many wind farms ensure they are driven by local communities, with cooperatives encouraging local investment, more than half of Westmill's investors, for example, live within a 20-mile perimeter.

"It's not a big company that planted a wind farm in the middle of our community," Burke said. "It's actually ours, we own it".

Large companies have, in recent months, tried to encourage local community involvement in their projects, Falck Renewables, a subsidiary of Italian group Falck, gave locals an opportunity to invest in its wind farms in Scotland.

They decided to form cooperatives, one of which raised five times as much as was initially requested. The first cooperative wind farm was set up in Britain in 1997. Currently there are seven wind farm cooperatives in Britain with a total of 5,500 investors. In 2007, five percent of the total energy consumed in Britain was produced through renewable sources. Last year, wind farms contributed around two percent of Britain's total energy production, eight gigawatts, leapfrogging hydropower for the first time.

Britain also overtook Denmark last year to become Europe's premier producer of offshore wind energy. According to the BWEA, British wind farms by themselves could produce 30 gigawatts of energy by 2020, with wind farms currently in development representing a potential additional supply of 20 gigawatts, sufficient to power 11 million homes.

"Wind is a relatively solid place to put your money. Demand (in energy) is going up, supplies are looking increasingly uncertain. We have an unlimited supply of wind."

A New Green Deal for the World

2008-11-06T09:40:00.000-08:00

Germany's foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier is calling for the world to work more closely together on the environment to create a "New Green Deal" after Barack Obama United States election victory.

"Climate change is one of the challenges which we can either solve together or fail on together," the foreign minister said at an environment conference in Freiburg, southern Germany. "The world needs a New Green Deal!"

Steinmeier is due to challenger Angela Merkel for the chancellorship in elections in September 2009. Also at the two-day conference was Rajendra K. Pachauri, chair of the UN's Nobel Prize-winning body on climate change, the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Democrats Float New Offshore Drilling Plan

2008-09-10T18:05:00.000-07:00

House Democrats offered a broader drilling proposal Wednesday that would allow offshore energy development beyond 50 miles from the coast if a state gives the go-ahead and opens all federal waters 100 miles from land. The drilling measure is part of a broader energy package expected to come up for a vote next week that also would roll back tax breaks for the largest oil companies and require them to pay additional royalties with the money to be used to spur renewable energy programs and conservation.

Federal waters within 50 miles of shore would continue to be protected from drilling. Waters off Florida's Gulf coast also would remain protected at least until 2022 under the plan. But the proposal, announced by Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office, would essentially end the longstanding federal ban on oil and gas drilling that has barred oil companies from more than 80% of Outer Continental Shelf waters from New England to Washington state.

Congressional Republicans for weeks have demanded a vote on allowing access to more of the country's offshore oil and gas resources, an issue that also has become the core of GOP presidential nominee John McCain's response to high gasoline prices. But Republicans have strongly opposed new taxes on the oil companies as well as another of the Democrats' demands: that utilities nationwide be required to use at least 15 percent of their electricity from renewable sources such as wind and solar.

Both provisions are key to the Democrats' energy legislation. House Republican leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said the Democrats' drilling proposal would still leave vast areas of federal coastal waters, believed to have 18 billion barrels of oil and large natural gas resources, off-limits.

"They're trying to pull a hoax on the American people," Boehner told reporters Wednesday. He said the Democrats' plan didn't appear to include any sharing of royalties with states and with no financial incentives states would likely not participate, resulting "in little or no new American energy production."

The Senate, meanwhile, is expected next week to take up several drilling proposals including one that would open waters off the Atlantic from Virginia to Georgia and the eastern Gulf off Florida to drilling but keep the bans in place elsewhere. That plan also would allow for a 50-mile coastal buffer.

Did You Know? Gel Based Shaving Creams

2008-09-07T09:07:00.000-07:00

Did You Know?

Just how bad are gel shave creams? First off the obvious is that we have to dispose of the containers when empty and they go to a landfill. However, the propellant is petroleum based in each can. If just 10% of US households stopped using gel based shaving creams we could save enough oil to power 250,000 homes!

American Oil Demand Dives

2008-08-12T14:48:00.000-07:00

American oil demand during the first half of the year fell by an average 800,000 barrels per day (bpd) compared with the same period a year ago, the biggest volume decline in 26 years, the Energy Information Administration said on Tuesday. In its latest monthly energy forecast , the EIA said the huge drop in demand was due to slower US economic growth and the impact of high petroleum prices. The drop in U.S. oil demand helped offset a 1.3 million bpd increase in petroleum consumption in nonindustrial countries during the first half of the year.

As a result, preliminary data shows that global oil consumption rose by 500,000 bpd in the six month period, the EIA said. The Energy Department's analytical arm sees continued falling oil demand, and for the first time is predicting that U.S. petroleum consumption in 2009 will be lower than this year, which would mark a drop in annual demand for three years straight.

"Total US petroleum and other liquids consumption is projected to shrink by almost 500,000 (bpd) in 2008 based on prospects for a weak economy and continuing high crude oil and product prices extending into 2009," the EIA said.

US daily oil use fell by a slight 7,000 barrels last year and is forecast to decline by 480,000 barrels this year and then by another 120,000 barrels next year. The EIA is now forecasting that US oil demand in 2009 will average 20.08 million bpd, the lowest level since 2003. High gasoline prices have cut into American demand, but the EIA expects lower pump costs through December than previously forecast, with gasoline averaging $3.81 a gallon in the fourth quarter compared with the record $4.11 reached in July.

However, US consumers will be hit with much higher heating fuel costs this winter, the agency warned. The average residential price for heating oil during the upcoming heating season, which runs from October through March, is forecast to be $4.34 a gallon, up 31% from last winter. Households that use natural gas as their heating fuel will pay an average $15.58 per thousand cubic feet of gas, about 22% more than last winter, the EIA said.

Ethanol not going anywhere says EPA

2008-08-09T09:17:00.000-07:00

Amid a growing backlash to federal requirements that ethanol be blended into gasoline, the Environmental Protection Agency denied a request by Texas to waive the mandate. The decision, while expected, deals a blow to Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who asked for the waiver after corn prices climbed sharply this spring. He said that the requirements on the amount of corn-based ethanol that has to be blended into gasoline was severely harming the state's economy (in particular its livestock sector).

In denying Texas's request, the EPA estimated that waiving the national mandate, which requires that the United States produce 9 billion gallons of ethanol fuel this year and 36 billion gallons by 2022, would reduce corn prices only slightly (by only seven cents a bushel). The EPA's move, however, certainly won't be the last word about biofuels. The action now moves to Congress and even the presidential candidates.

Since May, Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Republican, has been pushing to "freeze" ethanol blending at last year's levels, when 4.7 billion gallons of domestic ethanol were produced. Hutchison's bill has been cosponsored by 11 other Republican senators, including Republican presidential hopeful John McCain.

McCain, in fact, is a longtime ethanol critic, and his views contrast sharply with those of his Democratic presidential rival, Barack Obama, who has strongly supported biofuel incentives in the Senate. (His home state, Illinois, is one of the country's top agricultural producers, and his victory in corn-centric Iowa's primaries helped launch his candidacy.) Even as corn-based ethanol has come under attack from some quarters, Obama has defended it as a good "transitional" fuel.

In announcing the decision today, EPA administrator Stephen Johnson said the agency, after consulting with economists and reviewing 15,000 public comments, concluded that the alternative fuel standards are "strengthening the nation's energy security and supporting American farming communities."

Many Democrats in Congress agree, so it seems unlikely that Hutchison's bill will get very far. Says Senate Agriculture Chairman Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, "Renewable biofuels are one of the most important tools we have to reduce our dependence on foreign oil."

Eight Signs the Animal World is out of Balance

2008-07-18T11:43:00.000-07:00

A polar bear clinging to a melting iceberg may the poster child for global warming, but rising temperatures, pollution and other human activity are also affecting the animal kingdom in far subtler ways. Like the proverbial canary in the coal mine, the natural world could be giving us other signs that human intervention has knocked it way off kilter.

Some recent examples:
1. Earlier Migration: Several bird species are making their annual northward jaunt slightly ahead of schedule in recent springs, as the East Coast of the United States heats up, according to a study detailed in the June issue of the journal Global Change Biology. The report confirms similar studies dating back to 2006. Early birds may not sound like a huge deal, but scientists warn that long-distance migrators who start out in South America, and therefore lack cues about the timing of spring in Northern Hemisphere destinations, will be less able to keep pace with the changing climate. "Trees and shrubs are further along in their development, and different groups of insects are out," said lead author Abraham Miller-Rushing of Boston University. "Spring is coming earlier for most other plants and animals, but not for the long-distance migratory birds. Thus, these long-distance migrant birds may need to learn to eat different sources of food or face other challenges because of the changes in timing."

2: Jellyfish Rule: An outbreak of jellyfish in oceans across the planet has resulted from the stinging creatures hitching rides on ships that circumnavigate the globe. In fact, studies suggest that almost a quarter of all marine species in international harbors are alien transplants, thanks to human-assisted dispersal.

3: Food Web Contaminated. Scientists said last month that they found toxic pollutants in nine deep-sea species of cephalopods, a class of mollusks that includes octopuses, squid, cuttlefish and nautiluses. Among the contaminants were at least two banned in the United States in the 1970s: dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Scientists say it's further evidence that contaminants make their way deep into the marine food web.

4. Heading for the Hills: Thirty species of reptiles and amphibians have fled uphill to cooler climes as global warming has caused the mercury to rise. We could see a rash of extinctions occurring between 2050 and 2100, scientists say, because higher ground will eventually run out.

5. Penguins in Peril: A rapid population decline among penguins because, in addition to a warming planet, they face the triple whammy of oil pollution, depletion of fisheries and aggressive coastline development. "Penguins are among those species that show us that we are making fundamental changes to our world," said Dee Boersma, a University of Washington biology professor who has studied the flightless birds for more than 25 years. "The fate of all species is to go extinct, but there are some species that go extinct before their time and we are facing that possibility with some penguins.

6. Sea-Life Shift: Scientists see a notable shift in the composition of coastal marine animal communities, caused in part by changing ocean temperatures, from vertebrates (fish) to invertebrates (lobsters, squid, and crabs), as well as from bottom-feeders to species that feed higher in the water column. Meanwhile, warm-water species have superseded larger, cool-water species in population size.

7. Migrating Parasite: The parasite Angiostronglyus vasorum, commonly known as "French heartworm," is migrating northward because of rising temperatures. Normally found in southwestern England, the parasite has been detected in dogs admitted to animal hospitals in Scotland. Climbing temperatures in the country have also resulted in a sudden proliferation of slugs and snails.

8. Food Shortages: Plant-loving animals in extremely seasonal environments such as the Arctic struggle to feed themselves because global warming causes their food supply to peak in availability before they can reach breeding grounds. "Think of it like this," said Eric Post, a biologist at Penn State. "You've been out on the town with friends, and on the way home you want to stop off for a bite to eat, but the restaurant you've always gone to has closed early. So you try for one around the corner that's always open a little longer. But when you get to that one, it too is closed. For herbivores, the fact that there are several 'restaurants' - their food patches - dispersed across the landscape isn't useful if they all begin closing at the same time in addition to closing earlier in the season."

Russia Evacuates Arctic Station due to Sea Ice Melt

2008-07-15T07:43:00.000-07:00

A spokesman for a Russian scientific institution says global warming is causing Arctic sea ice to melt earlier than it normally does, forcing the evacuation of a research station in the Western Arctic. Sergei Balyasnikov of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute said on Monday that the North Pole-35 station and its 21 researchers will be pulled out this week instead of late August.

He said a nuclear icebreaker will take a research vessel to the station that is currently drifting between the Franz Josef Land archipelago and the Novaya Zemlya island in the western Arctic. Over the last 60 years, Russia has organized dozens of research stations that drift westwards from the Bering Strait near Alaska and collect data on weather and Arctic flora and fauna.

Italy and England Looking at new Nuclear Power

2008-07-14T13:38:00.000-07:00

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Sunday oil-consuming countries should meet to fix a maximum price they were prepared to pay for oil or they would have to invest heavily in nuclear power. Berlusconi denounced the "unfair" movement of wealth from consumer nations to oil-producing countries and the "exponential" rise in prices.

"It is an emergency situation that we find ourselves in today, and I think that wielding this threat should bring a fall in the price of oil," Berlusconi told reporters after a summit of EU and Mediterranean leaders. "Consumer countries need to meet as soon as possible, maybe in London, to reach an agreement on a maximum price for oil which cannot be breached," said Berlusconi. "Alternatively, we will need a massive building program of nuclear power reactors," he said. Italy halted its nuclear energy program after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

Berlusconi said his proposal for a meeting had the approval of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Early editions of Monday's British newspapers reported that Brown wanted at least eight new nuclear power stations to come on stream in Britain during the next 15 years. Brown, who also attended the summit, said a "renaissance" of nuclear power was one of the key elements of the British government's oil replacement strategy.

Did You Know? Plastic Waste in the Ocean

2008-07-08T21:01:00.000-07:00

Did you know that the average one square mile of ocean contains 46,000 pieces of plastic waste? How sad is that? Clean up your trash and recycle!

GM to build huge solar plant in Spain

2008-07-08T09:13:00.000-07:00

US automobile giant General Motors announced it will build the world's largest rooftop solar power station at its biggest factory in Europe, the Financial Times reported. Its factory in Zaragoza, northern Spain, will be outfitted with 183,000 square metres of solar panels in a 78.5 million dollar project to provide a 25% of the factory's power at peak times, the paper said.

The carmaker is working with Veolia Environnement of France and Clairvoyant Energy of the US on the project, which is part of a commitment to greater sustainability. GM is due to install solar panels on its factory in Saint Petersburg next and is looking at whether to roll out the scheme to its other 19 plants across Europe.

John McCain Pledges to Focus on Climate Change

2008-05-12T08:14:00.001-07:00

Republican John McCain pledged to take the lead in combating global climate change if elected president in a speech that set him apart from the policies of President George W. Bush. In remarks he prepared to give at a wind technology firm in Portland, Oregon, on Monday, the Arizona senator said he would seek international accords to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and would offer an incentive system to make businesses in the United States cleaner.

"The facts of global warming demand our urgent attention, especially in Washington," McCain said in remarks he planned to give at the Vestas Wind Technology plant. "Good stewardship, prudence, and simple common sense demand that we act to meet the challenge, and act quickly," he added.

McCain is visiting Oregon where Democratic rival Sen. Barack Obama is favored to beat Sen. Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary on May 20. The speech set McCain apart from fellow Republican Bush, who has been skeptical about global warming throughout his eight-year term, and was calibrated to win support from independents and centrist Democrats he will need to convince to win office in the November election.

"I will not shirk the mantle of leadership that the United States bears. I will not permit eight long years to pass without serious action on serious challenges," he added.

If elected president, McCain said he would push for "meaningful environmental protocols" that included developing industrial powers India and China, to seek to cut worldwide greenhouse gas emissions. He planned to present a socalled cap and trade system to Congress that sets clear limits on all greenhouse gas emissions for American businesses, while also allowing the sale of rights to excess emissions, so as to "change the dynamic" of the US energy economy.

"Those who want clean coal technology, more wind and solar, nuclear power, biomass and biofuels will have their opportunity through a new market that rewards those and other innovations in clean energy," he said.

McCain said the plan would set out specific goals on U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, including a return by 2012 to 2005 levels of emission, and by 2020 to 1990s levels. McCain has campaigned on his support for alternative energy sources including wind, solar and biomass technologies in his run for the White House, as well as support for nuclear power.

Scientists Expect Major Arctic Ice Melt This Summer

2008-05-04T11:16:00.000-07:00

The Arctic will remain on thinning ice, and climate warming is expected to begin affecting the Antarctic also, scientists said Friday. "The long-term prognosis is not very optimistic," atmospheric scientist Jennifer Francis of Rutgers University said at a briefing.

Last summer sea ice in the North shrank to a record low, a change many attribute to global warming. But while solar radiation and amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are similar at the poles, to date the regions have responded differently, with little change in the South, explained oceanographer James Overland of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. What researchers have concluded was happening, was that in the North, global warming and natural variability of climate were reinforcing one another, sending the Arctic into a new state with much less sea ice than in the past.

"And there is very little chance for the climate to return to the conditions of 20 years ago," he added.

On the other hand, Overland explained, the ozone hole in the Antarctic masked conditions there, keeping temperatures low in most of the continent other than the peninsula reaching toward South America. "So there is a scientific reason for why we're not seeing large changes in the Antarctic like we're seeing in the Arctic," he said.

But, Overland added, as the ozone hole recovers in coming years, global warming will begin to affect the South Pole also. The briefing covered data being reported in a paper scheduled for publication next week in Eos, a journal of the American Geophysical Union. Overland said he used to be among those skeptical about the effects of global climate change. The new findings, which he termed "startling," were developed at a recent workshop, he said.

There is agreement between weather observations, the output of computer climate models and scientific expectations for what should happen, added Francis. All the evidence points toward human made changes at both poles, she said, a conclusion that "further depletes the arsenals of those who insist that human caused climate change is nothing to worry about."

Climatologist Gareth Marshall of the British Antarctic Survey said that while the term global warming is widely used, things are more complicated at the regional level. In the Antarctic, he explained, climate change strengthened winds blowing around the continent, helping trap colder air, but that will decrease in the future, allowing warmer conditions to begin, he said.

And, Marshall added, all studies now show that human activities are the drivers of climate change in the Antarctic. Asked if this summer will match last year's record low sea ice in the North, Overland that is likely.

"The tea leaves point to a minimal amount of sea ice next September, that would be the same as we had last summer, 40 percent loss compared to 20 years ago," he said. Overland added that the winter freeze got a late start last fall.

Francis added: "Over this entire fall, winter and right up 'till today the ice concentration, the amount of ice that's floating around on the Arctic, has been below normal every single day. All arrows are pointing towards, certainly not a recovery, something like we had last summer and possibly worse," she said.

Did You Know? Fruits and Vegetables

2008-05-02T22:11:00.000-07:00

Did you know that the typical fruit or vegetable you buy at the store is transported an average of 1500 miles before being sold? Try to eat locally grown fruits and vegetables when possible and save resources and cut pollution.

General Motors Making Larger Investments in Green Ethanol

2008-05-02T09:42:00.000-07:00

General Motors Corp. has taken an undisclosed equity stake in a second cellulosic ethanol research firm, boosting the Detroit automaker's plans to jumpstart the production of renewable fuels. GM's new venture is with Boston based Mascoma Corp., which plans to build a refinery in Michigan. The investment was announced by GM President Fritz Henderson on Thursday at a Washington news conference.

The news follows GM's announcement in January that it had invested in Illinois-based Coskata, another cellulosic ethanol company, as part of the company's effort to speed the development of biofuels made from renewable resources such as switchgrass, paper waste, woodchips and corn stalks. In July, Gov. Jennifer Granholm announced that Mascoma would build a plant in Michigan. The location will be announced in the next month or two, Mascoma CEO Bruce Jamerson said. The plant isn't likely to begin producing significant quantities of ethanol until 2010, he added.

"This is absolutely critical to our future," Henderson said of the Mascoma venture, noting it was a "small investment" compared to a product launch. "It is in our economic self-interest for these companies to succeed."

Henderson said ethanol is the only nearterm solution to dramatically reducing oil usage in the United States and that flex-fuel vehicles, which can run on a mixture of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline or regular gasoline mixtures, are a viable solution. There are 7 million flex-fuel vehicles currently on the road, 3 million of which are GM products. The Detroit automaker has promised to make half of its vehicles capable of running on E85 by 2012. Automakers get credits toward meeting fuel economy requirements for making flexfuel vehicles .

Jamerson said Mascoma hopes to produce at least 200,000 gallons of cellulosic ethanol annually starting in 2009 from renewable resources at a production cost of between $1 and $1.50 a gallon. That would make it price competitive with gasoline. The company has a demonstration refinery under construction in Rome, N.Y., that will begin producing switchgrass ethanol before year's end and another planned for construction in Tennessee.

Jamerson said 3 yr old Mascoma uses a special type of yeast to break down waste material and turn it into ethanol. Jamerson said the raw material cost of producing cellulosic ethanol will be about $50 a ton, which translates in energy content to $17 a-barrel oil equivalent, a fraction of the current price of oil. Mascoma has about 100 employees, including 35 Ph.D. scientists.

By 2010, Mascoma hopes to ramp up its production to more than 1 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol a year. No cellulosic ethanol is commercially produced worldwide today, but Congress has mandated that the United States use 16 billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol by 2022. Steven Pueppke, director of the Office of Biobased Technologies at Michigan State University, said the GM announcement "is a validation of the Mascoma model. It ties them even closer to Michigan and bodes well for the state."

Pueppke said cellulosic ethanol plays to Michigan's strengths, in part because the state has so much cellulose, or plant material, such as woodchips and corn cobs. Moving to cellulosic ethanol "neutralizes the fuel-vs.-food controversy that's been so much in the news," Pueppke said. "It's clearly a long-term strategic solution that plays to Michigan's strengths."

Earth Unable to keep pace with Human Emissions

2008-04-30T09:31:00.000-07:00

On Earth, there has always been a balance between carbon dioxide emissions and Earth's ability to absorb them. That is until humans began burning fossil fuels. Now it is becoming evident that the Earth is unable to keep up with the emissions. The finding, reported in the journal Nature Geoscience, relies on ancient Antarctic ice bubbles that contain air samples going back 610,000 years. Climate scientists for the last 25 years or so have suggested that some kind of natural mechanism regulates our planet's temperature and the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Those skeptical about human influence on global warming point to this as the cause for recent climate change.

This research is likely the first observable evidence for this natural mechanism. This mechanism, known as "feedback," has been thrown out of whack by a steep rise in carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of coal and petroleum for the last 200 years or so, said Richard Zeebe, a co-author of the report.

"These feedbacks operate so slowly that they will not help us in terms of climate change ... that we're going to see in the next several hundred years," Zeebe said by telephone from the University of Hawaii. "Right now we have put the system entirely out of equilibrium."

In the ancient past, excess carbon dioxide came mostly from volcanoes, which spewed very little of the chemical compared to what humans activities do now, but it still had to be addressed. This antique excess carbon dioxide, a powerful greenhouse gas, was removed from the atmosphere through the weathering of mountains, which take in the chemical. In the end, it was washed downhill into oceans and buried in deep sea sediments, Zeebe said.

Zeebe analyzed carbon dioxide that had been captured in Antarctic ice, and by figuring out how much carbon dioxide was in the atmosphere at various points in time, he and his co-author determined that it waxed and waned along with the world's temperature.

"When the carbon dioxide was low, the temperature was low, and we had an ice age," he said. And while Earth's temperature fell during ice ages and rose during the interglacial periods between them, the planet's mean temperature has been going slowly down for about 600,000 years.

The average change in the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide over the last 600,000 years has been just 22 parts per million by volume, Zeebe said, which means that 22 molecules of carbon dioxide were added to, or removed from, every million molecules of air. Since the Industrial Revolution began in the 18th century, ushering in the widespread human use of fossil fuels, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has risen by 100 parts per million. That means human activities are putting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere about 14,000 times as fast as natural processes do, Zeebe said. And it appears to be speeding up...the US government reported last week that in 2007 alone, atmospheric carbon dioxide increased by 2.4 parts per million. The natural mechanism will eventually absorb the excess carbon dioxide, Zeebe said, but not for hundreds of thousands of years.

Galapagos Islands Tours Going Green Through Ecoventura

2008-04-28T14:21:00.000-07:00

Going green takes much more of a commitment than simply reducing and reusing. It takes commitment and hard work to create sustainable and financially sound programs to enhance an area. Ecoventura ia a company that is making a real difference in responsible tourism in the Galapagos Islands. Through an initiative of President and Owner Santiago Dunn, Ecoventura has spent upwards of half a million dollars since the turn of the century to refurbish its fleet of touring vessels in order to meet its own stringent ecominded standards. It has pledged to collect through client donations and its own infusions $80,000 per year over the next three years for the Galapagos Marine Biodiversity Fund which targets environmental education and marine conservation by strengthening the local communities ability to manage natural resources.

On one level this is self-serving. if the fragile ecosystems of the Galapagos Islands are irreversibly damaged by tourism and visits are drastically reduced or altogether banned, Ecoventura is out of business. On the highest level, this small company is doing its part to raise the consciousness of travelers and how collective footprints can either be a disaster or a positive effect. The company began running yacht tours in the Galapagos in 1991 but it wasn't until 1999 that Ecoventura began "greening" its operations and equipment. Since then it has pro-actively chosen to help preserve the ecological integrity of the Galapagos Islands for both scientific and economic benefits. To this end Ecoventura is one of the first recipients (in 2000) of SmartVoyager, a voluntary environmental program developed by Corporacion y Desarollo from Ecuador and The Rainforest Alliance from New York. This program gives a "green seal of approval" to tour boats that comply with requirements to tread lightly on the area's fragile ecosystem.

The first Carbon Neutral operation in the Galapagos Islands when it chose to completely offset carbon emissions from the company's four yachts, offices and operations (including business travel). Emissions are now being offset through a portfolio of projects administered by NativeEnergy. The first fleet in the Galapagos to install TRABOLD oil filter systems on all four yachts to reduce fuel consumption, oil lubricants (by 90 percent) and reduce gas emission.

The first company in the region to implement a program whereby its guests can donate to a new fund administered by the World Wildlife Fund in support of the Galapagos National Park. Ecoventura partnered with the WWF to create the Galapagos Marine Biodiversity Fund (GMBF) which targets environmental education and marine conservation by strengthening the local communities' ability to manage natural resources.

