Pablo Paster
Pablo Päster is an Energy and Sustainability Management consultant at Hara Software, where he advises major corporations, universities, and municipalities. Pablo has a degree in Manufacturing Engineering, a MBA in Sustainable Management, and has been using his background in life cycle analysis and greenhouse gas accounting to write his column, Ask Pablo, since 2006. Pablo lives in Northern California with his wife and two dogs and spends his free time running "barefoot" and working on his house.
Latest Stories from Pablo Paster - Page 7
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What is the Environmental Impact of the Internet?
A Map of the Internet. Image Source: DiscoveryMagazine.com Dear Pablo: I know that it's better, from an environmental perspective, to shop online than driving to a store but what about other uses of the internet? What is the environmental impact of
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Eat Local, Drink Local Beer
Image via Lightning Labels Blog Dear Pablo: My favorite beer comes from Germany and I am concerned about the environmental impact. Am I an eco-villain or does "eat local" not apply to beer?While "beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy"
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How to Get a Roadmap for Greening Your Home
Image Source: HUDDear Pablo: You have written about home energy efficiency in the past, but aside from individual technologies like CFLs, what can I do to get the "whole picture" and how do I prioritize my investments? You are correct, there are many
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Are Factory Farms to Blame for Swine Flu?
Image Source: DailyMail.co.uk Dear Pablo: I have been following the media field day on the outbreak of swine flu but I can't help but wonder if factory farms are to blame for swine flu?What Is Swine Flu?First of all let me clarify that Swine Flu, or
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Ask Pablo: Why Do Rechargeable Batteries Suck?
Chart showing rechargeable battery life versus alkaline battery life in a high-drain application. Source: GreenBatteries.comDear Pablo: I'm a New Yorker who tries to be environmentally conscious. For years now, I've been confounded by rechargeable
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To Shred Or Not To Shred
Image via Spectrum Data Dear Pablo: I work for a large company. For our secure document disposal, we have a large paper shredder. On a regular basis, these shredded files are then emptied and recycled. Unfortunately, this is the only way we currently
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How To Get Chicks
Some of the author's chickens going outside for the first timeDear Pablo, I am thinking about getting some chickens but I don't live on a farm. Can you raise chickens in the suburbs without causing trouble in the neighborhood?I am hearing of more and
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Should I Cash In On My Clunker?
I have gotten many questions like this and recent political
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Should I Worry About Deadly Mercury In My CFLs?
Image via Wikipedia.com Dear Pablo: I know that compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) are much more efficient, but I have also heard that they contain mercury. What is a TreeHugger to do? In response to my article on dimmable CFLs I received a lot of
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Reusable Shopping Bags: Which Is the Greenest of Them All?
Image via HowStuffWorks.com Dear Pablo: I want to switch to reusable shopping bags. (Yes I should have done it years ago.) However, all the stores in my area seem to sell bags made of polypropylene. Is the manufacturing process of these bags bad for the
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Is the IPCC Assessment on Global Climate Change Wrong?
Image via Global Warming Art Dear Pablo: I've heard that we don't have enough remaining fossil fuels available to burn in order to reach the carbon dioxide concentrations that the IPCC scientists are predicting. What would happen to the concentration of
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The Top 5 Technologies That Will Save Us from Climate Change
Dear Pablo: What do you believe are the top technologies that will help us overcome climate change?First of all, the number one solution to climate change is not a technology at all; it is political will. As Thomas Friedman, the author of Hot, Flat, and
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Which Milk Container Has the Lowest Carbon Emissions?
Image via Telegraph.co.uk Dear Pablo: I have been wondering for some time what a life cycle analysis would show is the "greenest" way to ship milk. Plastic containers are light, but are not reusable and don't biodegrade; cardboard containers are less
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Is My In-Sink Garbage Disposal Eco-Friendly?
According to my favorite
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Can Harnessing Renewable Energy Sources Adversely Affect Ecosystems?
Image Source: Matter Network Dear Pablo: As we get more and more energy from the wind and tides, won’t we start interfering with those fundamental forces? Or are our efforts so puny that they won’t matter? Am I nuts to think that our efforts might
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Should I Switch to Dimmable CFL Bulbs?
Dear Pablo: We have 12 recessed light bulbs in our kitchen on a dimmer switch. How much money and energy we would save if we switched to dimmable CFL bulbs? They would have to be cost effective because cash is tight these days.According to USA Today, in
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Does Turning Down My Water Heater Really Make a Difference?
Dear Pablo: Why should I turn down my water heater? Isn't it just as efficient to dilute really hot water with cold water in the faucet than to use barely warm enough water straight out of the hot side?In a strictly theoretical sense you are correct.
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Ask Pablo: Is Bottled Water Really So Bad?
Over the past few years journalists and commentators have denounced bottled water as an environmental evil. I can count myself as one of those after my article about the greenhouse gas emissions from producing and transporting one bottle of Fiji water