Ecoventura is a family-owned company based in Guayaquil, Ecuador with sales offices in Quito and Miami. The cruise company transports 3,000 passengers annually aboard a fleet of three expedition vessels; identical, superior first-class 20-passenger motor yachts with 10 double cabins. The company also operates the Sky Dancer, a 16-passenger dedicated dive live aboard offering 7 night weekly itineraries visiting the northern islands of Wolf and Darwin. The marine reserve surrounding these two remote Islands supports some of the planet's most unique biodiversity and is one of the world's premier diving areas. However, it has also been identified as the most threatened due to continued presence of industrial fishing boats. To date, park statistics demonstrate the highest number of fishing violations have occurred in this area. Hammerhead and other shark species around the world are being harvested primarily for their fins and the Galapagos Marine Reserve remains one of the last regions where these creatures can be seen gathered by the hundreds. It is vital to establish a local and permanent surveillance and patrolling platform that will deter illegal fishing vessels from entering these waters.

Because the park lacks inadequate funding, trained personnel and equipment, it is challenged to prevent illegal fishing by industrial scale boats. In response, the GMBF supports the maintenance of park patrol boats while also helping to make current small scale fishing practices more efficient. Funds are also allocated to refurbish and maintain a speed boat that patrols the Bolivar channel between the western Islands of Fernandina and Isabela. These islands are visited by passengers on Ecoventura programs.

Funds from GMBF have also been allocated to benefit families of local fishermen by development of a microenterprise for the fisherman's wives to manage. This will provide an alternate means of income and also set an example to create other tourism related businesses and reduce the need to fish. You can make a difference when you travel by choosing companies, such as Ecoventura, to tour responsibly.

Trash Piles in the Pacific Ocean?

2008-04-21T07:28:00.000-07:00

Try to imagine the colossal amount of waste we humans create on a daily basis. Did you know, for instance, that the US based Algalita Marine Research Foundation identified a huge trash pile floating just beneath the surface of the North Pacific Central Gyre? It's a spot in the ocean where the wind barely blows, the current flows clockwise and the ocean is often undisturbed and glassy, a leisurely spot for a garbage floe twice the size of the continental U.S.

Back in 2000, the crew of the ORV Alguita, the Algalita Foundation's ship, set out to study the gyre and reported, "The low point of our 6,000 mile voyage to the North Pacific High was the discovery of an alarmingly large number of plastic bags in the center of the North Pacific Central Gyre."

It took 10 miles for the ship to leave the mess behind. That was eight years ago. In 2007, the ORV Alguita expedition showed "a five fold increase in plastic quantities in the Gyre." On Feb. 23, the Alguita returned from yet another gyre study expedition. Blogging during the trip, they reported, "Finding alarming quantities of plastic – more than we have ever found before."

"The biggest concentration we find is of wrappers from potato chip bags, food wrappers, plastic water bottles and Styrofoam, and those start at your trash bin on your street," Algalita Foundation executive director Marieta Francis says.

Popularity of Green Funerals Rising

2008-04-20T07:56:00.000-07:00

It's no longer enough to live a greener during life, now people are being encouraged to be environmentally friendly when they leave as well. Natural fiber clothing, cardboard coffins, burial plots in a natural settings. Green funerals attempt to be ecofriendly at every single stage.

"People are trying to think about what's the best way to live and with that, what's the best way to die," said Roslyn Cassidy, a funeral director for Green Endings, which provides eco-friendly funerals.

Britain has been a world leader in ecofriendly funerals for years and a source of green burial products and ideas for countries like the United States, where the trend is beginning to catch on. Last weekend in London, those in the business showcased their products and services at the Natural Death Center's Green Funeral Exhibition.

Some may expect green funerals to be as cheap as a do it yourself project, while others might brace for price hikes similar to those fair trade food, but funeral directors say green funerals can run the gamut.

"It's about choice, not price," said Fran Hall, marketing director for Epping Forest Burial Park.

For a concept aimed at saving the Earth by going back to basics, an eco-funeral can be more complicated than it sounds. The Natural Death Center provides a handbook that suggests environmental targets for cemeteries.

"You can take any funeral and make it greener," said Michael Jarvis, the center's director.

In a green funeral, bodies are not embalmed and are dressed in pure fiber clothes. Green campaigners say refrigeration or dry ice is a good alternative to formaldehyde, which can seep into the water system. Biodegradable coffins also differ from the traditional mahogany. Coffins on display included one made from wicker and decorated with flowers.

One visitor, Linda McDowall, admired another coffin bundled in a beige, leaf-adorned felt shroud, saying it looked comfortable. "Cozy and warm are not words you associate with death," said McDowall, a 48 yr old German and French translator.

Cardboard coffins, which are as thick as their wooden counterparts, can be decorated by family and biodegrade within three months.

"The trouble is, they are a bit ungainly to use," said Oakfield Wood burial ground director Oliver Peacock. "They're not terribly easy to handle and if it's wet, they don't look their best either."

Particular care is taken in how coffins are buried at ecofriendly graveyards like Oakfield Wood, Peacock said. The cemetery was a pasture when it opened in 1995. It is now speckled with more than 1,600 trees that mark plots along with a wooden plaque. Marble tombstones are frowned upon. Jeremy Smite, a funeral director at Green Endings, notes that shipping and mining produce carbon and that marble is not a renewable resource.

For cremations, which account for 70% of British funerals, a person's ashes and the remains of the ecofriendly coffin are placed in bamboo, glass or ceramic urns. New legislation in Britain requires reductions in the mercury content of plastics and treatments used in coffins starting in 2010. All biodegradable coffins meet the new standards.

Cassidy said small details are important for green funerals, such as using smaller cars instead of limousines in funeral processions. "What people are wanting is to know that they're doing the best they can both for their loved ones and for the environment," Cassidy said.

Some good books for Going Green

2008-04-18T10:52:00.000-07:00

Here are some wonderful books available at your local bookstore for tips on Going Green.

Green Housekeeping
Ellen Sandbeck (Scribner, $16)
The self-appointed "non-toxic avenger" focuses on purging your household of environmental nastiness. She starts with the basics of organization and cleaning, banishing the chaos to make way for "post-clutterectomy care," as she calls it. The book is divided by area: kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, laundry, general cleaning. In the laundry section, she takes on "laundry balls and discs, the handy little devices that clean out your wallet and leave your laundry dirty." Turns out those doodads may actually use too much detergent, leaving an alkaline residue that attracts dirt. So, she says, you're paying more for clothes that aren't as clean! Green Housekeeping is especially notable for its amazing range of topics. Ms. Sandbeck even addresses grime prevention for sleeping bags.

365 Ways to Live Green
Diane Gow McDilda (Adams Media, $7.95)
This deceptively simple, small (184 pages) book has a tip-per-day approach, with organization into 20 categories of "choices you can make" in areas such as where to build, furnishing your home, picking out clothing, going on vacation, caring for your pet, even something as easy as "in your thinking." Environmental journalist Diane Gow McDilda has a laid-back style that's packed with information. She boils the greenhouse effect and global warming down to one easy-to-understand, half-page paragraph. She even discreetly addresses "eww" factors such as being buried at sea. (Yes, it's legal, even without being cremated first.)

Go Green: How to Build an Earth-Friendly Community
Nancy H. Taylor (Gibbs Smith, $12.95)
This sprightly 164 page book suggests easy ways to gently turn one's community green and expounds on the benefits. For instance, students tested at green schools, which use daylight for learning rather than those soul-sapping overhead fluorescents, show a 20-percent learning improvement over students in non-green schools – not a big surprise, since many studies show that the brain works better in daylight, Ms. Taylor points out. She also gives hard numbers for a lot of things we think are green, but might not be able to back up, like hybrid cars , for instance. You know they are better for the environment, but you need evidence to convince your friends who're still driving SUVs. Tell them this: Carbon emissions from a Prius, if driven about 10,000 miles a year, are 3,522 pounds of carbon dioxide per year, Ms. Taylor notes. The average General Motors car gets 19.2 miles per gallon and produces about 12,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per year.

Living Like Ed: A Guide to the Eco-Friendly Life
Ed Begley Jr. (Clarkson Potter, $18)
Ed Begley Jr. has gone from starring roles on shows such as St. Elsewhere to being the star of the environmental movement. He's pictured on the book cover having his own light bulb moment with a spiffy compact fluorescent above his head. This book has plenty of info, but its primary charm comes from Mr. Begley's folksy, "we're in this together" tone. He's aided by his equally charismatic wife, Rachelle Carson-Begley. Ms. Carson-Begley has an especially fine moment early in the book when she relates that "As a child, I would scream 'Polluter!' out the car window at big trucks. And I do remember when the Chattahoochee River turned blue, and it was not a blue you'd see in nature, I thought, 'This is not right.' " Clearly, they're a match made in a heaven devoid of global warming. Living Like Ed also has some great tips on how merely having a set of personal rules can make a huge difference, such as his "transporation hierarchy": walking first, bike riding second, public transportation third, electric car fourth, hybrid car fifth, airplane as last resort. Notice that Hummer does not appear on that list.

China taking drastic measures to clean air for Olympics

2008-04-15T20:46:00.000-07:00

Construction will halt, heavy industries will close, and even spray painting will stop in order to clean Beijing's polluted air for the Olympics , an issue that suddenly has taken a back seat to political protests. An aggressive plan to temporarily shutter belching steel and chemical plants, cut back emissions by 30 percent at 19 heavy polluting companies and stop excavation and pouring of concrete at hundreds of sites around the city was explained Monday by the city's Environmental Protection Bureau.

"From the suggestions of experts we think that we need to take these measures to guarantee the air quality of Beijing," said Du Shaozhong, the bureau's deputy director.

The measures are severe and will be in effect officially for two months, from July 20 until Sept. 20th, although reports a few months ago suggest some production cutbacks may come even sooner. Officials also are expected to ban about half of Beijing's 3.3 million vehicles for the August 8-24 Olympics . Du said specific details would be announced later.

UTA Going with Green Roofs

2008-04-12T14:39:00.000-07:00

They're not mowing the roof just yet, but the University of Texas Arlington is trying to take sustainability to a whole new level with a green roof project installed atop its Life Science Building.

"This is the first intensive green-roof project in the D-FW area," said David Hopman, the UT-Arlington landscape architecture professor who's heading the rooftop project. "Everybody wants to do one, but nobody's done one."

The term green roof is commonly attached to projects that are covered with soil and planted with grasses, shrubs, trees or flowers. The university is hoping to reap some of the benefits, which can include reduced wear on roofing materials, less reflected heat, absorbed pollutants and less rain runoff. Green roofs have long been built in countries such as Germany and are now appearing in American cities, including Washington, DC, Chicago and Austin. The UT Arlington project is among the first in North Texas, Hopman said.

"It's a test bed" for the soon-to-be-constructed engineering building, said Jeff Howard, a UT-Arlington urban and public affairs professor and sustainability committee member. "I think it's a significant step for us."

Plans call for the engineering building's green roof to be irrigated with water from the building's air-conditioning system and with rainwater stored in a pair of 45,000 gallon underground cisterns. But first the university has to learn exactly what sorts of plants are best suited to growing on a roof.

"Nobody knows what plants to use," said graduate student Amanda Popken, who said they're using a variety of plant life on the project. "It's a step in the right direction."

Popken was one of about 20 volunteers who rolled wheelbarrows and raked materials under clear skies Friday. Robert Nickel of Architectural Systems Inc. of Dallas helped oversee installation. His firm represents Hydrotech, which manufactured the Garden Roof and donated materials.

No reinforcement was needed to strengthen the roof, though the specially formulated soil weighs an estimated 30,000 pounds.

"The soil is mineral-based," Nickel said. "It's 50-50 soil and organic. It doesn't compact. You can put it on existing roofs in most cases."

The soil is placed over layers of insulation, a waterproof liner similar to those that line ponds, and a plastic drain. Nickel said the projects can also be built on sloped roofs. The California Academy of Sciences completed the installation of its "living roof" in its award-winning San Francisco headquarters in September 2007.

"So far it is performing beautifully," spokeswoman Stephanie Stone wrote Friday in an e-mail. "We were careful to select native species of plants that would be able to tolerate San Francisco's climate conditions without any additional irrigation. These native species also provide habitat for local birds, butterflies and other wildlife," Stone wrote, adding that the academy's 2.5-acre roof now houses the largest concentration of native plants in San Francisco County and attracts hummingbirds, honeybees and native butterflies.

The living roof, Stone wrote, provides superior insulation and dramatically reduces energy needs inside the building. The system captures and uses 98 percent of the rainwater that hits it, preventing storm-water runoff from carrying pollutants into the ecosystem, she added.

Did You Know? Disposable Diapers

2008-04-11T15:53:00.001-07:00

Americans use and throw out 18 billion diapers a year. That is enough to stretch around the world 90 times. To produce disposable diapers for just one American child to age 2 it takes 1900 pints of crude oil and 4.5 trees. A typical American child has a larger carbon footprint by age 1 than a typical Tanzanian has in their whole lifetime.

How about some reusable cloth diapers?

Friday's Tips for Going Green and saving $$

2008-04-11T12:58:00.000-07:00

Plain water on a cloth works great for the vast majority of dusting chores. If in need of something more powerful, choose the least-toxic product for the job at hand.

A cup of vinegar will clean a washing machine. Run it through a regular cycle -- but not with clothes.

If using vinegar as a cleaning agent, pick the white variety. Brown will stain porous surfaces.

To create a tub-scum cleaner, mix baking soda and a "green" liquid soap to a honey-thick consistency. Apply it with a little elbow grease and perhaps a splash of white vinegar.

Save an average of $90 a year by shutting down a home computer every night. Also, shut it down if you don't expect to use it for the next two hours. Turn off the monitor if the lag is going to be at least 20 minutes.

Refrigerators and freezer units account for one-sixth of a home's energy use, so select energy-efficient models when buying a replacements.

Finetune a refrigerator for optimum energy use by checking to see that the temperature in its main refrigeration box hovers at 37 degrees while the freezer stays at a relatively steady 3 degrees. A weather thermometer will do the trick.

There are three household hazardous-waste drop-off sites in Seattle and Bellevue. For details and directions, see goto.seattlepi.com/r606 or phone the county's Household Hazardous Waste Line, 206-296-4692.

If it's clear that a train or other barrier will block your vehicle for more than 30 seconds, turn off the engine. An idling vehicle burns more fuel than a simple restart. And you won't be polluting when the engine is off.

Install a programmable thermostat that lets you automatically lower the temperature when no one is home or when the family is asleep. The Energy Star people say this device can save a family budget up to $150 a year. goto.seattlepi.com/r949

Have a plugged or slow-draining sink? Search a hardware store's plumbing shelves for a bacteria-based product. Its goal is to establish colonies of goop-eating, human-friendly bacteria that are supposed to keep drainpipes clear. To allow the critters time to establish themselves, pour in a little just before bedtime, after everyone has quit using the sinks.

Pipe insulation tubes will help prevent frozen pipes in winter. And properly installed, they will hold a hot-water pipe's heat for up to an hour after the tap was last used, thus stretching your energy dollar and saving water.

Develop a longrange, strategic home-improvement plan that takes energy and resource efficiency into account. It may be possible to make energy-saving improvements part of ongoing required maintenance, reducing the overall cost of going green.

When home-buying, look for a residence that requires you to pare down and simplify, rather than encouraging sprawl. Larger homes require more resources to heat and maintain, and more stuff to fill the extra space.

Did You Know? The Amazon River

2008-04-11T11:30:00.000-07:00

The Amazon River is approximately 4200 miles in length yet there is not one single bridge that spans across it.

Greener Vacations available from Travelocity

2008-04-09T15:20:00.000-07:00

Are the days of heading to a beach for an exotic vacation where travelers do absolutely nothing but lie on the beach soon to be a thing of the past? According to North Texas based Travelocity.com, many travelers are looking for ways to give back while they enjoy some much needed time off. Travelocity's Genevieve Shaw-Brown says vacation iteneraries are changing and some people are looking to do more than just lay on the beach. "Vacationing has changed in recent years because people are a lot more concerned about how their travel is impacting not only the global environment but the locals they visit," said Shaw-Brown.

That trend is what's driving Travelocity's Travel For Good program, where vacationers can also help the enviornment. The Travel For Good grants are offered to three people per quarter, one for employees of Travelocity and two for non-employees.

"There are a few things that are really becoming very popular. One is purchasing carbon offsets as a way to negate the carbon emissions from your trip. Global emissions are thought to contribute to global warming," said Shaw-Brown.

Another trend is volunteer vacationing from bite sized volunteer trips to spending weeks in exotic locations such as Africa or the Galapagos Islands.

"They are offered in San Francisco and New Orleans, and its just basically spending one day of your trip volunteering and doing something good along the way," said Shaw-Brown.

Emily Kinney spent two weeks volunteering in Kenya and said the experience was incredible. "It's always been a dream of mine to go to Africa," said Kinney. "Being there and seeing the wildlife and working with the people, one on one or with groups, it was incredible."

Kinney's trip was partially financed through a grant program offered through Travelocity.

"I think my best memories are from the people we met. I went there for the wildlife, and it's going to be the people that leave the biggest impression on me," said Kinney.

Tips on Driving Green

2008-04-02T14:20:00.000-07:00

For those drivers who aren not racked by enough ecoguilt to buy a hybrid , driving green can mean any number of readily available and easy to implement solutions that can increase your gas mileage. Regular maintenance and aerodynamics play a part, but according to fuel efficiency experts, less aggressive driving has the most significant impact on your MPGs.

"Acceleration is the greatest factor," says Philip Reed, consumer advice editor for automotive Web site Edmunds.com. "It wastes energy and gas and pollutes the environment."

For example, accelerating at speeds between 55 and 75 miles per hour on the highway can be especially wasteful since the car spends more energy to keep up with other autos. In general, slowing down even 5 to 10 mph can boost mileage dramatically.

"Driving faster won't get you there any quicker," Reed says. "Eventually you'll run into a red light and lose the ground you've gained. It's amazing the difference slowing down makes."

Of course, the kind of car you drive also makes a difference. At the end of the day, there's only so much you can do to increase the gas mileage on an Escalade or Excursion. Too rushed to slow down? Regular auto maintenance such as scheduled oil changes and tire rotation may cost drivers initially, but the savings add up in the long run. Just keeping your tires inflated can boost your car's mileage anywhere from 3% to 4%, according to Ford's Vehicle Environment Engineering department.

Losing weight and increasing your car's aerodynamics also help you get the most of your miles. By losing accessories like roof racks and whale tails, drivers can greatly reduce drag. Need an excuse to clear out the trunk? Clearing your car of clutter will lighten your load and improve your fuel economy. Sebastian Blanco, editor of autobloggreen.com, even suggests filling up on half a tank of gas at a time.

"Sure, you'll be filling up more often," he says, "but you'll be driving more on each gallon."

Are you concerned with how your driving habits affect the environment? Weigh in. Add your thoughts in the Reader Comments section below. Techies might want to invest in the $169.95 Scan Gauge. It plugs into the On-Board Diagnostic port located under a car's dash, reads your car's computer and allows you to monitor fuel consumption, coolant temperature and engine speed, among other measures. While keeping a constant watch on your car and backing off on the gas can be frustrating, if you aren't in the market for a hybrid, they may be the only options out there. Ignore the myths about fuel efficiency, say experts. Keeping your windows up to reduce drag does not increase mileage. Neither do mileage-enhancing pills.

"Most people want to save dollars, not sense," Reed says. "If you really make the effort, you can see substantial savings."

Did You Know - Dripping Faucets

2008-04-02T12:13:00.001-07:00

Did You Know?

Did you know that a leaky faucet in your house can waste up to 20 gallons of water a day? Yikes! Fix those leaky faucets today!

Save Energy by washing your clothes in cold water

2008-03-31T11:42:00.000-07:00

Did you know that the simple act of heating the water to wash your clothes accounts for almost 90% of the energy usage of a washing machine? One of the easiest ways to cut energy usage and thus energy bills is to do as many of your washes in cold water as possible. Not only can you save $$ but using cold water detergents and washing in cold water is also better for your clothes in the long run as well! Oily stains that require hot water can be cleaned in warm washes rather than hot washes equally as well and you can still cut energy costs.

Link List -----

2008-03-31T11:30:00.000-07:00

Handmade Natural Aromatherapy Soy Candles
LuminEssent Candles

Description: Buy Custom Handmade Soy Wax Candles and Aromatherapy Products. Choose from a wide variety of popular styles, pure essential oil aromas and colors. Unscented and Dye-free Soy Wax Candles available. Custom color matching and essential oil blends, gift services, private label and wholesale pricing are available upon request.

Soccermogul.com - Your source for news on the Beautiful Game!
Soccermogul

Soccer-recruiting.com - A wonderful source of information on the college soccer recruiting process
Soccer-recruiting.com

The China Mogul - Your source for all things China!
The China Mogul

The Hybrid Car Reporter - A great blog on everything about hybrid cars
The Hybrid Car Reporter

Earth Hour coming this Saturday night

2008-03-28T12:32:00.000-07:00

It may not sound like a classic Saturday night blow-out, but at 8 pm on March 29, millions of people around the world will turn off their lights to celebrate Earth Hour. This event, sponsored by the WWF , a global conservation organization, is intended to increase awareness of global warming and spur action to combat the issue.

The movement began last year when the WWF asked residents of Sydney, Australia, to turn off their lights for an hour. So on March 31, 2007, 2.2 million people and 2,100 Sydney businesses turned off their lights. Even icons such as the Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House went dark. Electricity in many cities and countries is powered by coal-fired plants that produce carbon dioxide, the most important greenhouse gas that human activities emit into the atmosphere. The WWF estimates that if the greenhouse gas reduction achieved during the Sydney Earth Hour was sustained for a year, it would be equivalent to taking 48,616 cars off the road for a year.

The event has expanded this year to include cities in other countries, such as the United States, Canada, Denmark, Israel and Thailand. Chicago will serve as the U.S. flagship city for the event, with Atlanta, Phoenix and San Francisco joining it as leading partners in the endeavor. Individuals can sign up to participate on the Earth Hour site - so far 240,000 people have signed their support of the event. Celebrities such as singer/songwriter Nelly Furtado and the band Fall Out Boy have pledged to turn out their lights, as have the Phoenix Suns and Chicago Cubs.

New hybrids rolling off the line

2008-03-28T07:18:00.000-07:00

There's no secret that high gas prices have consumers searching for more fuel-efficient vehicles that can not only reduce emissions, but also ease pain at the pump. Take the 1.8 liter, four cylinder Nissan Versa. Last year its sales jumped over 250% from the previous year. The reason- It hass an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) miles-per-gallon rating of 26 city and 31 highway. The Honda Fit, a similar vehicle with near identical mileage doubled sales.

Automakers are responding to this demand with cars that are light on gas and low on emissions, but heavy on power and performance. Expect to see some of these next generation hybrid systems, clean diesel engines and hydrogen fuel cells appear as early as this summer.

That is when Volkswagen will launch the Jetta sedan and sport wagon. It has a three liter, four cylinder, turbocharged direct injection diesel engine that promises to improve on the current model's fuel economy by 30%.

In late 2008, BMW will release the X5 xDrive35d with a three-liter in-line 6 diesel engine that the company says will meet stringent emission standards and consume about 25% less fuel than equally powerful engines.

Later this year, luxury car lovers can purchase the 2009 Lincoln MKS sedan. It is equipped with an EcoBoost engine that uses gas-turbocharged direct-injection technology to improve fuel economy by 20% and lower CO2 emissions by 15% when compared with the 2008 MKS.

The 2009 Mercedes-Benz R320 clean diesel also rolls out later this year with a three-liter V6 turbo diesel engine that injects urea into the exhaust stream to clean emissions.

Hyundai is betting that consumers are less interested in fancy hybrid technology and more concerned with improving fuel economy. With that in mind, the automaker will later this year launch the 2009 Elantra Touring. It's got a two-liter, in-line, four-cylinder engine that employs dual overhead camshafts and continuously variable valve timing that the company says lowers emissions and delivers good fuel economy

Lots of teams join quest for green supercar

2008-03-23T20:35:00.000-07:00

More than 60 teams from nine countries have lined up to chase a $10 million prize for making a green supercar that smashes records for fuel efficiency, organisers of the competition said recently. The initial list of teams signed on for the Automotive X Prize competition range from California-based electric car start-up Tesla Motors to Cornell University in New York.

"We're not talking about concept cars," said Peter Diamandis, chief executive of the X Prize Foundation, at the event to mark the launch of the competition at the New York auto show. "We're talking about real cars that can be brought to market."

The goal is to create a commercially viable car that gets at least 100 miles to the gallon. In late 2009, qualifiers will crisscross the United States in a stage race designed to test the vehicles on speed and the distance they can travel. The race will also test the vehicles in traffic and a range of terrain and weather conditions in determining a winner.

A few early contenders rolled quietly into the New York auto show on Thursday, some on three wheels. Others, like the Hybrid Attack from a high school team out of Pennsylvania, sported a more traditional speedster silhouette. Tesla, which is owned by PayPal creator Elon Musk, has built an electric Sports car that can travel 245 miles on a charge and reach 60 miles per hour in 4 seconds. The sold-out $98,000 Tesla Roadster went into production this week.

"We desperately need cars that are clean and efficient and safe and attractive to everyday buyers," said New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg at the launch.

None of the major automakers has signed up to join the X Prize competition although many, including Toyota Motor Corp and General Motors Corp, have electric or partly electric vehicles in development that are expected to come to market in the next several years. Malcolm Bricklin, the auto entrepreneur who brought the super-cheap Yugo hatchback to the United States in the 1980s, said he would enter the competition with a luxury car priced under $40,000 and backed by a dealership network.

Bricklin said his attention is solely on building up the electric and electric hybrid auto industry after recent failed efforts to import the first Chinese-made car to the United States. "I'm not interested in a normal car anymore," he said.

Don't forget your tax credit for hybrids

2008-03-21T12:33:00.000-07:00

If you bought a hybrid vehicle in 2007, you may be entitled to a tax credit on your 2007 return. The credit is worth as much as $3,000 for the most fuel-efficient models. The precise amount depends on the make and model of the vehicle and when the vehicle was purchased. The tax credit for hybrid vehicles, called the Alternative Motor Vehicle Credit, applies to vehicles purchased or placed in service on or after Jan. 1, 2006.

Hybrid vehicles have drive trains powered by both an internal combustion engine and a rechargeable battery. Many currently available hybrid vehicles may qualify for the credit. Taxpayers may claim the credit on their 2007 tax returns only if they placed a qualified hybrid vehicle in service in 2007. As of March 2007, more than 40 different models of hybrids were/are eligible for the credit.

The credit is available only to the original purchaser of a new qualifying vehicle. If the qualifying vehicle is leased, the credit is available only to the leasing company. If 60,000 hybrid or advance lean burn technology vehicles of a particular manufacturer are sold, the tax credit is reduced and eventually eliminated. The full credit can be claimed up to the end of the third month after the quarter in which the manufacturer sells its 60,000th hybrid vehicle.

The credit for qualified Toyota and Lexus vehicles was eliminated for purchases on or after Oct. 1, 2007. The full credit for qualified Honda vehicles was available for all purchases in 2007, but has been reduced for purchases on or after Jan. 1, 2008. To find out whether your car qualifies for the hybrid tax credit and the maximum amount of that credit, you can go to the IRS.gov Web site and search for "qualified hybrid vehicles."

Green Investing - Green REITs to benefit in future

2008-03-19T10:00:00.000-07:00

As environmental awareness goes from buzz to best business practice, real estate investment trusts at the forefront of the so-called "green" movement could reap long-term rewards. An earlier adopter of eco-sensitive development and redevelopment, industrial REIT AMB Property Corp. on Tuesday unveiled a 3 million-square-foot green distribution facility in Savannah, Ga., and announced plans to provide its customers with renewable solar electricity.

"A lot of our customers now are focused on the issue when a few years ago, green would not be on the top of their list," said AMB Chief Executive Hamid Moghadam in a phone interview. "The change is coming from some enlightened companies and moving up and down the food chain."

Amid higher costs for energy and raw materials, environmentally sustainable buildings often are more cost-effective for landlords and tenants, even after factoring in the premium to build or retrofit buildings.

"These are all businesses.They're not going green for green's sake. It's the cheapest way to run their businesses," UBS AG analyst James Feldman said. "The two paths of cost savings and ecological sensitivity have finally crossed."

The McGraw-Hill Green Building SmartMarket report said green buildings can reduce operating costs by 8 percent to 9 percent; increase building values by 7.5 percent, rents by 3 percent and occupancy rates by 3.5 percent; and improve returns on investment by 6.6 percent. Feldman expects the green trend to continue. Green-conscious REITs like AMB and ProLogis, office owner Thomas Properties Group Inc. and retail owners Regency Centers Corp. and Simon Property Group Inc. are well-positioned to benefit from the movement.

"They're going be ahead of the game. They already have people who understand the process. Everyone else will be catching up," he said.

Late last month, Robert W. Baird & Co. analyst David Loeb reiterated his "Outperform" rating on Thomas Properties Group Inc., pointing out the return potential on the REIT's "high performance" green fund. During their fourth-quarter investor days, Forest City Enterprises Inc., Duke Realty Corp. and SL Green Realty Corp. discussed their green construction programs for the first time.

"If it's not green, in the near future it won't be considered Class A space. Green is a must-have. It's the best way to attract key tenants and retain them," said Doug Gatlin, vice president of market development at the U.S. Green Building Council. The council has set up a building environmental rating system called Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED.

Private real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield Inc. hired a sustainability director last year to expand its efforts to meet its client demand for green in major U.S. cities and abroad.

"It fits into the overall trend of business shifting to the green movement and corporate responsibility. That has trickled down to our clients' real estate strategy," said Eleni Reed, Cushman & Wakefield's sustainability director.

Polluted air from China reaching Western US

2008-03-13T21:23:00.000-07:00

A massive cloud of pollution from Asia's fast-growing industrial economies is having wide-ranging effects on global climate and air quality. According to a study recently published in the Journal of Geophysical Research , tremendous plumes composed of dust, sulfates, smog, soot, nitrates and industrial gases are blowing off the coast of Asia and crossing the Pacific Ocean to the western United States.

"There are times when it covers the entire Pacific Ocean basin like a ribbon bent back and forth," said researcher V. Ramanathan.

The study was the first effort to conduct a detailed analysis of the pollution plumes, which have been monitored by satellite for several years. The researchers found that a new plume was produced every four days, and that it could be as much as 300 miles wide and six miles deep. A single plume can circle the Earth in only three weeks.

In part, the pollution from Asia comes from natural sources -- powerful east-moving winds have swept up dust from the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts for centuries. But now these dust clouds are gathering pollutants from the cities of eastern Asia and carrying them across the Pacific. Nearly one-third of the air over Los Angeles and San Francisco has traveled there from Asia, bringing along as much as 75 percent of the soot that reaches the West Coast.

The most pressing issue relating to the plumes may be that of airborne solids, or aerosols, and their effect on global climate. Certain kinds of aerosols, such as sulfates, actually reflect sunlight and cause cooling. To a certain extent, these aerosols may be masking the severity of greenhouse gas buildup in the atmosphere. Meanwhile, other aerosols, such as soot, absorb solar radiation and contribute to rising temperatures.

According to a study published in the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" in March, aerosols from Asia have other climatic effects beyond warming and cooling. The study reported that the pollution plumes are seeding ocean clouds with particulate matter, causing more powerful Pacific thunderstorms.

Alternative energies turning into big business

2008-03-12T20:15:00.000-07:00

Alternative energy is starting to make big money. Worldwide sales for companies specializing in biofuels, wind farms, solar panels and fuel cells grew 40 percent in 2007 to reach $77.3 billion, according to an annual report issued by Clean Edge, a research firm that studies the green technology industry.

That's significant revenue for an industry crowded with startups, many of which don't yet have finished products to sell. But other companies, including major corporations such as GE, have waded into the field, selling their wind turbines and solar panels around the globe. Revenue in the wind power industry alone jumped 68 percent in 2007 to reach $30.1 billion as new wind farms sprouted across the United States and China. Sales of ethanol and biodiesel, together, grew about 24 percent to hit $25.4 billion. Solar photovoltaic sales grew 30 percent, totaling $20.3 billion.

As imposing as those figures might seem, they're small by the standards of the traditional energy business, especially when individual oil companies report annual sales greater than $100 billion. But for green tech, the increasing revenues suggest that the young industry is gaining traction. "Clean energy has moved from the margins to the mainstream, and the proof is in these numbers," said Ron Pernick, co-founder of Clean Edge. The firm, based in San Francisco and Portland, provides research to businesses and investors looking to profit from the green tech industry.

Alternative energy companies are riding a wave of interest started by the rise in the price of oil, which has more than tripled in five years. Their fortunes also have been buoyed by concern about global warming, which most scientists blame on the carbon dioxide that comes from burning fossil fuels. Investors have been pumping money into alternative energy companies, many of them based in the Bay Area. With oil setting yet another all-time price record Tuesday - topping $108 per barrel - the report's authors expect alternative energy's rapid growth to continue. Clean Edge projects that the industry's annual, global revenues will hit $254.5 billion by 2017, while the industry will continue to soak up venture capital investments.

"As the price of oil goes up, up and up, that obviously makes investments in clean energy alternatives more attractive to investors of all shapes and sizes," said Clint Wilder, one of the report's authors.

And yet alternative energy revenue remains a small piece of the world's overall energy market. For a sense of scale, look no further than the oil industry, which many alternative energy enthusiasts would love to replace. Exxon Mobil, the world's largest international oil company, reported $404.5 billion in sales last year - more than five times the entire alternative energy industry combined. And that's just one company. Alternative energy revenue "is a tiny fraction of what we spend on oil," said James Sweeney, an energy economist with Stanford University. "And that's not counting what we spend on natural gas and coal." But that disparity is one of the reasons entrepreneurs and investors are delving into alternative energy. They see room to grow.

"People see these market niches available, and they're still niches, but niches have this wonderful way of growing over time," Sweeney said. Just how much they'll grow is difficult to predict. A lot will depend on federal policies concerning energy and climate change. The Clean Edge report's authors warned that if Congress doesn't renew tax credits used by renewable energy developers, companies that specialize in solar and wind power will be hard hit. The House has approved an extension, but the Senate so far has not.

"If these credits are not extended by the time they expire at the end of this year, we could see the growth of solar and wind come to a standstill in the U.S.," Pernick said.

All three leading presidential contenders have called for limiting carbon dioxide emissions and letting companies buy and sell credits to emit the gas. That kind of cap-and-trade system would increase the cost of energy derived from fossil fuels and make alternative energy sources more attractive.

"What that will do to the economics of all these companies is it will make them all much more competitive," said Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund advocacy group and author of a new book on the alternative energy business, "Earth: The Sequel." Krupp was not involved in the Clean Edge study. I would predict that the revenue growth is going to continue to explode," he said.

The report also included a list of alternative energy trends to watch in 2008:
-- Interest in the next generation of electric vehicles will continue to grow, driven in large part by innovations from small companies, not the major automakers.
-- Geothermal power, which uses the Earth's heat to generate electricity, will continue its recent renaissance, particularly in the western United States.
-- And foreign companies will become an increasing presence in the American wind power industry, building wind farms and manufacturing plants in the United States.

For Eco-Friendly pool treatment check out Ecosmartepool.com

2008-03-10T07:52:00.000-07:00

Summer is coming and it's time that temperatures around the country will begin to warm and people will start thinking about their pools. Ecosmarte Pools gives the green consumer an opportunity for eco-friendly supplies and poolcare products. I know many people, including myself, that are concerned with all the chemicals we throw into our pool to maintain it. We worry about our children swimming after we treat the pool. Ecosmarte offers the best non salt, non chlorine, chemical free pool water technology on the market today to allow you a safe and chemical free pool . Eliminate that awful chlorine smell that comes after treatment. Eliminate the burning eyes that inevitably comes with the chlorine. Instead, have a fresh, clean, crystal clear pool to swim in. Oh, and did I mention Ecosmarte's eco-friendly pool technology also is applicable to your spa as well? Yes, it is!

This is a product with a 99% customer satisfaction rate over 15 years! It is simply the best natural pool system available on the market today.

The Ecosmarte system is also light on the wallet. It costs less than $1 a month to operate the energy efficient chlorine free pool system. So not only will you eliminate the harmful chemicals from the process you will also save money by eliminating the cost of the chemicals! Ecosmarte also donates %5 of all profits to environmental charities.

So how does this system work? The Ecosmarte system yields clean, healthy water by creating two sanitizing agents from its pool ionizer , copper ionization and liquid oxidation. As water flows from your pump back to your pool it travels through the ECOsmarte ionization/oxidation chamber. While in the chamber, the water will either receive copper ions or become oxygenated depending on the setting of the switch on the controller. Both the ionization and the oxidation sanitizes your pool water, killing bacteria, algae, and viruses. It is simply the best chemical-free method to sanitize your pool water and produce a safe swimming environment.

Ecosmarte also offers an ecofriendly product for your pond. The pond system is 100% chemical free which eliminates algae, microorganisms, and bacteria while keeping your fish and plant life healthy. Your pond will not have any of the annoying calcium or lime deposits and you will not have any of the chemical odors either. Best of all is that your fish and plant life will be far healthier as they will be in fresh, clean water with no chemicals to pollute them.

There is the question of salt water pools . Ecosmarte does not sell salt water pools nor do they recommend them at all. Salt water pools are NOT chemical free and still produce the chlorine that bothers us all. Ecosmarte's system offers a clean alternative to salt water.

Ecosmarte is so confident in their product, and so sure you will love it that they offer both a 60 day satisfaction guarantee along with a 5 year warranty on all purchases. For more information and to request an Ecosmarte chlorine free pool system ebrochure just visit their website at Ecosmartepool.com

Figuring out the tax credits for Hybrid car purchases

2008-03-05T23:55:00.000-08:00

Wondering if you can still get a tax credit for your hybrid or alternative-fuel car? The deadline for filing taxes is right around the corner, and if you purchased a
hybrid vehicle in 2007 thanks to the Energy Policy Act of 2005, certain hybrid and alternative-fuel vehicles can earn credits of up to $4,000. To be eligible for the Energy Policy Act of 2005, vehicles have to fall into one of four categories: fuel cell, advance lean burn technology, hybrid or alternative fuel. Currently, the only mass-market cars that qualify are hybrids and one alternative-fuel car, the Honda Civic GX.

Some popular hybrid cars, like the Toyota Prius , may no longer be eligible for the credit, depending on when you purchased one. The act called for the credits to be phased out once manufacturers reached 60,000 sales of hybrid models. Under the policy, credits are reduced and then phased out all together, correlating with sales numbers.

“So far, Toyota and Honda are the only automakers to have reached the 60,000 mark, so credits for those manufacturers are being phased out or, in the case of Toyota, were completely gone as of Oct. 1,” said Cars.com editor in chief Patrick Olsen. “It will take manufacturers like GM and Nissan, who got into the hybrid market more recently, a bit longer to reach the 60,000 threshold.”

Consumers who purchased a Toyota or Lexus hybrid before March 31, 2007, are eligible to claim 50 percent of the original deduction. For example, a Prius purchased in the first three months of 2007 qualifies for a $1,575 credit instead of the original $3,150. Those who purchased between April 1, 2007, and Sept. 30, 2007, can claim 25 percent of the credit, while those who bought a Toyota or Lexus hybrid on or after Oct. 1, 2007, are ineligible for the tax credits.

If you are looking to purchase a hybrid or alternative-fuel vehicle in 2008 and want to receive a tax credit, keep in mind that no Toyota and Lexus models will be eligible for a credit. Partial credits will be available on Honda hybrids through 2008. It’s possible Ford will reach the 60,000 mark some time in 2008, which will start the credit phase-out for all qualifying Ford vehicles. Full tax credits are likely to be available for all GM and Nissan vehicles purchased in 2008.

Tax Credits by Make, Model and Year
Chevrolet
2008 Malibu Hybrid: $1,300
2008 Tahoe Hybrid 2WD and 4WD: $2,200
2007 Silverado Hybrid: $250 (2WD) or $650 (4WD)
Ford
2008 Escape Hybrid: $3,000 (2WD) or $2,200 (4WD)
2007 Escape Hybrid: $2,600 (2WD) or $1,950 (4WD)
GMC
2008 Yukon Hybrid 2WD and 4WD: $2,200
2007 Sierra Hybrid: $250 (2WD) or $650 (4WD)
Honda
2008 Civic Hybrid: $2,100(1)
2008 Civic GX: $4,000(2)
2007 Accord Hybrid: $1,300(1)
2007 Civic Hybrid: $2,100(1)
Lexus
2008 RX 400h 2WD and 4WD: $1,100(3) or $550(4)
2008 LS 600h L: $900(3) or $450(4)
2007 GS 450h: $775(3) or $387.50(4)
2007 RX 400h 2WD and 4WD: $1,100(3) or $550(4)
Mazda
2008 Tribute Hybrid: $3,000 (2WD) or $2,200 (4WD)
Mercury
2008 Mariner Hybrid: $3,000 (2WD) or $2,200 (4WD)
2007 Mariner Hybrid 4WD: $1,950
Nissan
2008 Altima Hybrid: $2,350
2007 Altima Hybrid: $2,350
Saturn
2008 Aura Green Line: $1,300
2008 Vue Green Line: $1,550
2007 Aura Green Line: $1,300
2007 Vue Green Line: $650
Toyota
2008 Camry Hybrid: $1,300(3) or $650(4)
2008 Prius: $1,575(3) or $787.50(4)
2008 Highlander Hybrid 4WD: $1,300(3) or $650(4)
2007 Camry Hybrid: $1,300(3) or $650(4)
2007 Prius: $1,575(3) or $787.50(4)
2007 Highlander Hybrid 2WD and 4WD: $1,300(3) or $650(4)

(1)When purchased in 2007; credits for purchases in 2008, which can be claimed on a 2008 tax return, will be lower.
(2)Natural-gas powered Civic GX available in California and New York.
(3)If purchased from 1/1/07 to 3/31/07.
(4)If purchased from 4/1/07 to 9/30/07. There is no credit for models bought on or after 10/1/07.

China's rivers run a polluted red

2008-02-27T20:39:00.000-08:00

Pollution has turned part of a major river system in central China red and bubbly, forcing authorities to cut water supplies to 200,000 people and close schools, a government news agency reported Wednesday. Some communities along tributaries of the Hanjiang River — a branch of the Yangtze — in Hubei province were using emergency water sources, while at least 60,000 people were relying on bottled water and limited underground sources, Xinhua News Agency said.

Five schools were closed in Xingou township, while others could not provide food to students, the report said without elaborating. Gao Qijin, head of the water company in Xingou township, said officials discovered the Dongjing River — one of the tributaries — was red and bubbly Sunday. The company immediately stopped drawing water from the river, Xinhua cited Gao as saying. Tests showed the polluted waters contained elevated levels of ammonia, nitrogen, and permanganate, a chemical used in metal cleaning, tanning and bleaching, Xinhua said. The source of the pollution had not been determined, and an investigation was ongoing.

Local officials closed a gate linking the Hanjiang River to the tributaries, and were using water from the nearby Changhu Lake to flush out the pollutants, the report said. A paper mill dumped waste water directly into the Hanjiang last September, forcing authorities to cut water supplies for a week in some areas, Xinhua said. It did not say how many people were affected.

New York proposal for renewable energy

2008-02-26T06:56:00.001-08:00

New York would rely more on wind, solar and other renewable energy sources while adopting new conservation measures, under a proposal released Monday. The recommendations to Lt. Gov. David Paterson came as a deal to build a solar energy manufacturing plant in the Hudson Valley was announced. Prism Solar Technologies, Inc. will use almost $1.5 million in public money to build a research and development plant in Ulster County. The company estimates that it will create more than 140 jobs within three years and more than 400 jobs in five years.

U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey, a Hudson Valley Democrat, secured the funding to help attract solar companies to the state. Prism raised more than $8.5 million dollars in private funding. Such projects are behind the recommendations made Monday by the Renewable Energy Task Force, which aims to create an integrated, long-term renewable energy plan for the state. The Spitzer administration has set a goal to derive 25 percent of New York's electricity from renewable energy by 2013.

The plan includes changes in law that would provide hundreds of millions of dollars a year for incentives to businesses to develop and build renewable energy facilities. Workers would also be trained in the growing field. State government would encourage car pooling and reduce the amount of miles traveled by state vehicles.

"With the world's climate changing and traditional dirty energy sources causing geopolitical instability, these recommendations will put New York on a path to become part of a global solution," Paterson said.

The report was supported by environmental groups, several of which had officers on the task force.

"The recommendations we deliver today are the consensus of experts that, if adopted, will be essential steps for improving the economy, the environment and public health," Carol E. Murphy, executive director of the Alliance for Clean Energy New York. Spitzer and the Legislature will now consider implementing the recommendations.

The new Bioplastics trend

2008-02-20T07:25:00.000-08:00

Concerns about the rising price and supply limits of petroleum, as well as environmental factors, have spurred the use and development of bioplastics synthesized from corn, soy, sugar cane, and other crops. Toyota has started using bioplastics in some of its cars; Wild Oats, Newman’s Own, and Del Monte have adopted them for deli and food packages; and even Wal-Mart has begun using a corn based packaging for cut fruit and vegetables. Most of the bioplastic packaging used in the US is polymerized lactic acid (PLA) made by NatureWorks LLC, a company owned by Cargill.

Bioplastic's Benefits: Unlike conventional plastics, bioplastics biodegrade relatively quickly under the right conditions, and they’re made from annually renewable crops rather than petroleum. PLA can also be recycled into more of the same product repeatedly, while plastic can’t. Early reports suggest that bioplastic can be an effective substitute for petroleum-based plastic. Last July, the Los Angeles Times published an article about Cargill’s Nebraska facility that manufactures PLA from corn. “The end products—which include T-shirts, forks and coffins—look, feel and perform like traditional polyester and plastic made from a petroleum base,” the article reports. “But the manufacturing process consumes 50 percent less fossil fuel, even after accounting for the fuel needed to plant and harvest the corn.”

Concerns: Since relatively few people in the US have access to commercial or industrial composters, which help bioplastics degrade, lots of bioplastic is ending up in landfills or recycling bins. In landfills, PLA will lack the light and heat it needs to degrade. Plastic recycling is unlikely to be adversely affected by PLA, which can’t currently be processed by mainstream recyclers, until it makes up a far greater percentage of plastic than it does now. The best option would be to develop a separate recycling stream for PLA.

The Sustainable Energy & Environmental Demand (SEED) Initiative of the organization Future 500 brings together NGOs, corporations, and governments to develop markets for emerging technologies that will reduce petroleum dependence. SEED is helping NatureWorks and environmental groups work together to make PLA as eco-friendly as possible. Issues include the large amounts of energy and chemicals used to grow and process the corn, the use of GMO corn, and waste disposal. NatureWorks has already taken positive steps in these areas by purchasing green-power offsets, offering customers options to buy non-GMO-corn offsets or GMO-free PLA, and buying baled PLA back from recyclers. They continue to work with stakeholders through SEED. One danger of increased bioplastic use is that people might end up buying a lot of it if they think it’s less problematic than petroleum-based alternatives. A shift to bioplastics still needs to be accompanied by waste reduction.

Best Uses:When reuse isn’t feasible, bioplastics can be the best alternative. For instance, our Green Festivals, a joint program of Co-op America and Global Exchange, are held in venues where vendors can’t wash and reuse food service items. Instead, we use compostable plates, cups, and utensils from Biocorp and serve BIOTA water, which comes in compostable bottles. Hundreds of volunteers help attendees sort their waste into the appropriate bins, and we send the composting to a municipal composter afterwards. Bioplastic is also a good option for collecting kitchen compost and yard trimmings destined for commercial composting, because the bags can be composted along with their contents. With a little forethought, we can all reduce our use of plastics and make the healthiest choices for our families and the planet.

Tips for a Green yard

2008-02-15T14:24:00.000-08:00

There are a number of things we can do to green up our yard. Doing so not only helps us with the environment, it helps save money and resources. The first thing you can do for your yard is to plant an appropriate lawn that DOES NOT require watering. In other words, don't put down Kentucky Blue Grass sod on your yard. It uses up a lot of water, which a huge waste of resources. The lake that Atlanta, Georgia draws it's water from may run out of water in a few months (and Georgia is normally rainy). This shows why we cannot waste water on lawns.

What should we do for grass? Plant Bermuda grass, which is a deep rooted tough grass that doesn't require watering. It won't die even in the middle of the summer heat. If it turns brown a little, let it, because if it's dry it grows slowly (saving you money on gas that runs your lawn mower).

While we're on the subject of water conversation, select plants that are adapted to your climate. They won't require much watering besides the initial water you need to give them to get established. In order to help the soil conserve water, use some form of mulch. Mulch can be tree leaves, lawn clippings, or compost. It's a good idea to recycle plant waste (including vegetable and fruit leftovers), by putting them in a compost pile. Eventually they will compost and can be added back to the soil. Also, for fertilizers, use natural fertilizers, many of which are leftover from agribusiness. Animal manures (cow, pig, sheep, goat, poultry), dried blood, bone meal,leather meal, and other farm/slaughterhouse byproducts are an excellent way to recycle nutrients.

As for the occasional so called weed such as dandelion or clover, so what if one's in your yard here or there? Above all, do not use weed kill to kill them. The chemicals from weed kill will eventually end up in our drinking water supply. If your lawn is covered with a tough grass like Bermuda, it will have few weeds anyway. Especially if it's moved on a reasonable basis.

As for pest control, do research and find out what the prevalent pests are in your area. It's best to select plants in your garden that are least tolerant or resistant to these pests (meaning they won't die from them). In short, there are a number of things you can do so your yard won't be a toxic corner of the earth.

Green Investing - Going beyond the hype

2008-02-12T07:01:00.000-08:00

It seems these days that everywhere we look we're being asked to "go green." With all the attention surrounding Al Gore's documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," and his new Nobel Prize, it's not surprising we're seeing a growing number of mutual funds and ETFs touting green credentials. As a result, we'd like to assist investors in identifying the strongest investment options among this growing fund and ETF niche. This isn't the first time we've seen green. Since the oil scare of the 1970s, we've seen environmentally oriented mutual funds pop up from time to time. But a number of funds ended up closing up shop due to light investor interest or lackluster performance. Even so, there is a growing consensus among scientists, policy makers, and investment pros that alternative forms of energy will be necessary to meet global demand in coming decades. And the regulatory environment around climate change will likely have a significant impact on businesses in multiple industries. As a result, a broad range of companies, from fledgling startups to multinational corporations to a host of new consulting firms, are examining how climate-related factors may have an impact on their bottom lines. Similarly, heavyweight institutional investors such as pension funds, investment banks, and insurance companies are working together to navigate the transition to a greener world. That combination of factors has us thinking green investing could be more than a passing fad.

What Does Green Mean?
We've seen several approaches to green investing. We call one style the "best-in-breed" approach, in which the idea is to invest in companies with industry-leading environmental track records. That tack guides
Green Century Equity (NASDAQ:GCEQX - News), which currently owns Proctor & Gamble (NYSE:PG - News) and 3M Company (NYSE:MMM - News) because its managers consider them to be among the greenest operators in their industries. We also see funds like Winslow Green Growth (NASDAQ:WGGFX - News) that invest in "clean" companies, meaning those that have no negative environmental impact. Lastly, a number of funds invest in "environmentally proactive" firms that produce goods or services linked to green initiatives like alternative energy, energy efficiency, emissions reduction, water distribution, and agriculture. Such options include the
Guinness Atkinson Alternative Energy Fund (NASDAQ:GAAEX - News) and the ETF PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy (AMEX:PBW - News). Some funds blend several styles, such as Spectra Green (NASDAQ:SPEGX - News) and Portfolio 21 (NASDAQ:PORTX - News).

Investors need to look under the hood and decide for themselves which green strategy they'd prefer. Socially conscious investors may be surprised that not all green funds fit the bill (because they may invest in nuclear power companies, for example). Others seeking the biggest bang for their buck might favor a fund in which management tends to invest strictly where it sees the most attractive growth opportunities.

Finding Winning Green Funds
To sort through green investing options we'd first look for clear communication from the fund's management detailing its green definition and its investment universe. Some green funds may lean heavily on large-cap or small-cap stocks. Some invest domestically and some globally, so they can also alter a portfolio's geographic exposure. We'd home in on those that draw on several green investing styles because they're apt to have greater flexibility in selecting winning stocks in a variety of market conditions.

Manager experience, important in any mutual fund, is especially pertinent in green investing. Many companies in green industries such as solar, wind, and biofuels are early stage firms and thus carry the risks common to all small-cap growth stocks. They can also be subject to the same cyclical pressures that buffet traditional energy stocks. As a result, we'd favor management teams that have been around the block a few times and are familiar with the pitfalls of small-cap stocks and the volatile energy sector. We'd also prefer to see teams with deep research resources, in part because government regulation (which varies by country and is constantly evolving) can have a big impact on green companies. Two funds that meet our criteria thus far are the Winslow fund mentioned above and Calvert Global Alternative Energy (NASDAQ:CGAEX - News). Although we cover a number of green funds, we're likely to take a closer look at additional green options in future articles.

Why do hybrids get better gas mileage?

2008-02-10T18:30:00.000-08:00

Hybrid cars are constantly in the news, and for a good reason; they get great gas mileage. But have you ever thought about where the great mileage comes from? Recently, a question was posed by a reader that gets to the essence of hybrid car technology: "How can a hybrid car be any more efficient than a normal car, given that the engine has to charge the battery?" In other words, since the engine has to burn gas to charge the battery, why isn't the gas mileage of a hybrid the same as a normal car?

To understand the full meaning of this question and answer, it's helpful to explore the technology of hybrid cars for a moment. We'll use the Toyota Prius as an example. The Prius has a small gasoline engine and an electric motor. There is also a battery pack for the motor, a special transmission that lets the engine and the motor work together and a computer that controls the whole thing. When you're sitting still in a Prius, such as when you're waiting at a traffic light, the gasoline engine doesn't need to run. By eliminating the idling, you automatically save gas. If you are traveling slow in a Prius, such as when you're inching forward in bumper-to-bumper traffic, the electric motor can do the driving and the engine doesn't need to run. Once you start going faster than 15 miles per hour, the gas engine kicks in. Also, if you drive for more than a few minutes in bumper-to-bumper traffic, the engine will kick in. At that point, the engine is spinning a generator that recharges the battery.

That last part -- the "recharging" -- is the focus of the reader's question. If the engine has to run to charge the battery, then where is the advantage? It's not as if the electric motor is moving for free. Since an engine powering a generator to charge a battery is going to add waste -- both the generator and the battery will lose some power through friction and heat -- it seems as if the hybrid should get worse mileage than a normal car. Here is how the hybrid gains an advantage. First, a hybrid doesn't need to idle. That in itself saves gas, especially during city driving. The battery in the Prius can power the air conditioner and the radio when the car is still. And bumper-to-bumper driving wastes a normal engine's gas. When you rev the engine to travel at 5 mph and then stop, you create the worst possible scenario for a gasoline engine.

When you drive a hybrid in bumper-to-bumper traffic and it's time to recharge the battery, the engine can run at a consistent, optimal speed to spin the generator. Revving and stopping doesn't take place. The engine is being used as efficiently as possible. This makes a hybrid much more efficient when driving in city conditions.

Two things automatically work in favor of a hybrid: (1) no idling and (2) no more revving and stopping, which means efficient engine operation. Plus, a gasoline engine in a hybrid can be small and light compared with a normal car's engine, which makes the engine more efficient. And that's not all: Most hybrids, such as the Prius, are aerodynamic. They also have special tires that make them more efficient. Many hybrids use regenerative braking to capture a car's energy during braking and store it in the battery. Finally, there is the car's computer and display. The display tells the driver when he or she is wasting gas -- for example, by accelerating too fast -- and this helps the driver save gasoline. When you add up these benefits, you get a car that has much better mileage than a normal car. This is why a hybrid is able to save gasoline.

The Green Scavenger Hunt

2008-02-06T12:00:00.000-08:00

The Green Scavenger Hunt is a great and fun idea to get youths involved in cleaning up the environment and recycling. I am a club soccer coach with teams from ages 8 all the way to 18. I tried out a green scavenger hunt with my 14 year olds on a Saturday morning and the boys absolutely had a blast. I broke the boys into 4 teams of 4. This way I presented the hunt as a competition. Each team was given 3 bags....a bag for trash, a bag for aluminum cans and a bag for plastics. Each type of trash was given a point value. 3 points for each aluminum can and 1 point for each plastic bottle. The team with the most regular trash would be awarded an additional 20 points at the end of the hunt. Furthermore, we gave additional goals...such as the 1st Dr Pepper can returned to me won $1. We gave $1 prizes for Coke cans, plastic water bottle, Gatorade bottle etc. Each team was given 1 hour in our local park. It was a resounding success as the boys had a blast with the competition and barely even realized they were cleaning up the area in the meantime. Afterwards we talked about the problem of plastic bottles in landfills and such.
Try out a Green Scavenger Hunt if you can. I guarantee it will be a success!

GM introducing new hybrids trucks at Chicago Auto Show

2008-02-03T21:47:00.000-08:00

General Motors Corp. will introduce a new hybrid full-size pickup and a concept hybrid truck this week at the Chicago Auto Show, betting that pickup drivers have been itching to jump on the hybrid bandwagon. GM says the 2009 GMC Sierra hybrid gets a 25 percent improvement in fuel economy without compromising performance, while its GMC Denali XT concept — a low-slung, muscular utility vehicle — gets 50 percent better fuel economy than a comparable small pickup.

The Sierra is the next large GM vehicle to get the company's new two-mode hybrid system, which has also been introduced on the Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon sport utility vehicles and the Chevrolet Silverado pickup. The SUVs are expected to go on sale early this year, while the Silverado and Sierra are scheduled to hit the market at the end of 2008. The two-mode system got a lot of buzz late last year at the Los Angeles Auto Show, where the hybrid Chevrolet Tahoe was named the 2008 Green Car of the Year by the Green Car Journal.

Like single-mode hybrid systems now used by Toyota Motor Corp., Ford Motor Co. and others, the two-mode runs without the gas engine at low speeds. But at higher speeds, the electric motor in the two-mode hybrid contributes more power. The two-mode system also is better for towing. GM says the Sierra can drive up to 30 mph on just electricity, which is stored during braking and cruising in a 300-volt battery. When the gas engine is used, the hybrid system helps the 6-liter, V-8 engine run longer in its more economical four-cylinder mode.

GM says the hybrid Sierra can tow up to 6,100 pounds. The non-hybrid GMC Sierra 1500 can tow up to 10,500 pounds. It remains to be seen whether pickup buyers, who have historically saved on fuel costs by choosing diesel models, will adopt hybrid systems. Hybrid systems cost more than gas engines, but pickup drivers tend to drive longer distances so they could recoup the premium more quickly. Small businesses also might want to take advantage of government tax breaks for hybrids.

Mark LaNeve, GM's vice president of North America sales, service and marketing, has said the company expects about 5 percent of pickup drivers to opt for the hybrid system. But he said GM will be able to ramp up production if there's more demand. GM sold 208,243 Sierras in 2007. GM's radically redesigned Denali XT concept is built on a car-like unibody frame, rather than a truck frame, for a smoother ride and better fuel economy. It's the first vehicle from GM that combines an ethanol-capable engine with the two-mode hybrid system.

The Denali XT comes on the heels of another compact hybrid truck concept, the Toyota A-BAT , which was introduced at last month's North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The A-BAT is also built on a unibody frame and has a 4-foot bed, 7 inches shorter than the Denali XT's 55-inch bed.

Los Angeles breaks ground on wind farm

2008-02-01T08:19:00.000-08:00

Los Angeles city leaders broke ground Thursday on a $425 million wind farm in the rugged Tehachapi Mountains that promises to generate enough energy to power 56,000 homes. The 8,000-acre Pine Tree Wind Project , about 14 miles north of the High Desert community of Mojave, will have 80 wind turbine generators, each 400 feet tall, and be the largest city-owned wind farm in the nation when completed in about a year's time.

"We've said for some time that L.A. needs to be the greenest city in America," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said at the groundbreaking ceremony attended by about 150 people. "We are committed to giving kids a brighter future than the one handed to us."

The Pine Tree 120-megawatt wind farm will reduce carbon emissions equivalent to taking 35,000 cars off the road and bring Los Angeles' renewable energy to 13 percent of its total power production, officials said. The mayor also announced plans for the adjacent Pine Canyon wind farm that will be built on 12,000 acres and generate 150 megawatts of energy, enough to power another 70,000 homes. The mayor has set a goal for the Department of Water and Power to increase its use of renewable energy to 20 percent by 2010.

"We are creating electricity out of thin air," City Council President Eric Garcetti said. "We are creating green jobs and green energy with a sensitivity to the topography in Kern County. Pine Tree represents a new era of renewable energy for Angelenos."

The Pine Tree project entails erecting the wind turbines and construction of a high-voltage transmission line and the Barren Ridge electrical substation. First approved in 2003, Pine Tree has been touted as a unique initiative for a public utility that would promote clean air by reducing the city's reliance on polluting power sources. Originally scheduled to go online in 2004, the project was delayed by problems, including litigation, local opposition, and issues with environmental permitting.

The height of the turbines was lowered to address concerns of nearby military installations, such as Edwards Air Force Base, that did not want the structures to interfere with their airspace, officials said. Environmental clearances have been obtained to proceed, and officials at the event said the project has the support of environmental groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club , and Union of Concerned Scientists.

"All this will be done with minimal encroachment on the environment," said Nick Patsaouras, president of the Board of Water and Power Commissioners.

Solar IPO - ReneSola

2008-01-30T11:44:00.000-08:00

A solar energy IPO may seem so 2007. And indeed, it has been seven months since the end of the solar invasion that started in late 2006. Meanwhile, the bear market has pounded solar stocks down some 30% to 40% from their cloud-busting highs. Yet the same factors that made solar stocks compelling last year are still in play this year, Renaissance Capital analyst Sam Snyder says.

"The market growth (in the fourth quarter) ended up greater than what people expected," he said. "That allowed room for these companies to do pretty well."

ReneSola also is in a nice spot because it makes silicon wafers, while most other public companies make solar cells, which are farther downstream.Snyder says the wafer "bottleneck" looks like it will persist in the near term, providing nice growth and pricing opportunities.

THE COMPANY
ReneSola launched its business in July 2005 as Zhejian Yuhui Solar Energy Source. It changed its name in April 2006 when it incorporated in the Virgin Islands in preparation for its public offering. The Chinese operating company still goes by Zhejian Yuhui, but it has branches in the U.S., Singapore and Malaysia devoted to procuring and processing silicon. The company started off with higher-end monocrystalline wafers, but in August started making cheaper multicrystalline wafers.

It has about 378 megawatts' worth of capacity in all, which it expects to boost to 585 megawatts this year. Customers include JA Solar (NasdaqGM:JASO - News), Suntech Power (NYSE:STP - News) and Solarfun Power Holding (NasdaqGM:SOLF - News). In August, ReneSola launched a joint venture to produce virgin polysilicon, probably the most in-demand product in the solar business. It ran a trial production this month, and expects to turn out 200 to 300 metric tons this year. The firm also is building a factory in Sichuan that it expects to make 1,500 metric tons in 2009.

RISKS/CHALLENGES
Like most solar players, ReneSola has a short operating history and ambitious expansion plans. Much depends on its ability to execute the build-out of its manufacturing capacity, including silicon capacity. Until it does start making its own silicon in bulk, it faces the industry-wide shortage of the material. This drives up costs and puts it in fierce competition with other players, including LDK Solar (NYSE:LDK - News), Deutsche Solar, Kyocera (NYSE:KYO - News) and M. Setek.

As silicon and wafers makers ramp up their capacity, prices are expected to drop. ReneSola must keep its costs in line with falling prices. The company's top five customers accounted for almost 80% of its revenue last year, up from 59% the prior year. This increased dependence on a few customers makes it more vulnerable. ReneSola recently had a quality dispute with a customer regarding returned solar modules made in 2005. Such quality issues have plagued some other solar players and could hurt ReneSola if more of them turn up.The company still is in the process of getting its internal controls up to U.S. standards.

THE RESULTS
In the first nine months of 2007, sales nearly tripled over the prior year to $153 million. Net income rose from $15 million to $25.5 million.
USE OF PROCEEDS
ReneSola expects to net about $127 million from its offering of 10 million shares.It will use $70 million to expand its wafer manufacturing capacity and $60 million to build its silicon factory.

To buy a Hybrid or not?

2008-01-28T20:58:00.000-08:00

Hybrid vehicles are definitely the wave of the future or at least one of them. With gas prices remaining over $3 a gallon and oil prices up around $100a barrel, the need to save on fuel -- and fuel costs -- is clearly not just a passing trend. And, of course, concerns about air quality and global warming seem to mount every day. So, it would seem that this is the right time to take the plunge and buy a hybrid. But first there are some questions you need to ask yourself. One key question is this: Why are you buying a hybrid? Is it to save on gas costs -- or is it to do your part when it comes to cutting back on fossil-fuel emissions, which foul the air and contribute to rapid climate change?

That question has been a valid one the last few years, because hybrid vehicles can be more expensive than their non-hybrid counterparts, if you're comparing apples to apples. (That is, if you're comparing two cars of the same size, same equipment levels, etc.) One school of thought that was advanced a year or two ago is that you pay such a high up-front "premium" for a hybrid that it could take many years before you "break even" on the amount you would save in fuel costs. In that scenario, your incentive for buying a hybrid vehicle would have to be largely driven by a concern for the environment. Which, of course, is not a bad thing. If we're going to clean up the air and reverse the effects of rapid climate change, perhaps that's just the premium we'll all have to pay as we do our part.

But more recently, with gas prices rising even further and hybrid car prices getting closer to non-hybrid counterparts, it is likely that you will recoup that up-front premium in just a few short years. So we decided to find a couple of experts on the topic, and pose this question: "Why should people buy a hybrid -- for the cost savings, or just for the environmental benefits?"

One such expert is Bill Reinert, the manager of alternative-fuel vehicle development for Toyota, which produces the most popular hybrid vehicle on the road today -- the Toyota Prius. "First, let's take a look at the fact that the courts have ruled that C02 is a harmful pollutant, and that Congress has also pushed the auto industry to investigate alternatives to fossil fuels, and is considering regulations as we speak," says Reinert. "So it's clear the government is addressing this problem -- how to reduce C02 emissions -- in a fairly aggressive manner. And hybrid vehicles are one of the most effective ways to do that right now. So it's unavoidable that this is going to be a major direction the industry will go in, even if it didn't want to."

Reinert points out that that there are also emission reductions to be achieved in the "total fuel cycle." "You also have to consider the emissions that are produced when you extract the oil from the well, and transport it, and convert it to gasoline, and get it into the pump," he says. "So when you drive a hybrid, you're also helping to reduce all of those 'upstream' emissions." Another factor to consider is the urbanization of the world's population.

"At this point in history, half the world's population lives in urban environments," says Reinert. "And although urban areas cover only 4 percent of the world's land mass, they use 90 percent of our resources. So, how a vehicle performs in urban environments is crucial when it comes to the impact on the environment. That's where a hybrid really offers some key benefits. In urban settings, you can just shut off the engine and run it in purely the electric mode for six or eight miles -- and that range is going to get better with every generation of hybrids. And this ability is going to go a long way toward reducing or eliminating emissions signatures of automobiles -- which also happens to be a key issue in the development of the lungs of young children in these urban areas."

Which brings us to the cost issue. Trying to calculate how long it will take you to recoup your up-front premium when buying the Prius is problematic, because there is nothing to compare it to. The Prius only comes as a hybrid, so you can't compare it to, say, "a V6 gas-only version" of the Prius. The Prius's MSRP is $20,950 - $23,220, depending on level of equipment, and has a fuel economy rating of 48/45/46 (city/hwy/combined).

However, it is possible to compare a Toyota Camry Hybrid to a "regular Camry." The Camry Hybrid is powered by a 4-cylinder engine, but for comparison purposes, Toyota spokesman John McCandless claims that, "if you take into account the equipment level of the Camry Hybrid -- and that it has the performance of a V-6 -- the best apples-to-apples comparison is to compare the hybrid to a V-6 Camry LE. Those base prices are less than $2,000 apart -- $23,640 for the Camry V6 LE, vs. $25,000 for the Hybrid." Toyota reports that the Camry Hybrid's fuel economy rating is 33 mpg city/34 mpg highway. Meanwhile, the Camry V6 gets 21/31 mpg, city/hwy. For purposes of comparison, McCandless used a combined fuel economy rating, splitting the difference between highway and city mileage.

"So if you drive 15,000 miles a year, and you buy the Hybrid version, you'll be using about 454 gallons a year," says McCandless. "Meanwhile, if you get the V6 LE, you'll be burning 635 gallons a year. At $3.20 a gallon, that's a fuel-cost saving of about $547 a year. So it should take you three or four years to recoup the up-front premium you paid to buy the Hybrid. Plus, you get the satisfaction that you are easing the emission imprint on the planet."

Whole Foods Markets eliminating plastic bags

2008-01-22T20:35:00.000-08:00

Kudos to Whole Foods Markets for eliminating plastic bags at all of their stores. They will now offer paper or cloth at checkout. They will offer what they call a "Better Bag” — only 99 cents and it’s made entirely from recycled plastic bottles. The goal is to be completely plastic free by Earth Day 2008 . Also, if you bring your own bag to use at checkout Whole Foods will give you a refund of five cents per bag.

Hopefully more stores around the country will follow their lead!

Invention Nation on the Science Channel

2008-01-21T19:22:00.000-08:00

Invention Nation is a wonderful show being aired on Monday evenings on the Science Channel . The show follows three guys as they travel across America looking for eco-inventions. They travel in a short bus powered by vegetable oil. Whether it's road-testing a human-powered car, assembling a solar panel from used CDs, or building a homemade windmill, the MacGyver-esque designs range from simple to unreal. And between visits the guys hang with the inventors; negotiate their way into roadside diner kitchens for used grease to fuel their bus; and generally inspire the people they meet along the way to get a little greener. Invention Nation shows that people really are helping save the planet, one invention at a time. Check it out for some great "Green" ideas!

Waste concerns arise as Nuclear power rises again

2008-01-19T13:28:00.000-08:00

France - Thousands of canisters of highly radioactive waste from the world's most nuclear-energized nation lie, silent and deadly, beneath this jutting tip of Normandy. Above ground, cows graze and Atlantic waves crash into heather-covered hills. The spent fuel, vitrified into blocks of black glass that will remain dangerous for thousands of years, is in "interim storage." Like nearly all the world's nuclear waste, it is still waiting for the long-term disposal solution that has eluded scientists and governments in the six decades since the atomic era began.

Industry officials hope renewed worldwide interest in nuclear energy will break a long, awkward silence surrounding nuclear waste. They want to revive momentum for scientific and political breakthroughs on waste that stalled after the accidents at Three Mile Island in 1979 and Chernobyl in 1986, which raised worldwide fears about radioactivity's risks to human and planetary health.

So far, though, recent talk of a nuclear renaissance has focused on the "front end," or reactor construction. Engineers are designing the next generation of reactors to be safer than today's — and they're being billed as a solution to global warming. Nuclear reactors do not emit carbon dioxide, blamed for heating the planet. Few people have been talking about the "back end," industry-speak for the hundreds of thousands of tons of waste that nuclear plants produce each year, and the lucrative, secretive business of storing it away.

Waste "is the main problem with this so-called nuclear rebirth," said Mycle Schneider, an independent expert who co-authored a recent study for the European Parliament casting doubt on a global nuclear resurgence. He says government efforts to revive nuclear energy will stall without a "miracle" solution to waste disposal. Workers at this waste treatment and storage site on France's Cherbourg peninsula, run by industry giant Areva, don't see a problem.

Though much of the technology here dates from the 1970s and 1980s, they point to a strong safety record and the 26,000 environmental tests conducted every year as evidence that the public has nothing to fear from their activity. The tests routinely find crabs, cows and humans living nearby to be healthy. One longtime plant employee gestured toward her pregnant abdomen, holding her third child, as proof that there's nothing to worry about. Plant officials say strict security measures, tightened since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, rule out terrorism risks.

Greenpeace questions state-run Areva's safety figures, and accuses the government of playing down accidents and soil and water contamination. A group called Meres en Colere, or Angry Mothers, was formed in the region after a 1997 study showed higher than usual local rates of child leukemia, a malady linked to radiation exposure. Now the "pros" are on a new mission to dispel a generation of scares and suspicion, saying nuclear power is less dangerous to humans and the Earth than burning oil or coal. The "antis" say nuclear energy can never offer 100 percent protection from its radioactive ingredients.

The splitting of uranium atoms in a nuclear reactor creates the exceptional heat that drives turbines to provide electricity. The process also creates radioactive isotopes such as cesium-137 and strontium-90 that take about 30 years to lose half their radioactivity. Higher-level leftovers includes plutonium-239, with a half-life of 24,000 years. Direct exposure to such highly radioactive material, even for a short period, can be fatal. Indirect exposure, through seepage into groundwater, can lead to life-threatening illness for those living nearby and environmental damage.

For now, the best scientific solution for getting rid of the most lethal waste is to shove it deep underground. Yet no country has built a deep geological repository. Governments meet protests each time one is proposed. The Yucca Mountain waste site in Nevada was commissioned in 1982 and is still awaiting a license. Another option is recycling. Countries such as France, Russia and Japan reprocess much nuclear waste into new fuel. That dramatically reduces the volume: Forty years' worth of France's highly radioactive waste is stored under just three floor surfaces, each about the size of a basketball court, at Beaumont-Hague.

Recycling, though, produces plutonium that could be used in nuclear weapons — so the United States bans it, fearing proliferation. And not all waste can be reprocessed. The deadliest bits — such as fuel rod casings and other reactor parts as well as concentrated fuel residue containing plutonium and highly enriched uranium — must be sealed and stored away. That's what lurks 10 feet underground at this Normandy plant: More than 7,000 cylindrical steel canisters, each about the height of a parking meter, stacked and sealed upright in holes beneath the slick floor. Some contain compacted radioactive metal, the others hold spent fuel that has been vitrified into glass.

Among other ideas once floated for disposing of nuclear waste have been shooting it into space (deemed too risky because of the volatile rocket fuel) or injecting it in the ocean floor (stalled because testing its feasibility is too costly), or shipping all the world's waste to a collective nuclear dump. The last idea proved too diplomatically delicate. But Greenpeace and Norwegian environmental group Bellona say European nations have for years been illegally shipping radioactive waste to Russia and leaving it there.

Current research in industry leader France — which relies on nuclear energy for more than 70 percent of its electricity, more than any other country — is focusing on new chemical processes that would shrink nuclear waste and cool it faster. It will be at least 2040, though, before these might be put to use, scientists estimate. Schneider says scientists are "creating work for themselves" by researching methods that may never be commercially feasible or do much to solve the long-term waste quandary.

The World Nuclear Association, an industry group, disagrees, citing increasing interest in waste research by governments. The managers at the Normandy plant say long-held taboos about the industry are fading.

"We have the best scientific solution for treating waste," deputy director Eric Blanc said, referring to the plant's vitrification process and network of cooling pools. "Others are coming all the time to study it."

Visitors to the plant must wear special uniforms and trek through a maze of security and radioactivity checkpoints. The plant used to have Webcams and "open house" days for people from nearby communities, but both practices were stopped after Sept. 11. Now the Defense Ministry regularly monitors the plant, and vets all visitors.

Klamath Dams could be removed to help troubled salmon

2008-01-16T07:49:00.000-08:00

Gotta love to see this:

More than 300 miles of struggling salmon runs would be restored along the Klamath River as part of a landmark $1 billion proposal that represents the largest dam removal project in the nation's history. The plan, announced Tuesday, followed two years of closed-door negotiations between farmers, Indian tribes, fishermen, conservation groups and government agencies battling over the fate of scarce water and fish protected by the Endangered Species Act.

"What we've come up with is a blueprint for how to solve the Klamath crisis," said Craig Tucker, a coordinator for the Karuk Tribe, which has been working for years to restore dwindling salmon catches that were once key to members' diet and culture.

The proposal calls for the scrapping of four aging hydroelectric dams that have stood on the river for nearly a century — providing electricity for 70,000 customers but also blocking salmon from reaching their spawning grounds. The agreement faces significant hurdles. It must be reviewed by federal agencies, including the U.S. Justice Department, and the dams' owner, PacifiCorp, which must agree to their removal, perhaps as soon as 2015.

In addition to money already being spent to mitigate the impact of the dams, the deal also calls for some $400 million in new spending on salmon restoration, primarily from Congress, for a total of $1 billion over 10 years. The plan contains no provision for paying the estimated $180 million to remove the dams, leaving that to PacifiCorp, a unit of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., which is controlled by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

PacifiCorp has previously said it would be willing to remove the dams if its ratepayers don't have to pay. But it has also been pursuing a new 30- or 50-year operating license, which would require it to spend about $300 million to build fish ladders.

"It's worth taking a pretty serious look at it," said PacifiCorp spokesman Paul Vogel, who noted his company wasn't part of the negotiations. "We don't know whether anyone has seriously represented our customers on our behalf, because our customers have to be protected in this."

Steve Thompson, director of the California-Nevada office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Sacramento, Calif., said the Bush administration has supported the settlement process, but the plan must be reviewed by federal agencies. Thompson added that he knew of no dam removal project in the country that has restored more habitat or would generate more fish, and characterized the new spending as a better investment than past disaster relief to farmers and fishermen.

Opposition to the agreement is coming from the Hoopa Valley Tribe, based on the Trinity River, which flows into the Klamath below the dams; some farmers who are not part of the Klamath Reclamation Project ; and two conservation groups tossed out of the talks last spring, Oregon Wild and WaterWatch.

Hoopa Chairman Clifford Marshall said the agreement gives irrigation water priority over the needs of salmon and requires the tribe to waive its water rights on behalf of fish, without any hard assurances the dams would come out.

"Dangling a carrot like this will not work for Hoopa," he said.

Luther Horsley, president of the Klamath Water Users Association, which represents the 1,000 farms on the project, said farmers would achieve their goals of predictable irrigation deliveries, affordable power for irrigation pumps, and freedom from future lawsuits involving endangered species.

Steve Pedery of Oregon Wild and Robert Hunter of WaterWatch said they were skeptical that the deal could actually produce the extra water that salmon need to thrive, or that Congress could come up with the money. They characterized the agreement as a sweetheart deal for the Bush administration to give farmers what they want.

The Klamath, straddling the Oregon-California line, was once the third most productive salmon river system on the West Coast, but it has declined because of misguided hatchery practices, overfishing, development and the loss of habitat to dams, mining, and logging. Fish returns have become so small that in 2006 commercial salmon fishing had to be nearly shut down off most of Oregon and California, causing a federal disaster declaration.

Ideas for Going Green in the kitchen

2008-01-13T09:49:00.000-08:00

With the holidays now but a memory, our thoughts turn toward self-improvement. We begin the year, as we always do, by resolving to lose weight, save money, adopt a healthier lifestyle. But for a growing number of us, that's just the beginning. While politicians throughout the world debate global warming, there is a growing sense of a crucial need to hold ourselves accountable not only as individuals, but as part of our greater community.

A meaningful way to have a positive effect on the environment is by greening up our kitchens and our eating habits, because these actions affect us all. Changes need not be monumental, and often it's a small change that becomes the seed for a larger one. There's always a reason not to make a change, but there are usually better reasons why you should. Here are eight things you can do.

1. BYE-BYE, BOTTLES

Reasons why you should: For bottled-water connoisseurs, trading in the fancy imported stuff for good old tap in a reusable neoprene bottle may seem sacrilegious. But even many connoisseurs have grown tired of lugging that unsightly overflowing recycle bin to the curb. Oh yeah, and this statistic was motivating too. Americans buy more than 8 billion gallons of bottled water a year and toss 22 billion empty plastic bottles in the trash, National Geographic magazine reports. What about that addiction to sparkling water? For an investment of about $100, a home carbonating machine, such as a Soda Club Soda Maker, will keep you bubbling for months.

Reasons why you don't: Some think that tap water tastes funny or you can't remember to take a bottle with you on an outing.

Ways to get started: Invest in a neoprene bottle and use it whenever you remember. If you don't like tap, get a filter, such as Brita, or a bubbler for your home and fill your bottle from that. Remember the statistic above when you go to reach for bottled water at the convenience store. Still addicted to grab and go? At least recycle.

2. DISPOSE OF DISPOSABLES

Reasons why you should: Banishing paper plates and other disposable tableware, and treating yourself to the good stuff, will save lots and lots of trash. Cloth napkins, real dishes and cutlery enhance the dining experience and send the message to your family that they deserve the best. You'll also save money by packing lunches in reusable totes and packaging individual items in washable containers instead of plastic wrap and bags. Keep a set of cutlery at work and wash after use instead of using a new set of throwaways every day. Request takeout without plastic utensils, napkins and individual packets of condiments. Instead of paper towels, use rags or dish towels for mopping up spills, and while you're wiping, choose eco-friendly, nontoxic cleaning products.

Reasons why you don't: You can't bear the thought of more dishes to wash.

Ways to get started: Treat yourself to one set of colorful placemats and napkins. Reuse your cloth napkins for most of the week and throw them in the wash on laundry day. Take your own coffee cup when visiting your favorite barista. Use old T-shirts or towels as rags for cleaning counters.

3. BANISH EXCESS PACKAGING

Reasons why you should: It seems like almost every vegetable comes prepped and packaged in individually wrapped and hermetically sealed containers. Forgo these veggies and buy them straight from the bin. Take a break from bagged lettuce mixes and make your own from individual heads of lettuce for fresher flavor and a lot less slime. If you eat a food in quantity, such as yogurt, choose the large container and spoon out what you need instead of buying several individual tubs. While individual snack packs are recognized for convenience and portion control, measuring out Goldfish or other crackers from a big box into a reusable container for the lunchbox or car takes only a few seconds. Not only do companies charge a premium for individually packaged goods, you won't need to spend money on trash bags to throw out all that excess garbage.

Reasons why you don't: Prepackaged goods do save time. It's easier to have a grab-and-go snack waiting than to have to fix one.

Ways to get started: When you think about it, the time savings are really minimal. Pick just one veggie you just can't bear to prep — for example, onions — but make an effort on the others. Otherwise, with nonperishables, bigger is better, as long as you'll eat it in a reasonable amount of time.

4. PLASTIC OR PAPER? — NEITHER

Reasons why you should: Americans use 10 billion paper bags a year, according to the American Forest and Paper Association. That's a lot of oxygen-producing trees that are cut down to provide virgin pulp needed for kraft paper, the type used for brown shopping bags. But is plastic any better? Not when more than 500 billion plastic bags are consumed worldwide in a year, according to National Geographic. Oh, as further incentive, reusable tote bags are the status symbol of the decade.

Reasons why you don't: You forget to put the tote bags in your car. You use plastic bags to clean up after your dog.

Ways to get started: Instead of thinking of it as a punishment, reward yourself by purchasing fun canvas or laminated bags. To get them back to your car, hang them on a door handle to go outside as soon as the groceries are unloaded, or when writing your grocery list, make a "don't forget to take bags" note at the top. Practice makes perfect. Don't worry about Rover. Between all the excess packaging used for newspapers, breads and loose produce, he won't have to cross his legs for long.

5. GET A GREEN THUMB

Reasons why you should: Who can forget the excitement from grade school science class when your paper-cup-planted bean finally sprouted? Growing your own food connects you to the earth and brings renewed appreciation for the farmers who make their living nurturing their fields.

Reasons why you don't: Your yard is the size of a postage stamp and your thumb is every color but green.

Ways to get started: Whether it begins with a single window pot of basil and moves on to a rosemary bush or a tomato plant, find the time and space to find your inner farmer. Who knows? Composting can be next.

6. EAT LESS MEAT

Reasons why you should: The resources needed to raise livestock, including feed, water, fossil fuel and land, dramatically surpass those required for raising vegetables and grains. As concerns for profitability grew, the space used for raising animals shrank, which has resulted in animals being exposed to high levels of toxins from too many waste products in too small an area. Runoff from farms threatens crops grown nearby. On a more personal level, the health benefits of a plant-based diet can't be ignored. Heart disease and many cancers have a direct link to meat consumption.

Reasons why you don't: Humans have been carnivores since caveman days.

Ways to get started: Go meatless one or two days a week. Use meat as an accent instead of as a main course, adding it into stir-fries, soups or pasta dishes. Switch to grass-fed meat. Many grass-fed methods are more environmentally friendly and cost-effective. Many pastures for grass feeding utilize low-cost grasses that typically require little added water and few or no synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Find local farms that treat their animals humanely. Substitute foods that simulate meat, such as soy products or portobello mushrooms, which mimic the texture and adaptability of steak.

7. USE APPLIANCES MORE EFFICIENTLY

Reasons why you should: "Little changes can make a big difference," says Dennis Creech, executive director of Southface, an Atlanta-based company that promotes responsible solutions for environmental living. He adds: "Simple, common-sense actions, like running the dishwasher when it's full and using the air-dry setting, will save energy." If washing dishes by hand, fill the basin instead of letting the water run. Choose the right size pot or appliance for the job. When doing a small job in the kitchen, such as toasting nuts or heating bread, use the toaster oven. When boiling water for a single serving of pasta, don't bring out the giant pasta pot. To save on heating costs, Creech suggests adjusting the thermostat down in winter when baking or cooking so that rooms do not overheat.

Reasons why you don't: It takes a while to fill your dishwasher.

Ways to get started: By disposing of disposables, you might find the dishwasher fills a little faster. For smaller households, hand washing should do the job. Simply planning ahead when choosing appliances will save energy, and with heating and electricity costs soaring, you'll be grateful when your bill arrives.

8. REINTRODUCE YOURSELF TO YOUR STOVE/OVEN

Reasons why you should: While this is not strictly a green issue, begin the year by breaking the cycle of subsisting on fast food, soft drinks and processed snacks. Replace those empty calories with nutrient-rich, home-cooked meals. By getting out of your car and eating a family dinner in your kitchen, you'll not only save gas and lessen pollution, but you will build a stronger foundation with your children, feel healthier and most likely lose weight. With the recent surge in obesity rates and the associated health risks, it's time to realize the cliche is true — you are what you eat.

Reasons why you don't: Cooking takes time. Recipes seem too complicated and take too long. Your kids are always on the go and so are you.

Ways to get started: Make an effort to eat a family meal at least a couple of times a week. Plan a menu for the week ahead of time to cut down on shopping trips. Look for quick and easy recipes, which can be made with five ingredients in less than 30 minutes, to get you back in the cooking groove. If you are on the go, put your money in local pockets instead of faceless conglomerates. Patronize local eateries that make fresh food. Many of us need to retrain our taste buds to remember what real food tastes like. Keep healthy snacks, like nuts or dried fruit, in your car, so you don't need to make a beeline for a drive-through when hunger strikes.

Nuclear Power advancing as energy source again

2008-01-12T10:42:00.000-08:00

Nuclear power, despite controversy over safety, pollution and cost factors, is rapidly gathering steam in a race to guarantee energy as emerging economies compete for fuel and particularly oil. A decision by Britain on Thursday to build new nuclear power generation plants is the latest example of this trend for countries to renew or to begin building nuclear capacity.

Today there are 442 nuclear power reactors at work in 201 power stations in 31 countries. Of these, 104 are in the United States, 58 in France and 55 in Japan, together accounting for about half of the total. A plant is under construction in Finland by the world-leading French nuclear power group Areva, headed by Anne Lauvergeon who says that 100-300 reactors will be built around the world by 2030. She wants Areva to build one third of these.

The United States expects to build new nuclear power stations for the first time for nearly 30 years since a dramatic accident at the Three Mile Island plant in March 1979.

Several countries in the Mediterranean basin such as Egypt, Morocco, Algeria and Libya have said in recent months that they intend to build nuclear power plants for the first time. China, experiencing a huge increase in demand for energy, recently ordered two so-called third-generation European pressurized reactors (EPRs) from France.

India also wants to develop nuclear power but must first sign an agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) ensuring that any such facilities would not be used to provide material for nuclear weapons.

France has offered to cooperate with several of these countries. However western countries continue to express concern about whether the the nuclear power programme in Iran is purely for civil use or also has a covert military purpose.

There are still deeply different views about nuclear energy within Europe. Italy abandoned the generation of nuclear power in 1987 and Germany has decided to end all of its nuclear generation by 2020. But the surge of oil prices to around 100 dollars a barrel, and commitments to combat the effect of carbon on global warming, have re-opened debate on the benefits of nuclear power in these countries.

The International Energy Agency, a Paris based offshoot of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, has warned that if Germany, Sweden and Belgium pursue policies to end nuclear power generation, the amount of energy provided from nuclear material could fall to 11.0 percent in 2030 from 15.0 percent now.

Coal is the main fuel used throughout the world for the generation of electricity, accounting for 40 percent, followed by gas (20 percent), hydro power (16 percent), nuclear energy (15 percent), oil (seven percent), and other renewable energies (two percent). Nuclear power produces little carbon dioxide and is competitive even with coal if this is taken into account, some experts say. But nuclear power stations create radioactive waste which is difficult to store with safety. In addition, the construction of a nuclear power station takes 10 years, compared with four years to build a coal-fired plant and two and a half years for a gas-powered station.

The potential market is attracting interest from many companies. The leading builders of nuclear power plants are Areva of France, Westinghouse of the United States and Atomstroyexport of Russia, together with leading groups in the field of electricity generation in general, the makers of turbines and big construction groups. The prospect of the construction of a nuclear power station is always met by opposition by ecologists and by people living near the planned site. The head of French electricity generator and distributor EDF, Pierre Gadonneix, says that the biggest challenge for those who support nuclear energy is to make it acceptable to public opinion.

China banning plastic bag uses

2008-01-10T13:49:00.000-08:00

From The China Mogul

China is banning free plastic bags common at shops and supermarkets and ordering customers to be charged for any they use, the government said Wednesday. The rules, which take effect June 1, come as the country tries to tackle a significant source of litter, a statement on the government's Web site said. The bags also are banned from all public transportation, including buses, trains and planes and from airports and scenic locations, the government said. Companies caught breaking the new rules face fines and possible forfeiture of goods, the government said. Shops have been instructed to mark the price of the plastic bags clearly and not fold them into the cost of other items.

Environmental organizations, including Greenpeace , praised China's move, and Christopher Flavin, president of Worldwatch Institute, an independent research organization in Washington, said "China is ahead of the U.S. with this policy," AP reported. The Chinese use up to 3 billion plastic shopping bags a day.

Often, the flimsy bags are used once and discarded, adding to waste in a country grappling with air and water pollution as a result of rapid economic transformation, officials said.

Hopefully cities here in the US will take notice and start to move in this direction. So far all I know of is San Francisco, California that has a similar program. I always use paper bags when possible. After I unload the groceries I then use the paper bags to hold my paper recyclables.

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2008-01-09T12:38:00.000-08:00

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Environmental Effects of $100 Oil

2008-01-03T21:18:00.000-08:00

Surging oil prices are a mixed blessing for the environment, experts say. Clean renewable energy and recycling are getting a major boost from 100-dollar-a-barrel crude -- but so are coal, a massive contributor to global warming, and nuclear power, which remains shadowed by safety concerns. Oil briefly topped 100 dollars on Wednesday, driven by escalating energy demand in China, stagnant oil supplies and unrest in oil-producing Nigeria.

Less than a year ago, a barrel of crude could be had for 50 dollars, and in November 2001 the price was as low as 16.70 dollars in New York. What is painful for consumers, though, may have benefits for planet Earth. To start with, triple-digit oil prices can prod users into switching to more fuel-efficient cars or public transport. They also push wind, solar power and other "alternative" energies, once marginalised as too costly or exotic, into the mainstream.

"As gas-fired electricity becomes more expensive, there are more and more places where you can build wind farms that are competitive or cheaper," said Steven Sawyer, executive director of a Brussels-based industry group, the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC). At current international gas prices, there would be some place in just about every country in the world where wind would be a better economic option," he told AFP.

Preliminary figures show that in 2007, total installed wind power capacity increased from 74 gigawatts to between 92 and 93 GW, maintaining an approximately 25 percent annual increase as compared to the year before, according to GWEC.

The surge in oil prices is also causing smiles in the recycling industry, especially in plastics, which are made from oil and gas. The higher the price of virgin materials to make plastics, the greater the incentive to recover, melt down and re-use old plastic bottles, shopping bags and other wrapping.

"Prices for plastics of all kinds have doubled in the last 10 years," says Peter Sundt, secretary general of the European Association of Plastics Recycling and Recovery Organisations (EPRO).

The long and enduring rise in oil prices in the first decade of the 21st century is particularly important. Past, sudden downturns in oil prices in the 1990s badly hit recycling, he told AFP. Leading the charge is China, which handles around 10 million tonnes of discarded plastics a year, about five million of which is imported from Europe, the United States and other rich economies.

With oil scaling new peaks, and China becoming choosier about its garbage imports, more and more European firms are investing in hi-tech plants with low labour costs to recycle plastics for their domestic market, according to Sundt. Yet the same economic imperatives driving the development of cleaner energy and better recycling are also driving the exploitation of other fossil fuels that are even more noxious than oil.

"High oil prices also make really nasty oil and petroleum development projects financially attractive," said Sawyer, pointing in particular to a flurry of investment in tar sands, especially in Canada. In terms of per unit of energy delivered, that is about the most polluting, greenhouse-gas intensive activity imaginable," he said.

Tar or oil sands are a mixture of sand, water and heavy crude that is difficult and expensive to extract. But several major oil companies, including Shell or early this month British Petroleum, have invested heavily in extraction operations that produce oil costing about 40 dollars a barrel, leaving a huge margin for profit.

An even greater environmental danger, though, is coal, which accounts for 40 percent of the electricity produced in the world, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA) in Vienna. Several of the world's largest economies -- including China, the United States and India -- are digging hungrily into domestic reserves of coal that are cheap and, unlike oil, have no geopolitical risk.

"In 2006, China built on average three coal-fired plants per week," says Cedric Philibert of the IEA.

Nuclear power is benefitting from both the high price of oil and worries about climate change, despite lingering fears about plant safety, storage of highly-radioactive waste and nuclear proliferation. At present, nuclear accounts for 15 percent of world's electricity needs, according to the IEA.

China, India, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam have all put in place ambitious strategies to expand or introduce nuclear power, Britain, France and Finland are pushing ahead with plans for next-generation reactors while the United States has passed laws aimed at accelerating atomic plant construction. In September, US President George W. Bush said rich countries should help developing nations obtain "secure, cost-effective and proliferation-resistant nuclear power."

"Nuclear power is the one existing source of energy that can generate massive amounts of electricity without causing any air pollution or greenhouse-gas emissions," Bush said.

How Global Warming could change California over the next century

2007-12-30T10:05:00.000-08:00

California is defined by its scenery, from the mountains that enchanted John Muir to the wine country and beaches that define its culture around the world. But as scientists try to forecast how global warming might affect the nation's most geographically diverse state, they envision a landscape that could look quite different by the end of this century, if not sooner.

Where celebrities, surfers and wannabes mingle on Malibu's world-famous beaches, there may be only sea walls defending fading mansions from the encroaching Pacific. In Northern California, tourists could have to drive farther north or to the cool edge of the Pacific to find what is left of the region's signature wine country.

Abandoned ski lifts might dangle above snowless trails more suitable for mountain biking even during much of the winter. In the deserts, Joshua trees that once extended their tangled, shaggy arms into the sky by the thousands may have all but disappeared.

"We need to be attentive to the fact that changes are going to occur, whether it's sea level rising or increased temperatures, droughts and potentially increased fires," said Lisa Sloan, a scientist who directs the Climate Change and Impacts Laboratory at the University of California, Santa Cruz. "These things are going to be happening."

Among the earliest and most noticeable casualties is expected to be California's ski season. Snow is expected to fall for a shorter period and melt more quickly. That could shorten the ski season by a month even in wetter areas and perhaps end it in others. Whether from short-term drought or long-term changes, the ski season already has begun to shrivel in Southern California, ringed by mountain ranges that cradle several winter resorts.

"There's always plenty of snow, but you may just have to go out of state for it," said Rinda Wohlwend, 62, who belongs to two ski clubs in Southern California. "I'm a very avid tennis player, so I'd probably play more tennis."

Because California has myriad microclimates, covering an area a third larger than Italy, predicting what will happen by the end of the century is a challenge. But through a series of interviews with scientists who are studying the phenomenon, a general description of the state's future emerges. By the end of the century, temperatures are predicted to increase by 3 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit statewide. That could translate into even less rainfall across the southern half of the state, already under pressure from the increased frequency of wildfires and relentless population growth.

Small mammals, reptiles and colonies of wildflowers in the deserts east of Los Angeles are accustomed to periodic three-year dry spells. But they might not be able to withstand the 10-year drought cycles that could become commonplace as the planet warms. Scientists already are considering relocating Joshua tree seedlings to areas where the plants, a hallmark of the high desert and namesake of a national park, might survive climate change.

"They could be wiped out of California depending on how quickly the change happens," said Cameron Barrows, who studies the effects of climate change for the Center for Conservation Biology in Riverside.

Farther north, where wet, cold winters are crucial for the water supply of the entire state, warmer temperatures will lead to more rain than snow in the Sierra Nevada and faster melting in the spring. Because 35 percent of the state's water supply is stored annually in the Sierra snowpack, changes to that hydrologic system will lead to far-reaching consequences for California and its ever-growing population.

Some transformations already are apparent, from the Sierra high country to the great valleys that have made California the nation's top agricultural state. The snow line is receding, as it is in many other alpine regions around the world. Throughout the 400-mile-long Sierra, trees are under stress, leading scientists to speculate that the mix of flora could change significantly as the climate warms. The death rate of fir and pine trees has accelerated over the past two decades.

In the central and southern Sierra, the giant sequoias that are among the biggest living things on Earth might be imperiled.

"I suspect as things get warmer, we'll start seeing sequoias just die on their feet where their foliage turns brown," said Nate Stephenson, a U.S. Geological Survey ecologist who is studying the effects of climate change in the Sierra Nevada. "Even if they don't die of drought stress, just think of the wildfires. If you dry out that vegetation, they're going to be so much more flammable."

Changes in the mountain snowpack could lead to expensive water disputes between cities and farmers. Without consistent water from rivers draining the melting snow, farmers in the Central and Salinas valleys could lose as much as a quarter of their water supply. Any drastic changes to the state's $30 billion agriculture industry would have national implications, since California's fertile valleys provide half the country's fresh fruits, nuts and vegetables, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists' study.

"Obviously, it's going to mean that choices are going to be made about who's going to get the water," said Brian Nowicki, a biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity in Tucson, Ariz. Among the biggest unknowns is what will happen along California's coast as the world's ice sheets and glaciers melt. One scenario suggests the sea level could rise by more than 20 feet.

Will the rising sea swamp the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, the nation's busiest harbor complex, turning them into a series of saltwater lakes? Will funky Ocean Beach, an island of liberalism in conservative San Diego County, become, literally, its own island? Among the more sobering projections is what is in store for marine life. The upwelling season, the time when nutrient-rich water is brought from the ocean's depths to the surface, nourishes one of the world's richest marine environments.

That period, from late spring until early fall, is expected to become weaker earlier in the season and more intense later. Upwelling along the Southern California coast will become weaker overall. As a result, sea lions, blue whales and other marine mammals that follow these systems up and down the coast are expected to decline. The changing sea will present trouble for much of the state's land-dwelling population, too. A sea level rise of 3 to 6 feet would inundate the airports in San Francisco and Oakland. Many of the state's beaches would shrink.

"If you raise sea level by a foot, you push a cliff back 100 feet," said Jeff Severinghaus, professor of geosciences at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego. "There will be a lot of houses that will fall into the ocean."

Going Green - Cities Nationwide Offering Incentives

2007-12-28T07:07:00.000-08:00

Free hybrid-car parking. Cash rebates for installing solar panels. Low-interest loans for energy-saving home renovations. Money to tear up desert lawns and replace them with drought-resistant landscaping. Frustrated by what they see as insufficient action by state and federal government, municipalities around the country are offering financial incentives to get people to go green.

"A lot of localities recognize they're going to get a lot more done using carrots and incentives rather than regulatory means," said Jason Hartke, director of advocacy for the U.S. Green Building Council.

In Parkland, where the motto is "Environmentally Proud," the city plans next year to begin dispensing cash rebates to its 25,000 residents for being more environmentally friendly.

"We will literally issue them a check," said Vice Mayor Jared Moskowitz. "We're sick of waiting for the federal government to do something, so we've got to do what we can."

Residents who install low-flow toilets or shower heads will get $150. Replacing an old air conditioner with a more energy-efficient one brings $100. Buying a hybrid car? An additional $200 cash back. And the list goes on. Based on an estimate of 1,000 residents participating in the rebate program during the first year, the city predicts it will cost up to $100,000.

"Could this bankrupt the city if the program grows by leaps and bounds?" Moskowitz asked. "I can only wish that so many residents want to go green that that becomes an issue."

Many states already offer similar rebates and incentives through tax breaks, loans and perks such as allowing hybrid-car drivers to use car pool lanes. Utilities have long provided incentives to buy energy-efficient appliances, solar panels and toilets that use less water. The federal government, too, offers tax incentives for purchases of many hybrid vehicles and energy-saving products. Still, for many cities, it's just not enough.

"In terms of waiting for the federal government, we've waited a long time, and frankly, we haven't gotten very much," said Jared Blumenfeld, director of San Francisco's Department of Environment. "And how do you change someone's behavior? The simple answer is cash."

Starting next year, San Francisco will offer homeowners rebates of up to $5,000 for installing solar panels if they use a local contractor. Coupled with state and federal incentives, that could cut in half the $21,000 cost for an average household, Blumenfeld said. The city will also cover up to 90 percent of the costs of making apartment buildings more energy-efficient, and will pay residents $150 to replace old appliances. The neighboring city of Berkeley is financing the cost of solar panels for homeowners who agree to pay the money back through a 20-year property tax assessment. Nearby Marin County offers a $500 rebate to homeowners who install solar systems. Baltimore offers at least $2,000 toward closing costs for people who buy new homes close to where they work. It is called the "Live Near Your Work" program.

"Just living near your job and taking transit or walking to meet your daily needs provides basically the same environmental benefit as buying a hybrid car," said Amanda Eaken of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Residents of Albuquerque, N.M., get fast-track building permits and other perks if they agree to make their homes more energy-efficient. In Arizona, many cities pay residents to replace grass with artificial turf or plants that use less water. Scottsdale, outside Phoenix, will pay up to $1,500.

"We're in the middle of a desert and water is absolutely the most precious resource we have," said city spokesman Mike Phillips.

Global Warming Effecting Glaciers in China

2007-12-21T13:51:00.000-08:00

Global warming has caused some of China's glaciers -- a source for many of Asia's greatest rivers -- to have melted by more than 18 percent over the past five years, state media reported Friday. A survey of nearly 20,000 square kilometres (8,000 square miles) of China's glaciers showed they were on average 7.4 percent smaller than five years ago, Caijing magazine said, citing a government-funded survey.

A glacier along the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra River on the Tibetan plateau had shrunk by more than 18 percent, the survey found. Two other glacial areas in China's far northwest Xinjiang region had also melted by more than 18 percent.

"Global warming is causing grave loss to glaciers and it has become a burning need to monitor changes of glacial reserves," the researchers from the China Academy of Sciences said as they released their findings. The survey, covering roughly one third of China's glaciers, was conducted to trace the impacts of global warming. China's glaciers, in the west of the country, feed many of Asia's greatest rivers, including the Yangtze, Mekong, Yellow and Ganges, as well as the Brahmaputra.

In the past four decades, China's glaciers shrank by 3,248 square kilometres, or 5.5 percent since the 1960s, according to previous studies published in the state-run press. One of China's top glaciologists, Yao Tangdong, warned last year of an "ecological catastrophe" in Tibet because of global warming. He said most glaciers in the region could melt away by 2100.

Guide to a Green Christmas

2007-12-20T06:59:00.000-08:00

The holiday season is in full swing, and North Jersey residents are hard at work finding the perfect Christmas tree, decorating their roofs with bright lights and shopping for gifts. But all those Christmas dinners and wrapping paper produce a lot of waste, while those beautiful lights use lots of electricity.

"This holiday has a huge carbon footprint, more so than other holidays," says Eric Stiles of the New Jersey Audubon Society.

Conservation appears to be on people's minds more than ever this holiday season. A recent holiday survey found that one in five consumers will consider skipping gift-wrapping to save paper, and 18 percent will buy more eco-friendly gifts this year than in the past. Meanwhile, the famous trees at New York's Rockefeller Center and the White House have the energy-efficient LED lights this year.

"A lot of people say, 'It's the holidays -- don't be so Scroogy,' " said Laura Lynch, the conservation chairwoman for the Sierra Club of New Jersey. "But this is your planet."

Here are some tips from the environmental experts to make your holiday even greener by conserving energy and reducing waste.

LED (light-emitting diode) lights use only 10 percent of the energy required for traditional incandescent "mini" bulbs and less than half a percent of the energy used by the larger incandescent Christmas lights. A household that uses 10 regular 100-bulb strands can save $10 to $15 during the holiday season by switching from incandescent mini bulbs to LED bulbs and as much as $230 by replacing the larger incandescent bulbs. The U.S. Department of Energy estimated in 2003 that if every household switched to LED holiday lights, the country would save 2 billion watt-hours -- enough to power 190,000 homes for a year.

LED lights are more expensive than incandescents but they are also brighter and last 100 times longer. They are available at many stores. Regardless of the type of lights you use, unplug them when you're not using them, and put outdoor lights on a timer so they are not on in daylight or overnight.

Avoid gifts with large amounts of packaging. Most wrapping paper is not recyclable, so try using gift bags and tissue paper, which can be recycled. Reuse wrapping paper and gift bags from year to year, as well. Another option is to give tickets to events as gifts, or buy "green" gifts from eco-sellers.

And what to do with the old items your new presents are replacing? Stiles recommends visiting freecycle.org, where you can offer your items free to others who come to pick them up from your home. "I've gotten rid of an old computer and an old table that way," he says.

Buy organic food, and buy it from local growers and farmers. Don't buy too much -- the Nature Conservancy estimates that one-third of all holiday food ends up in the trash.

Instead of an artificial tree, or even a cut tree, consider a live tree that you can either replant in your yard or donate to a park or school. If you choose a cut tree, buy it from a local tree farm, or from a reseller who got it locally.

Once the holiday is over, recycle your tree. Call your public works department to find out if it recycles trees, call 1-800-CLEANUP (253-2687) or visit earth911.org to find a tree-recycling center.

Why not continue your eco-friendly ways throughout the year? Make a New Year's resolution to work on reducing waste and energy consumption by buying compact fluorescent bulbs for your lamps or driving less. "There's a lot of little changes that people can make every day to make the world a little greener," says Mike Herson of the Sierra Club's North Jersey Group.

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2007-12-20T06:39:00.001-08:00

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Bush signs new energy bill raising fuel standards

2007-12-19T08:47:00.000-08:00

President Bush signed into law Wednesday legislation that will bring more fuel-efficient vehicles into auto showrooms and require wider use of ethanol, calling it "a major step" toward energy independence and easing global warming. The legislation signed by Bush at a ceremony at the Energy Department requires automakers to increase fuel efficiency by 40 percent to an industry average 35 miles per gallon by 2020. It also ramps up production of ethanol use to 36 billion gallons a year by 2022.

Bush said the new requirements will help "address our vulnerabilities and dependency" on foreign oil by reducing demand for gasoline and diversifying the nation's fuel supply.

"We make a major step ... toward reducing our dependence on oil, fighting global climate change, expanding the production of renewable fuels and giving future generations ... a nation that is stronger cleaner and more secure," said the president.

Bush was flanked by Democrat and Republican members of Congress who had ushered the legislation through. The House passed the energy bill Tuesday by a 314-100 vote after the Senate cleared it last week following lengthy negotiations and sometimes testy confrontations. Bush had vowed to veto the original legislation passed by the House because it included $21 billion in taxes. The tax provisions were dropped to get the bill approved.

Congress delivered the legislation to the White House late Tuesday in a gas-hybrid sedan. Bush noted that earlier this year he had proposed a plan to cut gasoline use by 20 percent over the next 10 years. But the president has long opposed arbitrary numerical standards for vehicle fuel economy. The legislation increases the federal standard automakers must meet to an industry wide 35 mpg for passengers cars, SUVs and small trucks. The standard for cars today is 27.5 mpg and for trucks and SUVs 22.2 mpg.

It requires refineries to increase the use of ethanol from about 6 billion gallons a year this year to 36 billion gallons by 2022 and mandates that by then at least 21 billion gallons are to come from feedstocks other than corn.

Shoppers Going Green for Gifts

2007-12-17T07:20:00.000-08:00

Shoppers are doing more than just looking to save some green this holiday season, they are going "green" by purchasing more environmentally friendly gifts. "I'm trying to buy a lot less junk," said Margaret Ritano, a mother of four seen shopping at Yiro, an eco-friendly clothing store. "A lot less plastic a lot less stuff that's gonna end up in a landfill."

According to a new survey on consumer purchasing habits, 18-percent of holiday shopper are looking for "green gifts."

This year's shoppers can buy items like gift certificates to organic and chemical free clothes and toys or even buy a wooden computer keyboard.

"We don't have plastic toys, we don't have mechanical toys, we don't have things that are going to require batteries, which in turn, turn toxic and get tossed in a landfill somewhere." explained Alex Narus, the manager of Tugooh Toys in Georgetown.

Last year, consumers spent $938 million on non-food organic products. That's up 26-percent from 2005. Diane Friedberg is gifting green this year with soy candles and gift certificates to help minimize her holiday 'carbon footprint.'

"If each of us did our share, we could really clean up the environment so much," Friedberg said.

While some green gifts may be more expensive than their non-green equivalents, retailers say they might also last longer.

British plan extensive foray into wind energy

2007-12-10T16:47:00.000-08:00

Britain unveiled plans Monday to generate enough electricity through offshore wind farms to power every home in the country by 2020, increasing production more than 60-fold and changing the look of its coastlines. Britain's wind-swept coasts and shallow waters are ideal for offshore turbines, but wind generated power currently accounts for less than 2 percent of its energy generation.

Business secretary John Hutton said the government planned to reach the target through a fourfold increase in the amount of space off Britain's shores allocated for wind farms. The move would change Britain's coasts, Hutton acknowledged, but said the need for energy self-sufficiency left the country no choice. He said the plans would depend on environmental impact studies.

"But if we could manage to achieve this, by 2020 enough electricity could be generated off our shores to power the equivalent of all of the U.K.'s homes," Hutton said in a statement.

The British Wind Energy Association, a trade body that represents the country's wind and marine energy industries, welcomed plans for more offshore wind farm sites, but it said it would be difficult to raise Britain's wind power production from half a gigawatt currently to 33 gigawatts by 2020 — the equivalent of the energy now consumed by every British home.

Eight gigawatts' worth of wind generation projects are already planned, but the group said the limited supply of turbines meant the amount of wind energy produced by 2020 would likely be closer to 20 gigawatts.

"We'd really be struggling from a 'Where can we get the turbines?'" point of view, the association's economics director Gordon Edge said.

Environmental campaigners and opposition lawmakers welcomed the plan, but some noted that wind generated power is expensive. Wind power-generated electricity is currently costlier to generate than its coal- or gas-generated counterpart. Massive new offshore wind farms, such as the 1 gigawatt London project planned for the Thames estuary in the country's southeast, are due to go online by 2014. According to the BWEA, the country is on track to overtake Denmark as the world's largest generator of offshore wind power next year.

Use LED lighting to cut energy costs for the holidays

2007-12-06T12:50:00.000-08:00

The Christmas lights shining from almost every corner of Ben Gutierrez's award-winning front yard in Rio Rancho cost him about $50 a month extra in electricity. Not enough, he said, to consider switching to new, energy-efficient LED lights, even though the change could reduce the holiday addition on his power bill to $5 a month and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But give it a little time, professional Christmas display creator Greg Arledge said, and the majority of metro area holiday decorators will be swayed by the new LED lights' efficiency.

"This is the first year they are making any kind of waves," said Arledge, who operates the Albuquerque office of Christmas Decor, a company that installs, takes down and stores Christmas lights. I think in three years, you'll see a pretty big switch because of the savings."

David Griscom of Santa Fe said conserving energy motivated him to switch out his incandescent lights for LED lights this year. As a renewable energy consultant, Griscom said it's the effect on the environment, not his bank account, that won him over to LED lights.

"We have to start somewhere and experience what life is like without extensive consumption of energy," Griscom said. "People don't think about where electricity comes from."

And while he wishes others would think about the environment, he said the economic motive is enough to get the technology into more homes for the holidays. That technology got a boost in 2005 when the Energy Policy Act created the Next Generation partnership to promote the creation of affordable LED products. Now, big-box stores carry a selection of LED string lights.

Griscom bought his 20-foot strings for about $10 apiece; some LED strings can run up to about $30. That compares with about $7 for an incandescent string the same length; longer strings can cost up to about $15. With energy savings, Griscom said an investment in the more expensive strings will quickly make a return.

Gutierrez, who won three months of free electricity in the 2006 New Mexico CW Free to be Festive Christmas lights contest, isn't so sure. He has strings totaling about 5,000 lights, and so the idea of replacing them is expensive. Plus, he said, he likes the incandescent lights because he thinks they look shinier.

Shiny isn't an issue for Griscom. He said the LED lights he has are pretty. He also said he threw out his family's incandescent lights.

"We'd rather get all of our friends to use LED Christmas lights instead of giving away our incandescent ones," he said. "Then somebody else would be using a lot of electricity."

US data shows cut in greenhouse emissions last year

2007-12-01T16:12:00.000-08:00

The United States reduced greenhouse gas emissions in 2006 after four years of increases, the government said Wednesday ahead of a key United Nations meeting next week on climate change. The Department of Energy (DoE) said greenhouse gas emissions in the world's biggest polluter fell by 1.5 percent in 2006, the first decline since 2001.

Measured against US economic growth of 2.9 percent last year, the department said greenhouse gas intensity fell by 4.2 percent, the largest yearly decline since 1990, its base year.President George W. Bush welcomed the DoE report as confirmation of his administration's controversial policy of opposing strict international limits on greenhouse gas emissions.

"This puts us well ahead of the goal I set in 2002 to reduce greenhouse gas intensity by 18 percent by 2012," Bush said."Our guiding principle is clear: we must lead the world to produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and we must do it in a way that does not undermine economic growth or prevent nations from delivering greater prosperity for their people."

The revived US headway in the battle against global warming came as the Bush administration prepares for the UN meeting on climate change that opens Monday in Bali, Indonesia.International delegations will be meeting through December 14 on the island resort to discuss an agenda for future talks on an agreement that would eventually replace the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, which expires in 2012.

The Bush administration argues for voluntary measures, new technologies and increased efforts to persuade fast-developing countries like China and India to do their share of regulating greenhouse gases.According to the DoE's report, the US pumped 7.076 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere last year.

The 2006 decline was only the third reduction in annual emissions since 1990, the department said. Since then, emissions of the heat-trapping gases have increased at an average annual pace of 0.9 percent.Emissions of carbon dioxide from energy consumption and industrial processes fell by 1.8 percent in 2006, after rising at an average pace of 1.2 percent per year from 1990 to 2005.

"Favorable weather patterns, where both heating and cooling degree-days were lower in 2006 than 2005, and higher energy prices, were the primary causes of lower total energy consumption," the DoE said.

The second-largest emissions decliner were man-made gases with high global warming potentials, or "high-GWP gases," which fell by 2.2 percent.Methane emissions dropped by 0.4 percent, while nitrous oxide emissions rose by 2.9 percent.The DoE explained the reduction in carbon dioxide emissions was due to a 0.5 percent decline in overall energy demand and a decrease in the carbon intensity of electricity generation, driven by increased use of natural gas and greater reliance on on non-fossil fuel energy sources.

The Sierra Club, an environmental group critical of the Bush administration's climate policy, pointed to the role of weather in the improved performance.

"It would not be a good idea to put your bets on the weather as a way of reducing emissions," Josh Dorner, a Sierra Club spokesman, told AFP.

Google looking for Green Energy

2007-11-28T07:34:00.000-08:00

Google is making hundreds of millions - now it wants to spend some of those millions to research green energy. Google says it's an ambitious, but attainable goal to slow down climate change. Google's campus in Mountain View is already generating power from roof-top solar panels, but it wants to do more. Its foundation is going to use the profit motive to spur innovation -- a familiar concept in Silicon Valley.

"This is a place where capitalism really can work well. You give people a goal, and they go after it. There's an opportunity to make money and people will invest a lot of money," says Bill Weihl, Ph.D., Google Green Energy Czar.

The goal is to make renewable energy cheaper than burning coal. Over 40 percent of the world's energy is coal generated. Google will also hire 20 to 30 engineers to create its own energy research.

"We've got 8,000 engineers. Usually they're doing something else, but we're going to try to do everything we can to be one of the many groups that's trying to solve these problems," says Larry Brilliant, M.D., Google.org Executive Director.

Here in Northern California, PG&E generates 12 percent of its electricity from renewable sources. Hydro, biomass, and geothermal energy top the list. Solar costs about 15 cents to produce one kilowatt hour, while coal is six cents.

"The six cents a kilowatt hour does not include the climate effects that burning coal has," says Severin Borenstein, Ph.D., UC Energy Institute Director.

Google.org is hoping its efforts will motivate others to do the same.

"Unless we find a way to make renewable energy at a very low cost and make the effort of making that renewable energy profitable, others aren't going to do it," says Borenstein.

Google.org has already made investments in two California start-ups. One of them is Makani in Alameda. The foundation's initiative comes at a time when Federal funding has been cut for renewable energy projects.

Scientists warn of food shortages from climate change

2007-11-23T04:49:00.000-08:00

An agrarian crisis is brewing because of climate change that could jeopardise global food supplies and increase the risk of hunger for a billion poorest of the poor, scientists have warned. South Asia and Africa would be hardest hit by the crisis, which would shift the world's priorities away from boosting food output year after year to bolstering the resilience of crops to cope with warm weather, they said Thursday.

Rice, the staple for billions of people, is most vulnerable to global warming, said Dyno Keatinge, deputy director general of research at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics.

"It is the world's most consumed crop and it makes everything else pale in comparison," Keatinge told reporters in Hyderabad, southern India, where the research institute has organised a conference on the impact of climate change on farming. We have the opportunity to grow other crops that are more resistant to higher temperatures such as sorgum and millet, but changing people's food habits is very difficult, he said.

The rice yield could fall "very quickly in a warmer world" unless researchers find alternative varieties or ways to shift the time of rice flowering, he added, demanding governments allocate more money to research. Environmentalists and agricultural scientists are mounting pressure on governments to act quickly to stem carbon emissions responsible for climate change, ahead of next month's global summit in Bali, Indonesia.

They also want bigger budgets to combat damage already done and cope with risks into the future. According to the crop research institute, one billion of the world's poorest are vulnerable to the impact of climate change on agriculture -- from desertification and land degradation to loss of biodiversity and water scarcity.

India accounts for about 26 percent of this population, China more than 16 percent, with other Asian countries making up 18 percent and sub-Saharan Africa the remainder.

"Climate change will generally reduce production potential and increase the risk of hunger," said Martin Parry, co-chair of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change that shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former US vice president Al Gore. "Where crops are grown near their maximum temperature tolerance and where dry land, non-irrigated agriculture predominates, the challenge of climate change could be overwhelming, especially on subsistence farmers," he said.

Developed economies have systems in place to fight the stresses that the poor lack, posing the risk of wider disparities between the haves and have-nots. Parry said researchers would have to concentrate on "drought-proofing" crops and developing heat-resistant varieties to cope with the problems, warning that the world was rapidly nearing its tolerance threshold for rising temperatures. The challenge will no longer be producing the maximum amounts of food but to meet the increasing variability of climate from time to time," he said.

Experts from 15 international agricultural research institutions are attending the three-day Hyderabad conference in the run-up to the Bali summit, demanding action by governments before it is too late. "We continue to wait for crises to stimulate change," said Simon Best, chairman of the crop research institute. "We are already facing the beginning of a crisis, let's not wait longer."

But the precedent set by governments in developing alternative energy resources was "not particularly encouraging" for scientists, given that oil was inching towards 100 dollars a barrel and concerns on the energy front have been rife for decades, Best said.

On the SF Oil Spill

2007-11-20T06:39:00.000-08:00

From the LA Times :
Oil-covered birds look even worse in real life than they do on TV. Not the dead ones so much, except when a gull has ripped open a floating grebe and is pulling at its toxic guts. Hong Kong-based shipping executives don't have to use ships that burn heavy bunker fuel, the dregs of the petroleum process. Of course, cleaner fuels would prove marginally more expensive, and U.S. consumers would have to pay a penny extra for their tube socks or Chinese-made children's toys. Besides, with modern navigation technology, what's the likelihood that a cargo ship is going to ram into the San Francisco Bay Bridge in the fog and spill 58,000 gallons of that nasty fuel?

Of course, that is exactly what happened Nov. 7. Coast Guard investigators are still shaking their heads in amazement as they track the human error involved. There's also the question of scale. The 810-foot Cosco Busan was carrying 2,500 TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit) containers. There are now cargo ships that carry more than 10,000. Yet unlike tankers full of oil, giant cargo ships aren't required to have a tug escort when entering or leaving San Francisco Bay.

I'm sitting by the dock of the Bay -- that's what Otis Redding called the Berkeley Municipal Pier in his famous song. Only now it smells like a gas station. On the rock pile below me, a surf scoter -- a diving duck -- is using the bottom of its red bill to preen its oil-blackened feathers. It shakes its head and carefully repeats the process for the half an hour I'm there. When I make too sudden a move, it flaps its wings like it's going to flee into the water, where it would likely die of hypothermia, its natural insulation ruined by the oil. I'll see dozens more oiled birds this day: scoters, grebes, gulls, a rudy duck and cormorants. The Berkeley marina behind me is one big, oily sheen. "Rainbows of oil" is a misnomer. Gasoline leaves rainbow sheens. Bunker fuel leaves green-and-brown streaks and smudges like marbled meat gone bad. It leaves floating tar balls and disks and globular curly-cue pieces, and concentrations of hard, asphalt-like toxic chips.

It's been raining throughout the afternoon. The experts aren't sure whether this will help the cleanup efforts. There are 19 agencies involved. The oil has spread out through the Golden Gate to Ocean Beach and north to Point Reyes. At the Marin Headlands, orange plastic fencing and oil-spill warning signs block access to the wide, cliff-framed strand where workers in yellow hazmat suits have been removing oil-stained boulders and scraping away contaminated sand. Back home in Richmond, I return to the waterfront, this time at Shimada Friendship Park. There's a couple, early 20s, Amber Kirst and Scott Egan. She's walking the shoreline, her white pants oil-stained at the ankles, wearing a protective rubber glove and holding a bag full of oiled litter and dead crabs.

"We've got a live crab too. He was in a Cheetos bag," she tells me, climbing up the rocks to the pathway. "We drove down from Lodi to volunteer, but they said they'd get back to us. It's an hour-and-a-half drive. We needed to do something." The Cheetos crab is still alive. She shows me the small critter, with its dark shell. "Should I put it back? Is it too oiled for them to feed on?"

She looks at the hundreds of shorebirds hunting in the exposed mud flats and floating just beyond. "It's all so depressing," she concludes before climbing back down to pick up more oiled litter. We build our homes in fire zones; we move millions of tons of goods and fuel through marine sanctuaries; we continue to burn a product that, used as directed, overheats our planet. Amber and Scott came from Lodi. They needed to do something. We all do.

From the latest UN report on Global Warming

2007-11-17T19:34:00.000-08:00

From the latest UN report on global warming:
In the best-case scenario, temperatures will keep rising from carbon already in the atmosphere, the report said. Even if factories were shut down today and cars taken off the roads, the average sea level will reach as high as 4.6 feet above that in the preindustrial period, or about 1850.

"We have already committed the world to sea level rise," the panel's chairman, Rajendra Pachauri, said. But if the Greenland ice sheet melts, the scientists said, they could not predict by how many feet the seas will rise, drowning coastal cities.

Climate change is here, they said, as witnessed by melting snow and glaciers, higher average temperatures and rising sea levels. If unchecked, global warming will spread hunger and disease, put further stress on water resources, cause fiercer storms and more frequent droughts, and could drive up to 70 percent of plant and animal species to extinction, according to the panel's report.

Hybrid of the Year - Chevy Tahoe

2007-11-15T15:07:00.000-08:00

An eight-passenger sport utility vehicle, the Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid from General Motors Corp, won the "Green Car of the Year" award at the Los Angeles Auto Show on Thursday. The Tahoe Hybrid will be the first full-size hybrid SUV on the market when it goes on sale in early 2008. It is also the first model from GM that uses a hybrid system developed jointly with BMW AG, Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz, and Chrysler.

"They've proven that they can make beautiful cars, strong cars, keep the size, keep the safety, and all those kinds of things, and at the same time be more fuel efficient," said California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who toured the show after the presentation of the award.

The award is presented by Green Car Journal, a California-based trade magazine. The panel included famed car designer Carroll Shelby, late-night talk show host Jay Leno and representatives of four environmental groups.

"People don't think green when SUVs are concerned and for generally good reason, since SUVS often get poor fuel economy," said Green Car publisher Ron Cogan. "Chevrolet's Tahoe Hybrid changes this dynamic with a fuel efficiency improvement of up to 30 percent," he added.

The Tahoe Hybrid gets 21 miles per gallon in the city, the same as a Toyota Camry sedan, and 22 mpg on the highway. GM had two other cars among the five finalist models in the competition: the Saturn Aura Hybrid and the Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid.

"That is something I think nobody would have expected a few years ago," said Bob Lutz, vice chairman and product chief at GM, in advance of the announcement.

AWARD COMES AFTER CONTROVERSY
GM has come under intense criticism, particularly in California, for its decision to scrap the all-electric EV1, a controversy documented in the film "Who Killed the Electric Car?" But Lutz said having three of five finalists showed the progress the automaker is making in improving its fuel efficiency across its vehicle lineup. GM has also announced plans to introduce a hybrid version of its Cadillac Escalade luxury SUV and its Silverado pick-up truck.

"When you think of a hybrid, you think of a small car that has been built from the ground up to eke out the most miles," said GM spokesman Dave Barthmuss. "But now you can have that kind of system in a large vehicle."

Schwarzenegger, who personally helped develop the gas-guzzling Hummer but now is a big advocate for fuel economy and alternative fuels, said California's high standards are a driving force for green car innovation.

"I think, because we in California have been out there so strong, forcing the manufacturers to come in with clean vehicles, that is why they are coming in with clean vehicles," he said.

Another Oil Spill

2007-11-12T13:18:00.000-08:00

Ugh what's with all the oil spills lately. How sad.
Long stretches of Russia's Black Sea coast face an ecological catastrophe, local authorities said on Monday, after a fierce storm broke up a tanker, disgorging hundreds of tons of oil on to the shore. Three seamen were drowned. A search was under way for five others missing, though hopes of finding them alive were dwindling.

Spilt fuel oil coated birds in a thick black sludge along a vast expanse of coastline in the northern mouth of the Black Sea, near Russia's border with Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin sent Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov to the scene to oversee the clean-up.

"The damage is so huge it can hardly be evaluated. It can be compared to an ecological catastrophe," Interfax news agency quoted Alexander Tkachyov, governor of Russia's Black Sea region of Krasnodar, as saying. "Thirty thousand birds have died, and it's just impossible to count the loss of fish," he told regional officials.

The storm on Sunday sank the tanker and at least four freighters while crippling other vessels in the narrow Kerch Strait between the Black Sea and Azov Sea. Rescuers on Monday found the bodies of three sailors missing since the storm. Helicopters and rescue vessels searched for five seaman still missing, but with a new storm on its way, officials said hopes of finding them alive were dwindling.

Environmentalists -- backed by Ukraine's Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich -- said the incident raised questions about safety standards for shipping in the region. Russian officials said the captains of several vessels had put to sea despite storm warnings. The tanker that was the source of the spill was built in the 1970s, and was not designed for heavy seas, officials said.

At Novorossiisk, Russia's No. 2 port for exports of oil and oil products, officials had ordered tankers not to dock because a new storm was on its way. The worsening weather, forecast to last until Tuesday evening, was hampering rescue operations, said Anatoly Yanchuk, a rescue department chief at Russia's Transport Ministry.

"We will continue efforts to find those five missing, but the chances of finding them are now smaller," he told reporters in the port of Kavkaz overlooking the strait.

The oil spill came from the Volgoneft-139, a small Russian tanker. Officials said it had released at least 1,300 tons of fuel oil into the sea, though environmental group Greenpeace said it estimated up to 2,000 tons were spilled. At the coastal settlement of Ilyich, halfway between Kavkaz and Novorossiisk, about 100 workers were on the beach using shovels and a bulldozer to scrape globules of oil off the sand.

"This oil came in last night, along a 13 km (8 miles) stretch," said Alexander Mikhalkov, a clean-up crew foreman.

A flock of about 1,000 rails, a species of wetland bird, were huddled on the beach, unable to fly because their feathers were coated with oil. Some were unable to stand. Ukraine's prime minister urged a review of environmental safety in the Kerch Strait, a busy waterway which separates Ukraine's Crimea peninsula and southern Russia. He said currents were taking the slick away from Ukraine's coastline.

"In the Borsphorous Straits, it's not possible to use tankers which have no double hulls. How is the Kerch Strait different? It isn't," Yanukovich said at a news briefing. WWF, the world's largest conservation organization, said in a statement it hoped "the Black Sea catastrophe will lead Russia to adopt a law guaranteeing proper safety of oil operations at sea and on rivers."

Seawater Plants Could Slow Climate Change

2007-11-10T10:34:00.000-08:00

The seas themselves might be modified to combat global warming by absorbing climate-altering carbon dioxide from the air, research now reveals. The new approach scientists have theorized—which ideally modifies seawater's chemical composition using treatment plants near volcanoes and coastlines—could also help benefit coral reefs worldwide, they suggest. But they caution such a technique could potentially also have detrimental environmental impacts that need to be minimized.

Carbon dioxide is a "greenhouse gas" that traps heat from the sun. The oceans naturally both absorb and release carbon dioxide, and researchers have investigated whether they can make the seas capture more of the gas than normal to combat global warming. One notion brought up in the past involves fertilizing the seas with iron to encourage the growth of plankton, which would absorb carbon dioxide during photosynthesis just as land plants do, "but a lot of them would just release carbon dioxide again," said Harvard geoscientist Kurt House.

Instead, House and his colleagues propose extracting acid from the seas. The less acidic the oceans are, the more they absorb carbon. The scientists envision treatment plants that suck in seawater and remove hydrochloric acid. The oceans naturally contain hydrogen and chloride ions—the former is a component of water, while the latter is an ingredient of common salt—which together can make hydrochloric acid. A number of industrial processes can remove the acid from seawater, including ones used in the vitamin and chlorine industries.

"It's certainly an interesting approach," said Columbia University environmental engineer Frank Zeman, who did not participate in this study.

Speeding up nature
Ideally, these novel treatment plants would be located near volcanic coastlines, the researchers explained. The silicates in volcanic rocks could neutralize the extracted acid, while the volcano itself could generate the geothermal power needed to run such operations. "If you used coal or some other combustion means to power the plants, that would just send more carbon dioxide into the air and defeat the entire point," House said.

In a way, this process resembles one means by which nature removes carbon dioxide from the air. The gas can dissolve in water to form weak carbonic acid. As this water percolates through silicate rock, the carbonic acid gets neutralized, forming bicarbonate, the most plentiful and innocuous form of carbon in the oceans.

"We have found a way to swap the weak carbonic acid with a much stronger one, hydrochloric acid, and thus accelerate the pace to industrial rates," House said. "Essentially, our technology dramatically accelerates a cleaning process that nature herself uses for greenhouse gas accumulation."

This method could also combat the acidification of the oceans that is now threatening coral reefs worldwide. The amount of carbon dioxide is growing in the atmosphere, increasing the amount of carbonic acid in the sea. Coral reefs and other structures made of calcium carbonate then become more vulnerable to dissolving.

World dependency on coal set to skyrocket

2007-11-08T07:20:00.000-08:00

The world's dependence on fossil fuels, particularly coal, is set to rocket over the next two decades, with China and India leading demand, the International Energy Agency has warned. The IEA, energy watchdog and advisor to 26 countries, on Wednesday published a bleak picture of energy demand in its World Energy Outlook 2007 report, a study which highlights long-term trends that will shape energy policy up to 2030. Coal will make a comeback, the Middle East and Russia will grow in influence as oil suppliers, and emerging giants China and India will account for most of the increase in energy demand.

"The trends in energy demand, imports, coal use and greenhouse gas emissions to 2030 in this year's World Energy Outlook are even worse than projected in WEO 2006," the agency warned.

It gave little hope to those looking for a technological breakthrough, which many believe is necessary for a meaningful reduction in world greenhouse gas emissions. The Paris-based research centre did not identify a clean, new source of energy that can provide the power needed to fuel improvements in living conditions for the world's poor without damaging the environment. Instead, it predicted that coal, one of the oldest and dirtiest sources of energy, would be king in emerging countries China and India in 2030.

"In line with its spectacular growth over the past few years, coal sees the biggest increase in demand in absolute terms, jumping by 73 percent between 2005 and 2030," the agency said.

"China and India, which already account for 45 percent of world coal use, drive over four-fifths of the increase (in its use) to 2030."

The 663-page report was packed with alarming statistics based on a "reference scenario" in which energy consumption continues on current trends without government measures to reduce demand and greenhouse gas emissions. Under this model, energy demand increases by more than 50 percent up to 2030, with 84 percent of the new demand supplied from fossil fuels. China and India's energy needs, measured in tonnes of oil equivalent, more than double from 2005-2030. China's energy demand surpasses that of the US after 2010 and its pollution problems worsen. China is also set to become the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions this year, the IEA said.

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2007-11-08T07:00:00.000-08:00

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Results of the Great Scavenger Hunt

2007-11-06T06:07:00.000-08:00

Well the Great Scavenger Hunt was a success. The boys had a blast and ran all over the park for an hour. We broke into 4 teams and gave them an hour to scour the 30 acre park. Points were awarded for aluminum, plastics and regular trash. Cash money was awarded for the first Coke can, the first Dr Pepper can and the first plastic bottle returned. Also each member of the winning team got $5 cash, a free pizza coupon and a Six Flags ticket.

I would estimate we picked up 75 aluminum cans, 125 plastic bottles and another 25 gallons worth of trash. Not a bad effort. The boys enjoyed the activity greatly and we were able to clean up the park!

China's coal dependency hits environment

2007-11-05T06:02:00.000-08:00

It takes five to 10 days for the pollution from China's coal-fired plants to make its way to the United States, like a slow-moving storm. It shows up as mercury in the bass and trout caught in Oregon's Willamette River. It increases cloud cover and raises ozone levels. And along the way, it contributes to acid rain in Japan and South Korea and health problems everywhere from Taiyuan to the United States.

This is the dark side of the world's growing use of coal. Cheap and abundant, coal has become the fuel of choice in much of the world, powering economic booms in China and India that have lifted millions of people out of poverty. Worldwide demand is projected to rise by about 60 percent through 2030 to 6.9 billion tons a year, most of it going to electrical power plants.

But the growth of coal-burning is also contributing to global warming, and is linked to environmental and health issues including acid rain and asthma. Air pollution kills more than 2 million people prematurely, according to the World Health Organization.

"Hands down, coal is by far the dirtiest pollutant," said Dan Jaffe, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Washington who has detected pollutants from Asia at monitoring sites on Mount Bachelor in Oregon and Cheeka Peak in Washington state. "It is a pretty bad fuel on all scores."

To understand the conflict over coal, look at Taiyuan and the surrounding Shanxi Province, the country's top coal-producing region — and one of its most polluted. Almost overnight, coal has turned poor farmers in this city of 3 million people into Mercedes-driving millionaires, known derisively as "baofahu" or the quick rich. Flashy hotels display chunks of coal in the lobby, and sprawling malls advertise designer goods from Versace and Karl Lagerfeld. Real estate prices have doubled, residents say, and construction cranes fill the skyline.

A museum in Taiyuan celebrates all things coal. Amid photos of smiling miners, coal is presented as the foundation of the country's economic development, credited with making possible everything from the railroad to skin care products.

"Today, coal has penetrated into every aspect of people's lives," the museum says in one of many cheery pronouncements. "We can't live comfortably without coal."

Yet the cornstalks lining a highway outside the city 254 miles southwest of Beijing are covered in soot. The same soot settles on vegetables sold at the roadside, and the thick, acrid smoke blots out the morning sun. At its worst, the haze forces highway closures and flight delays. With pressure to clean up major cities such as Shanghai and Beijing, particularly in the run-up to next year's Beijing Olympics, the central government is turning increasingly to provinces such as Shanxi to meet the country's power demands.

"They look at polluted places like Taiyuan and say it's so polluted there so it doesn't matter if they have another five power plants," said Ramanan Laxminarayan, a senior fellow at Resources For the Future, an American think tank that found links between air pollution and rising hospital admissions in Taiyuan. "I visited these power plants and there is no concept of pollution control," he said. "They sort of had a laugh and asked, 'Why would you expect us to install pollution control equipment?'"

China is home to 20 of the world's 30 most polluted cities, according to a World Bank report.

Will higher gas prices reduce consumption?

2007-11-04T11:45:00.000-08:00

The price of oil leapt past $90 a barrel Thursday but pump prices barely budged this week. If gasoline prices were to spike to record highs as well, would that finally be enough to get Americans to recast their oil-dependent lives?

"It's the old question: How much pain does it take to get you to change your behavior?" said Nadia Adawi of the Energy Cooperative in Philadelphia. "More than we've experienced so far" was her answer.

Some changes are under way. Locally, people are flocking to PhillyCarShare as a way to cut the amount they drive, high-mileage hybrid vehicles are gaining market share, and sales of vehicles that can use a blend of 85 percent ethanol are climbing. "We're actually doing pretty well with them," Mike Peterson, new-car and truck manager at Bryner Chevrolet in Jenkintown, said of the so-called flexible-fuel vehicles, which can use E85 or regular gasoline. Some General Motors Corp. models come standard with flex-fuel capability.

Peterson estimated that Bryner had delivered 150 to 200 flex-fuel vehicles this year, up from 50 to 75 last year. That sounds good, but for one big problem: There's only one station in the region - at 12th and Vine Streets in Philadelphia - that sells E85. That means owner John Ciccone has a lock on a very small and disappointing business. "The response has not been what you might think it would be," said Ciccone, who opened the Shell station in January.

He has been selling 3,000 to 5,000 gallons per month of E85, compared with 110,000 gallons per month of regular gasoline. Many customers with flex-fuel vehicles pull up to the regular gasoline pumps because they don't know they can use E85, Ciccone said. That happens even though he charges a couple of cents less for E85. Yesterday, E85 was $2.83 a gallon, compared with $2.85 for regular.

He said sales of biodiesel, a fuel that uses agricultural resources, have been stronger, accounting for about one-third of the 25,000 gallons of diesel he sells a month. "Diesel has a foothold in the United States," he said. One knock against E85 is that it gets fewer miles per gallon than straight gasoline, said Joe Blace, a product specialist at F.C. Kerbeck in Palmyra. "Your mileage is worse. Why would you even want to use it?" he asked.

The $20-a-barrel spike in oil prices since late August has pushed the commodity closer to the inflation-adjusted high of more than $100 set in 1980. Even as the price of oil - as measured by a widely watched futures contract traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange - has climbed 14 percent to $91.86 yesterday from $80.30 a month ago, gasoline has barely budged.

AAA Mid-Atlantic yesterday reported an average price of $2.78 a gallon for Philadelphia and the four adjacent Pennsylvania counties, up 4 cents from a month ago. The average in South Jersey was $2.58, up 4 cents over the same period. Why the disconnect? While crude oil accounts for most of the cost of gasoline - 60 percent last month, according to the Energy Information Administration - the two commodities are priced in separate markets, each with its own forces of supply and demand.

If the run-up in the price of oil results in a sustained period of high fuel prices, it will likely influence congressional debate on increasing fuel-economy standards from the current average of 25 miles per gallon to 35 m.p.g. by 2018.

"What we really need on this broad level is for Congress to act to give us the patriotic cars that are going to relieve the pain at the pump, to reduce our dependence on oil," said Jim Kliesch, a senior vehicles analyst with the Union of Concerned Scientists.

He said automakers may be touting vehicles with better fuel efficiency, "but if you look at what those vehicles are, they're primarily the compact and subcompact cars." A family of five that needs a couple of car seats is "going to be hard-pressed to find a vehicle that gets better than, on average, the low 20s," he said, referring to mileage.

Kliesch's group and other environmental groups promote a list of tactics for reducing fuel consumption, no matter what kind of car a person drives. They include getting regular maintenance, inflating the tires to the proper level, not driving over 65 miles an hour, and removing any excess weight.

"You'd be surprised what people have in the trunks of their vehicles," Kliesch said. "That can add up to a decent amount of weight. Your fuel economy can drop by 1 to 2 percent for every 100 pounds of stuff."

He said he thinks more and more consumers are factoring in issues other than price when they think about fuel consumption. Those issues include the amount of greenhouse gases one puts into the atmosphere and one's personal role in making the United States dependent on foreign oil.But price may still be dominant.

And it's a big factor in the rise of hybrids. "As soon as gas prices go up, boom, sales [of hybrids] go up," said Edmund Hessert, sales manager at Cherry Hill Toyota Scion. Nationwide, hybrid-vehicle registrations climbed 49 percent in the first seven months of 2007, according to R.L. Polk & Co., an automotive data company in Southfield, Mich. Polk said hybrids account for more than 2 percent of the U.S. market.

Investment firm Alliance Bernstein projected that the increasing popularity of hybrids could nearly double global fuel efficiency of light-duty vehicles to 50 m.p.g. by 2030 and reduce oil consumption by half. Clayton Lane, deputy executive director of PhillyCarShare, said surveys have shown that the organization's 28,000 members are driving on average 130 fewer miles per month than before they joined.

But oil is not all about driving. Adawi, of the Energy Cooperative - a Philadelphia nonprofit that sells heating oil, including biodiesel, to members - said she is worried about having a cold winter because that usually drives the cost up quite a bit. In a switch from last year, Adawi's biodiesel is cheaper than her regular home heating oil. Yesterday's cooperative prices were $2.679 for a gallon of biodiesel and $2.865 for regular. Last year at this time, prices were $2.26 for biodiesel and $2.16 for regular. Both were up sharply. "I don't think we've seen the highest yet," she said. "I don't think we're anywhere close to highest."

The Great Scavenger Hunt

2007-11-01T08:58:00.001-07:00

Well tomorrow is my first clean up the park scavenger hunt. I am a club soccer coach and am crazy enough to have a slumber party for my under 14 club team scheduled at my place tomorrow night. I live on the edge of a huge park with hiking trails and a creek and lots of woods.

The plan is to get up Saturday morning and break the boys into 5 teams of 3 hunters each. I'll give them a bag for aluminum cans, a bag for plastics and a bag for trash. All teams will have 1 hour to comb the park for trash and recyclables. At the end of an hour, points will be awarded per item. For example, each aluminum can is worth 2 points. Each plastic recyclable is worth 1 point. Teams will be ranked upon the amount of trash collected and awarded points on that as well.

I'll give cash prizes for the 1st team to bring me a coke can, a dr pepper can and a non bottled water plastic bottle. Overall prizes will be $5 cash per player on the winning team, free pizza coupons and a Six Flags ticket.

It should be a fun scavenger hunt and do some good for the park as well. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Georgia drought worsening

2007-10-30T14:00:00.000-07:00

Despite plenty of warnings, critics say, Georgia never got around to developing a water management plan to handle a severe drought. Now that reservoirs already are shrinking and water supplies are threatened, lawmakers are scrambling to cope. After years of lax zoning laws and pro-growth policies that led to urban sprawl throughout much of North Georgia, politicians are preparing a statewide water plan that would guide Georgia’s growth and provide emergency drought plans.

Some are talking about building a network of state reservoirs to supplement the federal reservoirs they say they can no longer rely on.

“With great crisis comes great opportunity,” said state Rep. Lynn Smith.

The drought that started in parts of Georgia and Alabama in early 2006 has spread throughout the region, worsened by sweltering temperatures and a drier-than-normal hurricane season. Now drought in almost one-third of the Southeast has been deemed “exceptional” — the most severe drought category.

Few places are feeling the pinch as much as north Georgia. In April, the state restricted outdoor watering to three days a week. In September, state officials banned virtually all outdoor watering in the northern part of the state. By then, many cities and counties had already ordered similar restrictions. This past week, with reservoir levels at record lows, Gov. Sonny Perdue ordered public water utilities in North Georgia to cut their water withdrawals by 10 percent, and required state agencies to cut usage. The Republican chief executive also declared a state of emergency in the region and asked the federal government to release less water from its reservoirs.

Much of the state’s attention has been focused on the Army Corps of Engineers, which controls releases from federal reservoirs in the region and is caught in the middle of a water tug-of-war among Georgia, Florida and Alabama. The Corps releases more than a billion gallons of water each day from Lake Lanier, which supplies more than 3 million Georgia residents with water. The agency bases its water releases on two downstream requirements: the minimum flow needed to supply a coal-fired power plant Florida and mandates to protect two mussel species in a Florida river.

Georgia has filed suit demanding the Corps of Engineers reduce the amount of water it pours downstream. Governor Sonny Perdue said his order Wednesday to cut water usage by 10 percent was a first step and that more restrictions could be on the way, earning cheers from environmentalists. However, environmentalists said there’s no substitute for a concrete water usage plan.

Pro360.com - A site providing reviews of online casinos

2007-10-30T13:40:00.000-07:00

Pro360 provides comprehensive reviews of the universe of online casinos. Since there are over 3000 online casinos available to a player pro360.com can be a very valuable resource when trying to identify which online casino can offer the online player the best gaming experience.

Each online casino is rated over a number of categories in an attempt to give the online player as much advanced knowledge as possible about the site. Information such as availability to US players, maximum bonus and bonus certificates is given on every site, but what most will find very useful are the editor and player ratings which can allow the online player a chance to see how other online gamers feel about each particular casino.

Finally, and most importantly, is the full review offered by Pro360 . Tons of information is available here from the history of the online casino itself to major players you might encounter there. Ratings are given on how reliable the site is on speed of play and payment as well as the quality of customer service provided. Screenshots are also provided so you are able to see the layout of the website you are researching.

This is not an indorsement of online poker or gambling of any sort, but for those seeking information and assistance within the online casino universe Pro360 can be an invaluable resource. Check it out.

Wind Turbine expansion could endanger birds

2007-10-30T08:48:00.000-07:00

Wind energy may be emerging as an important alternative power source for the Northwest, but there are concerns about the danger to hawks and eagles as turbines expand to wild areas of the Columbia River Gorge. By year's end, more than 1,500 turbines will be churning out electricity in the windy gorge. Until now, most of the projects have gone up in wheat fields — cultivated land that long ago drove away the rodents that raptors hunt. But as wind energy developers move into wilder areas along the ridge of the gorge, near canyons and shrub-covered rangeland, birds could be at risk from the 150-foot blades of giant turbines.

The shrub steppes and grasslands that cover large areas along the river east of the Cascades are classic raptor habitat, said David Anderson, a district biologist with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

"We have concerns we're losing that habitat," he said.

Even the cultivated areas with wind farms have bird experts worried. In Oregon's Sherman County, several hundred turbines stretch through wheat fields outside the small town of Wasco, creating one of the highest concentrations of wind farms in the gorge.

"They're going up so fast, we're worried about the cumulative effects," said Keith Kohl, a wildlife biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's mid-Columbia district.

If new studies confirm the fears of Oregon and Washington state wildlife biologists, the potential toll on raptors and other birds may limit expansion of clean wind energy. Nationwide, wind turbines kill an average of 2.3 birds a year, studies show. In the Northwest, it's about 1.9 birds per turbine — possibly more than 3,000 bird deaths a year in the gorge. But bird experts say those numbers are meaningless because the totals make no distinction between abundant and rare species.

Golden eagles and ferruginous hawks — a threatened species in Washington — already are few in number, said Michael Denny of the Blue Mountain Audubon Society. Even a few fatalities could prove devastating, he said.

"We'll have certain species in sharp local decline," Denny said. "If you lose breeding populations like the ferruginous hawk, you're not going to see them recover."

Raptors generally fly 300 to 400 feet above the ground — about the height of most wind turbines. Hawks and eagles ride the thermals off the high windy ridges above the Columbia River as they search for ground squirrels and pocket gophers. Some are migratory and others are resident birds. Raptors are known for their keen eyesight and might learn to negotiate the turbines and their spinning blades, studies suggest. But hunting and migrating instincts are so ingrained and so intense that the birds might not see the obstacles until it's too late, biologists say.

As a preventive measure, energy companies conduct wildlife studies before designating a specific site for development. They submit their findings to state or county authorities, who decide whether projects will go forward. In some cases, regulators have required developers to shift turbine locations, establish buffer zones or set aside acreage exclusively for wildlife. Often, developers must patrol their wind farms and record bird kills.

"We pride ourselves on building projects that adhere to the requirements," said Darin Huseby, Northwest regional director for developer enXco Inc., a California-based company with several projects in Klickitat County, Wash. "We want to be a net benefit to the environment."

Columbia River Gorge

Ever Thought of a Green Roof?

2007-10-29T06:09:00.000-07:00

In the past few years solar panels and wind turbines have become familiar friends, comforting images that give us hope for a greener future. Featured in the media and in corporate advertising, these new technologies have replaced cute pandas as an icon of environmental correctness. But how many people out there have heard of green roofs, which may be an equally powerful tool for dealing with climate change? Not many, I bet.

Why? Green roofs are often homely, not photogenic. They are made of plants, not zippy new technology. Most important, perhaps, it is hard for large corporations to make a profit installing green roofs - so they are not promoted or featured in glossy advertising. Creating a green roof, or living roof, involves putting down soil and plants on top of buildings - apartment blocks, corporate headquarters, even private homes - a practice that has multiple benefits for the environment.

A green roof is wonderful insulation for the building below, keeping it cool in summer and vastly reducing energy needs. In cities, green roofs help absorb CO2 and have a cooling effect. They soak water from rains, taking pressure off drainage systems. They give local species - plants, birds and insects - a place to roost, preserving biodiversity.

"There are not many technologies that give you so many environmental benefits," said Dusty Gedge, founder of LivingRoofs, a group that promotes and provides advice for green roof installation in London. "But a living roof is not a piece of hardware that you can just install; it's an ongoing process. So architects and builders and consumers have a hard time dealing with it. It's not like a solar panel."

Ed Snodgrass owns Emory Knoll Farms in Maryland, the biggest nursery devoted exclusively to green roof plants in the United States. He said that green roofing was a difficult sell because it was hard for consumers to grasp and quantify the diverse benefits, and because it did not satisfy people's desire for a quick solution.

"A solar panel fits into our need for problem solving: It increases capacity so you still get to have the SUV," Snodgrass said. "But a green roof is a living, complex system."

A handful of cities around the globe - like Linz, Austria; Potsdam, Germany, and Portland, Oregon - have promoted the planting of green roofs for more than a decade as a method to deal with excess rainwater runoff or simply to increase the green in the local environment. More recently, cities from Toronto to London to New York are exploring them too, but now as a way to blunt the effects of global warming. They are considering implementing plans that would require large buildings or new buildings to be topped off with green roofs. Or giving tax breaks to builders and developers who create them.

These days, green roofs have some well-placed fans. Green roofs "have a dramatic impact on energy use, greenhouse gas emission and parenthetically on the energy bills of every business and residence in all those buildings," said Bill Clinton, the former U.S. president, in a recent speech in New York. He called green roofs "a huge deal."

In fact, Clinton suggested, green roofs could be a powerful source of jobs as well. "You cannot outsource these jobs. Someone has to be standing on that roof. This is not data processing. You've got to actually be there."

The fact that all green roofs are inherently local, however, also "makes it hard to develop an infrastructure," Gedge of LivingRoofs acknowledges. "There is no powerful economic driving force - like the companies that sell wind turbines - to promote green roofing. If you call a company with experience in Stuttgart and say I want one in the Philippines, it won't work," Snodgrass said. While his company ships to Oregon, it is only because no one is growing green-roof plants there yet. "It would be far better to have a local nursery," he said.

While green roofs are relatively cheap to install, the building underneath must have a good seal and the garden needs to be maintained. For cities, some of the benefits of green roofs are simple math. When the sun shines on a tar roof, the temperature can go up to 170 degrees Fahrenheit (76 degrees Celsius). That absorbed heat not only roasts the apartments below, but also releases heat into the air, creating a "heat island" effect, raising urban temperatures 7 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit compared with the surrounding suburbs.

"That created a huge stress on the air-conditioning load, which has led both Chicago and Atlanta to look into green roofs," Snodgrass said.

Global Warming: Fossil record points to future mass extinctions

2007-10-25T11:19:00.000-07:00

Global warming could cut a swathe through the planet's species over the coming centuries, warns a study released Wednesday that shows a link between rising temperatures and mass extinctions reaching back half a billion years. Each of five major eras of declining biodiversity -- including one in which 95 percent of the Earth's species disappeared -- correspond to cycles of severe warming over the 520-million-year period for which there are fossil records.

If emissions of greenhouse gas rise unchecked, the predicted increase in global temperature over the next several hundred years could fall within a similar range as these peaks, said the study, published in a British journal, Proceedings of The Royal Society B.

Previous studies have either looked for patterns in climate change or the causes of particular mass extinctions. But this is the first time the two been paired together to give a perspective over such a long time.

"If our results hold for current warming -- the magnitude of which is comparable with the long-term fluctuations in Earth climate -- they suggest that extinctions will increase," lead author Peter Mayhew said in a statement.

Whatever the causes, the result has been consistently the same: a more or less severe culling of life on Earth. The death toll included 47 percent of all marine genera -- the classification above species -- and 18 percent of land vertebrate families. At the end of the Permian period, some 250 million years ago, the planet's worst mass extinction wiped out 95 percent of all species, including 70 percent of land plants, insects and vertebrae.

Green Investing - Winslow Gren Growth Fund

2007-10-24T07:51:00.000-07:00

I know everyone concerned with environmental issues not only wants to make changes and help in their daily lifestyles, but also in their investing focus. Here is a wonderful mutual fund that is not only environmentally focused but has also provided top class returns.

Check it out: The Winslow Green Growth Fund WGGFX) is an environmentally focused, small cap growth mutual fund - has been ranked by Lipper as the #1 small cap growth mutual fund for the 3-year period ended 7/31/07. The Fund, now in its seventh year of public operation, has firmly established itself as a leader within the small cap growth category. At a time when many new companies and investments products are launching or rebranding themselves as "green", Winslow continues to demonstrate the value of experience, patience and careful stock selection in building a successful track record in green investing.

The core of the Winslow Green Growth Fund's approach focuses on companies that seek to take advantage of green market opportunities, or companies that build competitive advantage through clean and efficient business practices. The Fund invests in green solutions sectors such as renewable energy, natural products, recycling, and water management, as well as environmentally responsible companies within a variety of industries. The portfolio manager's strategy is to find hidden opportunities among the small companies in these market niches - companies that appear poised for rapid growth, or companies whose stocks are unrecognized by the broader market.

"The Fund's success represents a major opportunity to spread the word about Winslow's green investing philosophy and about green solutions in general," said Jack Robinson, lead portfolio manager of the Winslow Green Growth Fund. "There's a growing level of interest in green investing, at the individual level as well as the institutional level, and it's important for people to realize that you don't have to sacrifice performance in order to have a green portfolio."

The Winslow Green Growth Fund was named the Best Socially Screened Fund of 2006 by Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine, a leading financial publication and a trusted source of information for individual investors. The Fund's lead manager, Jack Robinson, earned the #1 ranking within the aggressive growth category, and the #9 ranking overall, in the 2006 Barron's / Value Line annual ranking of the nation's top mutual fund managers. It was the only green investing fund, and the only socially responsible fund, to earn a position among the top 100 fund managers for 2006.

Ashop Commerce - A Top Provider of Ecommerce and Shopping Cart Software

2007-10-24T07:35:00.000-07:00

With the rise of online shopping more and more small businesses are setting up online sites for selling over the web. For those small businesses look no further than Ashop Commerce for help finalizing their sales. Ashop Commerce is one of the top developers and suppliers of ecommerce software in the country. They provide shopping cart software that helps facilitate commerce for websites making sellings seamless and smooth. The software is easy to install and even easier to use, both for the consumer and the business. There is even an onsite demo as well as a free 10 day trial available for prospective users. Ashop even offers free tech support to help you get established!

Check out the ecommerce software and hosted shopping cart software available from Ashop Commerce at their website: Ashop Commerce. If you are planning to establish an ecommerce site on the web Ashop's shopping cart software is top notch and industry recognized as well as easy to use and cost effective. They offer the complete sollution for businesses or individuals looking to sell on the web.

Bioplastics - An Alternative to Petroleum based products

2007-10-23T08:18:00.000-07:00

Target offers shoppers an unusual message about its gift cards at some stores, advising that they are biodegradable. "Just make sure you spend them first," the displays conclude. This isn't just a marketing gimmick. Plastics made from corn and other plants are carving a tiny niche from the market for conventional petroleum-based plastics and being touted as green alternatives for everything from bulk food containers to lipstick tubes and clothing fiber -- as well as gift cards.

So-called "bioplastics" offer the world a way to wean itself off oil, and most biodegrade to varying degrees. But their makers' green argument is complex, and environmentalists are cautious in their support.

Manufacturing bioplastics produces carbon dioxide, which contributes to global warming. The materials are made from crops -- corn, switchgrass, sugar cane, even sweet potatoes -- that require land and water to grow. Some sound alarms because genetically modified organisms are used to spur the fermentation that creates them. And recycling them presents still other pitfalls.

They also can cost three times more than conventional plastics, which gives businesses pause about adopting them. Yet, until bioplastics expand beyond their current tiny fraction of the overall plastics market, the road to popularity is expected to be rough.

"It's almost a chicken-and-egg scenario," said David Cornell of the Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers. "It might someday reach that critical mass, but it has to happen very quickly, because in the meantime it can be a nuisance for us."

Bioplastics' main benefit would be to reduce from 10 percent the share of U.S. petroleum consumption that goes into plastic. The types that are biodegradable also could help compensate for the country's slow progress in recycling -- only about 6 percent of plastic made in the U.S. was recycled in 2005, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Bioplastics also lack toxins like polyvinyl chloride that have raised health concerns and led California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger this month to sign legislation banning chemicals called phthalates from toys and baby products.

"This is a promising new technology that faces some challenges," said Mike Schade of the Center for Health, Environment & Justice, a Falls Church, Virginia-based nonprofit. "But we don't view them as insurmountable, if the industry is willing to face them head-on."

The market's newest entrant is Mirel, from Cambridge-based Metabolix Inc. It more easily biodegrades than rival materials and, unlike others, can break down in a backyard compost bin. Its first consumer application came in July when Target Corp. began using it in gift cards at 129 stores. Metabolix is talking with potential clients about dozens more applications for Mirel, from razor blade handles to a coating for disposable coffee cups.

Agricultural processor Archer Daniels Midland Co. provides corn feedstock for making Mirel, which requires genetically engineered bacteria to aid in fermentation.

The most widely used bioplastic, NatureWorks -- a product of a subsidiary of Minnesota-based Cargill Inc. -- also is corn-based and biodegradable. It is made without genetically modified bacteria. Some of the corn that goes into it is modified, raising environmental concerns on the sourcing end, but the company notes that protein from the corn is destroyed in processing. NatureWorks already is used in dozens of products, including water bottles -- an application unsuited to Mirel, which isn't transparent.

Other bioplastics that biodegrade to some degree include Ecoflex, from German chemical company BASF AG; Mater-Bi, from Italy's Novamont S.P.A.; Cereplast, from a Hawthorne, California-based company by the same name. And two major conventional plastics makers -- DuPont Co. and Brazilian chemical company Braskem SA -- make recyclable bioplastic that isn't biodegradable, the first from corn and the second from sugar cane.

Check out Planet in Peril on CNN this week

2007-10-22T04:45:00.000-07:00

Check out Planet in Peril on CNN this week.

Heres a brief overview from yahoo news:
It's a tough world, all right. Too bad it's not tougher. Right now Earth is looking pretty fragile as it suffers from increasing human punishment. This isn't really news, of course. But CNN has packed the two-night, four-hour "Planet in Peril" with information and images that give a familiar story new urgency. Here is an eye-opening, often heart-wrenching exploration.

Airing Tuesday and Wednesday at 9 p.m. EDT, "Planet in Peril" dispatched correspondents Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta, as well as Animal Planet wildlife biologist Jeff Corwin, to report on far-flung instances of "environmental change." This term encompasses four key areas: climate change, vanishing natural habitats, disappearing species and human overpopulation. By taking on so much, the series risks becoming a catchall bin of environmental woes.

"At first glance, it may seem unfocused," said executive producer Charlie Moore. "But those are the four pillars. Almost everything falls under them, and they're all interconnected. For instance, you can't talk about endangered species without dealing with overconsumption of the world's natural resources and overpopulation."

Just a few days before his airdate, Moore was racing to put the final touches on a project that began, he said, about a year ago, during a conversation with David Doss, his producing colleague on "Anderson Cooper 360," who served as senior EP for "Planet in Peril."

"We wanted to take a look at all of the world's environmental problems in one big swipe," said Moore, "and we wanted to avoid the clinical, classroom approach by going to the front lines of the stories."

CNN's first high-def production, "Planet in Peril" was shot — beautifully — all over the world, beginning last February in Brazil, where Cooper and Corwin explore connections between the rapid deforestation of the Amazon River Basin and changes in the world's climate.

Other points of interest include Cambodia, Alaska, Wyoming's Yellowstone National Park, Greenland and the African nation of Chad. One segment finds Cooper and Corwin in Bangkok. They accompany undercover police attempting, with little success, to raid shops that illegally traffic in wildlife from all over the world. Among dozens of other threatened creatures for sale, rare tortoises are glimpsed by CNN's hidden camera. They were imported all the way from Madagascar.

So off goes Corwin to Madagascar — a large island off the southeast coast of Africa — for the next segment. With 90 percent of its wildlife found nowhere else, Madagascar is a powerful draw for poachers. Meanwhile, deforestation and other environmental assault has left only 10 percent of its original habitat to support all that life, Corwin reports.

In a segment from China, Gupta reports that, partly thanks to economic boom and a surging population, China can claim 16 of the world's 20 most air-polluted cities. More than half of that vast country's rivers are severely polluted, he adds. He interviews the young widow of a farmer who died of colon cancer at age 30, just one of many cases in a community dubbed a "cancer village." No wonder. The local river used for drinking and irrigation is polluted with carcinogens from nearby iron-ore mining operations that have gone on for decades.

For the average viewer, this is a troubling story. But then, a bit later, the scene shifts to New York, where Cooper submits to a "body burden assessment" — a complex, comprehensive blood test measuring the presence of 246 synthetic chemicals. Weeks pass while Cooper's blood is analyzed. Then he learns, not happily, that he tested positive for more than 100 of those chemicals, including the long-banned carcinogens DDT and PCBs.

No worries, says the president of the American Chemistry Council in an interview: "Just because we find chemicals in the body doesn't mean that it causes disease."

Maybe not. But, as Cooper notes, no one knows for sure what the health implications might be. Questions far outstrip any research to answer them. This is how Tuesday's installment ends.

"I wanted each night's episode to end up at home," Moore explained. "The fact that bad things are happening in faraway places doesn't make them any less important. But I wanted to make sure that the issues don't feel too removed from the viewer's everyday life."

No doubt about it: "Planet in Peril" has an up-close-and-personal global reach. Its immediacy can be measured in the blood flowing through the veins of one of its reporters.

Climate change causing fading foliage

2007-10-20T09:12:00.000-07:00

Every fall, Marilyn Krom tries to make a trip to Vermont to see its famously beautiful fall foliage. This year, she noticed something different about the autumn leaves.

"They're duller, not as sparkly, if you know what I mean," Krom, 62, a registered nurse from Eastford, Conn., said during a recent visit. "They're less vivid."

Other "leaf peepers" are noticing, too, and some believe climate change could be the reason. Forested hillsides usually riotous with reds, oranges and yellows have shown their colors only grudgingly in recent years, with many trees going straight from the dull green of late summer to the rust-brown of late fall with barely a stop at a brighter hue.

"It's nothing like it used to be," said University of Vermont plant biologist Tom Vogelmann, a Vermont native.

He says autumn has become too warm to elicit New England's richest colors. According to the National Weather Service, temperatures in Burlington have run above the 30-year averages in every September and October for the past four years, save for October 2004, when they were 0.2 degrees below average.

Warming climate affects trees in several ways. Colors emerge on leaves in the fall, when the green chlorophyll that has dominated all spring and summer breaks down. The process begins when shorter days signal leaves to form a layer at the base of their stems that cuts off the flow of water and nutrients. But in order to hasten the decline of chlorophyll, cold nights are needed.

In addition, warmer autumns and winters have been friendly to fungi that attack some trees, particularly the red and sugar maples that provide the most dazzling colors.

"The leaves fall off without ever becoming orange or yellow or red. They just go from green to brown," said Barry Rock, a forestry professor at the University of New Hampshire.

He says 2004 was "mediocre, 2005 was terrible, 2006 was pretty bad although it was spotty. This year, we're seeing that same spottiness."

"Leaf peeping" is big business in Vermont, with some 3.4 million visitors spending nearly $364 million in the fall of 2005, according to state estimates.

State tourism officials reject the notion that nature's palette is getting blander. Erica Housekeeper, spokeswoman for the state Department of Tourism and Marketing, said she had heard nothing but positive reports from foresters and visitors alike this year.

The problem is perception, Housekeeper says: Recollections of autumns past become tinged by nostalgia.

"Sometimes, we become our own worst critics," Housekeeper said.

People who rely on autumn tourism in New England are worried.

"I don't have a sense that the colors are off, but the timing is definitely off," said Scott Cowger, owner and innkeeper at the Maple Hill Farm Bed & Breakfast Inn at Hallowell, Maine. "Some trees are just starting to change now," Cowger said Thursday. "It used to be, religiously, it was the second week of October when they were at their peak. I would tell my guests to come the second week if you want to see the peak colors. But it's definitely the third or fourth week at this point."

People in Northampton, Mass., are still waiting on fall color. If foliage-viewing is the goal, "I wouldn't send anybody down this way yet," Autumn Inn desk clerk Mary Pelis said this past week.

"The way things are going, the foliage season is the one sure thing for us," said Amie Emmons, innkeeper at the West Mountain Inn, in Arlington, Vt. "We book out two years in advance. It's very concerning if you think the business could start to be affected."

Going organic on a budget

2007-10-18T08:04:00.000-07:00

If you think eating organic on a budget means making do with a handful of grapes or rationing portions from a single hormone-free chicken, starve not. With these shopping tips, you can stock your pantry shelves with no-pesticide, free-range, shade-grown goodies -- and still have money for those coveted hemp shoes.

Troll the aisles of price-busting warehouses and discount stores. These retailers are carrying more and more organic items. Costco, for example, sells organic coffee, pasta sauce, frozen mixed vegetables, whole chickens and ice cream sandwiches, among other products. If you don't have the storage space for the bulk items, take a friend and split that 25-pound bag of rice.

Download coupons. Visit the Web sites of your favorite organic brands, which may have printable coupons. Stonyfield Farm , for example, has more than a dozen discounts on yogurt, milk, ice cream and cultured soy.

Print coupons worth $1 off cheese, milk and butter from Organic Valley . Also check the Web sites of your usual markets for in-store discounts. Negotiate at farmers' markets. Ask if you can buy the dented tomatoes, wilted basil, bruised apples and other rejected produce for a reduced price. (Or be bold and try this tactic at supermarkets, too.)

It's likely that no one else will buy the ugly ducklings, especially as the markets wind down for the day. And once you puree the tomatoes into gazpacho, grind the basil into pesto and bake the apples in a cobbler, the once-flawed become flawless.

Order online. "People don't normally think of it as a great way to shop for food, but it keeps you from buying too much," says Michelle Kennedy, who writes about organic eating for her online newsletter, Real Living, and has an organic farm in Chelsea, Vt.

It's easier to stick to a shopping list and not be tempted to buy items you don't need, she says. Plus, Web sites often offer free shipping. Kennedy's favorite online outlets are Netgrocer.com, Barbara's Bakery for bulk cereal, and Amazon.com, which has expanded its organic offerings.

Think through your purchases. Do all the foods you buy need to be organic?

It's a controversial topic among some foodies. The Environmental Working Group , a Washington-based watchdog organization, lists the fruits and vegetables that are least susceptible to pesticide contamination (bananas and onions among them) and those most vulnerable, such as bell peppers and potatoes. Download the group's free guide .

Welcome to the World of Smorty

2007-10-16T14:36:00.000-07:00

Well The Ecoist Abode joined Smorty today. Smorty offers an opportunity to get paid for blogging on interesting topics and advertiser's products. It is an interface between bloggers and advertisers where the advertiser can have their product reviewed and written about. Thus, receiving cheap publicity on the web. Via www.smorty.com advertisers offer their products and services to bloggers to be written about and reviewed. Meanwhile, we the blogger, get paid for blogging which is what we do best!

I welcome the opportunity to give opinions on environmental sites and products. Hopefully, in addition to learning about opportunities, advertisers and services I can also make a little cash along the way blogging for money.

Check back to The Ecoist Abode regularly to see how the Smorty experiment is going. Hopefully we will get access and be able to blog about some interesting environmental ideas and products in the near future expanding everyones knowledge and awareness of our global issues.

Feel free to check out Smorty and see if getting paid to blog could be an option for you!

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The Green - October 16th 2007

2007-10-16T12:03:00.000-07:00

Tonite on The Green on the Sundance Channel ----

www.sundancechannel.com/thegreen/

9:00 ET Big Ideas for a Small Planet
Looks like the focus is on driving and automobiles this week. I would expect segments on new car technologies as well biofuels. Always an interesting how be sure to catch it!

9:35 ET Eco Documentary - Pleasures and Plagues on the Salton Sea
This is of particular interest to me as I have family that bought a house and moved there about 20 years ago. I have visited three times, but have not been back in about 15 years. I am very intertested to hear the facts on pollution and the environmental impact the man made sea has created.

China trying to go eco-friendly

2007-10-15T14:35:00.000-07:00

China will step up efforts to protect its devastated environment and cut energy use, President Hu Jintao said Monday in a major speech outlining the country's priorities for the next five years. Hu also said China will make a greater contribution to addressing global climate change, as he opened the five-yearly Communist Party Congress.

"We will increase spending on energy and environmental conservation with the focus on intensifying prevention and control of water, air and soil pollution and improving the living environment for both urban and rural residents," Hu said in a speech. "We will enhance our capacity to respond to climate change and make new contributions to protecting the global climate."

China's booming economy has come at a huge cost to the environment with up to 70 percent of the nation's waterways polluted and air quality in its biggest cities among the worst in the world.
China also is believed by some experts to have already passed the United States as the world's largest emitter of climate-changing greenhouse gases. Hu called the environmental effort "vital to the immediate interests of the people and the survival and development of the Chinese nation". He said the government would seek to develop a "resource-conserving and environmentally friendly society" and will "get every organisation and family to act accordingly," while offering no specific policy plans. However, China has so far resisted foreign calls to agree to mandatory greenhouse has emissions reductions, saying that as a developing nation it should be allowed some leeway on pollution in the name of economic growth.

Europe addressing climate change city by city

2007-10-14T05:40:00.000-07:00

When this quiet city in southern Sweden decided in 1996 to wean itself off fossil fuels, most people doubted the ambitious goal would have any impact beyond the town limits. A few melting glaciers later, Vaxjo is attracting a green pilgrimage of politicians, scientists and business leaders from as far afield as the United States and North Korea seeking inspiration from a city program that has allowed it to cut CO2 emissions 30 percent since 1993.

Vaxjo is a pioneer in a growing movement in dozens of European cities, large and small, that aren't waiting for national or international measures to curb global warming. From London's congestion charge to Paris' city bike program and Barcelona's solar power campaign, initiatives taken at the local level are being introduced across the continent — often influencing national policies instead of the other way around.

"People used to ask: Isn't it better to do this at a national or international level?" said Henrik Johansson, environmental controller in Vaxjo, a city of 78,000 on the shores of Lake Helga, surrounded by thick pine forest in the heart of Smaland province. "We want to show everyone else that you can accomplish a lot at the local level."

The European Union, mindful that many member states are failing to meet mandated emissions cuts under the Kyoto climate treaty, has taken notice of the trend and is encouraging cities to adopt their own emissions targets. The bloc awarded one of its inaugural Sustainable Energy Europe awards this year to Vaxjo, which aims to have cut emissions by 50 percent by 2010 and 70 percent by 2025.

"We are convinced that the cities are a key element to change behavior and get results," said Pedro Ballesteros Torres, manager of the Sustainable Energy Europe campaign. "Climate change is a global problem but the origin of the problem is very local."

So far only a handful of European capitals have set emissions targets, including Stockholm, Copenhagen and London. Torres said he hopes to convince about 30 European cities to commit to targets next year. While such goals are welcome, they may not always be the best way forward, said Simon Reddy, who manages the C40 project, a global network of major cities exchanging ideas on tackling climate change."At the moment a lot of cities don't know what they're emitting so it's very difficult to set targets," Reddy said.

More important than emissions targets, he said, is that cities draft action plans, outlining specific goals needed to reduce emissions, like switching a certain percentage of the public transit system to alternative fuels.

London Mayor Ken Livingstone's Climate Action Plan calls for cutting the city's CO2 emissions by 60 percent in 2025, compared to 1990 levels. However, planners acknowledge the cuts are not realistic unless the government introduces a system of carbon pricing. Barcelona, Spain's second biggest city, has, since 2006, required all new and renovated buildings to install solar panels to supply at least 60 percent of the energy needed to heat water. The project has been emulated by dozens of Spanish cities and inspired national legislation with similar, though less stringent, requirements, said Angels Codina Relat of the Barcelona Energy Agency.

It's not only in Europe that cities are taking action on climate change. Several U.S. cities including Austin, Texas; Portland, Ore.; and Seattle have launched programs to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Bogota, the capital of Colombia, has reduced emissions with the TransMilenio municipal bus system and an extensive network of bicycle paths.

In Vaxjo, (pronounced VECK-shur), the vast majority of emissions cuts have been achieved at the heating and power plant, which replaced oil with wood chips from local sawmills as its main source of fuel. Ashes from the furnace are returned to the forest as nutrients.

"This is the best fir in Sweden," said plant manager Ulf Johnsson, scooping up a fistful of wood chips from a giant heap outside the factory.

He had just led Michael Wood, the U.S. Ambassador to Sweden, on a guided tour of the facility, which is considered state of the art. Not only does it generate electricity, but the water that is warmed up in the process of cooling the plant is used to heat homes and offices in Vaxjo.
Every week, foreign visitors arrive to see Vaxjo's environmental campaign. Last year, even a delegation of 10 energy officials from reclusive North Korea got a tour.
A similar but much larger system is in place in Copenhagen, Denmark's capital, where waste heat from incineration and combined heat and power plants is pumped through a purpose-built 800-mile network of pipes to 97 percent of city. Copenhagen is often cited as a climate pioneer among European cities. It cut CO2 emissions by 187,600 tons annually in the late '90s by switching from coal to natural gas and biofuels at its energy plants. Its goal is to reduce emissions by 35 percent by 2010, compared to 1990 levels, even more ambitious than Denmark's national target of 21 percent cuts under the Kyoto accord.

In 1995, the city became one of the first European capitals to introduce a public bicycle service that lets people pick up and return bikes at dozens of stations citywide for a small fee. Similar initiatives have since taken root in Paris and several other European cities. Next, Copenhagen plans to spend about $38 million on various initiatives to get more residents to use bicycles instead of cars. Transport is one of the hardest areas for local leaders to control since traffic is not confined to a single city. Without stronger national policies promoting biofuels over gasoline, Vaxjo, for one, will never reach its long-term target of becoming free of fossil fuels.

But it's doing what it can locally. So-called "green cars" running on biofuels park for free anywhere in the city. About one-fifth of the city's own fleet runs on biogas produced at the local sewage treatment plant. Using biofuels instead of gasoline in cars is generally considered to cut CO2 emissions, although some scientists say greenhouse gases released during the production of biofuel crops can offset those gains.

Vaxjo has also invested in energy efficiency, from the light bulbs used in street lights to a new residential area with Europe's tallest all-wood apartment buildings. Wood requires less energy to produce than steel or concrete, and also less transportation since Vaxjo is in the middle of forests. Although Vaxjo is tiny by comparison, the C40 group, including major metropolitan centers such as New York, Mexico City and Tokyo, has been impressed by the city's progress and uses it as an example of "best practices" around the world. "They're a small town," Reddy said. "Apply that to 7 million? It's doable but its going to take a lot longer."

Recycle your glass

2007-10-11T12:06:00.000-07:00

Only 20% of the glass used in the US is recycled...80% is sent to a land fill.

Every glass bottle recycled saves enough energy to power a 100 watt light bulb for 4 hours.

In this decade alone it is estimated that Americans will throw away more than 11 million tons of glass bottles and jars.

Lovin Big Ideas for a Small Planet

2007-10-10T12:09:00.000-07:00

If you aren't watching Big Ideas for a Small Planet on the Sundance Channel you are really missing out. It airs on Tuesdays at 8pm central time and is rerun a few times over the week. It's just a wonderful show addressing green ideas for the planet. Fascinating entrepreneurs are interviewed and profiled weekly about their green businesses and ideas.

This weeks episode is called EAT and focuses on organic foods and eating local, healthy foods. I particularly enjoyed the piece on Local Burger. A "fast food" restaurant that focused on locally raised organic meats and foods. They offered locally and organically raised beef, lamb, pork and elk as well as a vegan menu.

Next week on Big Ideas will focus on our reliance on the automobile and how green ideas such as hybrids and biofuels are taking hold.

Every week after the 35 minute Big Ideas a documentary on subject is shown. This weeks documentary was We Feed the World and it focused on the plight of the small farmer versus the corporate run mass farms. We Feed The World is a film about food and globalisation, fishermen and farmers, long-distance lorry drivers and high-powered corporate executives, the flow of goods and cash flow–a film about scarcity amid plenty. With its unforgettable images, the film provides insight into the production of our food and answers the question what world hunger has to do with us .

Arctic climate change

2007-10-09T07:51:00.000-07:00

Climate change may make Arctic energy resources easier to reach but it could also make them harder to exploit because of changes to sea ice, a U.S. scientist said ahead of an international oil and ice conference in Alaska. Hajo Eicken, a University of Alaska scientist, is one of the presenters from at least five countries scheduled to speak about oil spills in ice-choked waters at a conference in Anchorage, Alaska, that starts Wednesday.

Eicken said Sunday that climate change is rewriting the rules for Arctic sea ice and becoming a crucial consideration in any offshore drilling. He says drillers will have to be aware that the old certainties of shore-bound ice — where much of the current exploration will take place — have changed.

"Conditions are more variable, less predictable. Even in winter, when normally you would expect to see the landfast ice to be stable and locked in place, we're starting to see ... larger tracts of landfast ice detach from shore and drift out to sea," Eicken said.