TreeHugger Discussion Forums

What’s better from an overall CO2 point of view? Buying a more efficient car that needs to be shipped from overseas, or buying a locally produced, but less efficient vehicle?

I suppose you have to answer the following:
-How much carbon is produced when shipping a car from say Japan to America?
-How long do you intend to keep the car?
-How much driving do you do?

Anyone got any good answers?

Anyone got any good answers?

It's already been answered in the forums.

Folks,

Does anyone know what companies (if any) are on the forefront of harnessing E Coli bacteria in contributing to an alternative fuel source?

Thanks!
Bob

Am based in England and
I have just returned from visiting relatives in New York State & Georgia - yes I know this is not very carbon friendly but will offset asap!

Was REALLY SHOCKED that the Georgia cousins could not hang out washing in all that lovely sunshine because of some policy by a residents association.

We live in one of wealthist part of the UK and to my knowledge no one bats an eyelid about washing hanging outside. In fact I suspect that many people would think it a bit "chav" (common) and lazy to do otherwise than get the fresh air on your laundry - let alone waste the electricity, weather permitting. And it does not rain all the time in England - in the Eastern counties we had a hosepipe ban last summer.

has any one heard of a Hydronic Clothes Dryer

We are building a new house on a river and would like to recover gray water to water shrubs and trees 300 feet from the river. I'd like to use a gravity feed system and envision pipes with drain holes which would run several feet below ground at root level. Anyone know anything about this?

Diane

Why has nobody written a piece on the floods in the UK over the last few days??!! It's surely the most important recent piece of eco news! It's another event to support Lovelock's hypothesis.... scary.

Hi! I noticed that you guys are interested in green issues like myself and thought you might be interested in checking out the WorldSpace Live Earth blog at

http://worldpaceatliveearth.spaces.live.com/ !

We at WorldSpace Satellite Radio are an international radio broadcasting company that will be on the move broadcasting all the performances, gossip, details throughout the whole Live Earth experience, and our online blog is another way for us to update all you interested musicians or environmentalists on what's going on in Live Earth and let you in on our side of the issue.

Let me know what you think through your comments on our blogs and let your friends know to check us out. This event is bringing music on a grand scale (from Rihanna in Japan to Snoop Dogg in Germany) all for the good cause of raising awareness of global warming and other environmental issues!

Why can't the florescent light manufacturers encase the light bulbs in a plastic coating so that if you drop it and break the bulb, you won't get mercury poisoning.

The manufacturers have been doing it for years..you can buy commercial 8 foot florescent tubes that have a clear plastic coating to contain the glass and mercury if a maintananance guy accidentally drops the light bulb.

It would also go a long way towards getting people to recycle the old compact bulbs when they wear out (we should not let such toxic compounds be buried or incinerated at landfills.

Does anyone know of a product that is similar to neoprene but eco-friendly?

LIVEEARTH show is great.

Forget ecoli; lets collect Isoprene from
the trees and burn it.

I work for a company that shipps containers of goods from the far east to the UK. We have worked out that the huge container ship that travels half way around the world to get to us uses less fuel for that journey per container than the truck that brings the container the 150 or so miles from the port to our warehouse. Shipping on a large scale by water is substantially more economical that either road, rail or planes.

I would really like to see a return of wind powered cargo vessels. They produce zero carbon emissions and dont require any fuel so should save money in the long run. With modern technology it is possible to built a large sailing vessel that can be manned by a small crew. Our company is solidly behind fair trade and reducing our own impact on the enviroment, we have numerous customers with a green conscience who come to us for that very reason. I would like to think if a wind powered cargo vessel was available for slightly more money that we would choose to move our cargo this way even if it took longer to get to us.

http://www.greenraising.com/

It depends on the difference in mpg. If you are comparing, say, a Prius that realistically gets 40 mpg to a Hummer that gets 8, the Prius wins.

Comparing a Japanese sedan that gets 25-30 to an American sedan that gets 25-30 (and I get 30 mpg in my '99 Sable on the highway going 60/65) I think the American car wins.

An outfit called CNW Market Research, which throws “Clarity Context Vision” around like Fox News claims to be “Fair and Balanced,” published a “study” claiming that the Hummer H2 has less of an environmental impact than the Prius. CNW asserts that the per mile cost of the Hummer H2 is $3.027 and the Prius is $3.249.

Dr. Peter Gleick of the Pacific Institute weighed in on the debate, stating “the report’s conclusions rely on faulty methods of analysis, untenable assumptions, selective use and presentation of data, and a complete lack of peer review. Even the most cursory look reveals serious bias and flaws: the average Hummer H1 is assumed to travel 379,000 miles and last for 35 years, while the average Prius is assumed to last only 109,000 miles over less than 12 years. … “Dust to Dust” has already distorted the public debate.”

Gleick is right. According to Edmunds, the MSRP of the 2007 Hummer H2 is $54,100. The Prius is $22,175. I assume the vehicles have a lifetime of 100,000 miles and the price of gas is $3.00 per gallon. I know that the EPA estimates for the Prius are 50, and the H2 is so big and so heavy that it is exempt from EPA milage estimates, but I use 40 mpg for the Prius - because that’s what limo drivers who use the Prius in NYC get - and 8 mpg for the Hummer. GM Hummer claims that the Hummer H3 gets 20 miles per gallon on the highway. Maybe they put a hybrid engine in it. Maybe that’s rolling downhill, outfitted for sail, with the engine off and running in neutral.

Using those assumptions, My back-of-envelope reckoning concludes that the Hummer will burn 12,500 gallons and the Prius 2,500 as they are driven those 100,000 miles. That’s a difference of 10,000 gallons of gas. At $3.00 per gallon, fuel will cost $37,500 to drive the Hummer and $7,500 to drive the Prius. That’s $30,000 bucks. And if the average price of gas is $4.00 over the life of the vehicle, it’s $40,000.

Adding the purchase cost, and the cost of oil changes every 3000 miles, (34 oil changes at $25 each) the costs to drive a Hummer H2 are $92,460 the costs to drive a Prius are $30,525. This works out to 92 cents per mile for the H2 and 31 cents per mile for the Prius. A difference of $62,460.

Bob:
I don't know of any companies working on E. Coli. I do know of some academic researchers trying to work on photosynthetic bacteria for alternative fuels, but they are in early stages of starting the project.

I was wondering if anyone could help me out with the
PROS AND CONS OF INCINERATION PLANTS

thanks :)

Has there been any discussion regarding 2-cycle engines effect on atmospheric pollution?

An article by Ford claims the pollution produced by a new 2-cycle chain saw in 1 hour of use exceeds the emissions from a new car driven from New York to St Louis! Extrapolating off the top of my head, that means 10 hours of 2-cycle chain saw use produces more emissions than a car driven the US average mileage in one year!

Think of all the 2-cycle lawn mowers, scooters, leaf blowers, etc. in use.

There will be a lot of oxes gored in controlling these polluters!

Hello Everyone,

My name is Adam Spanier and I am the High School Student Council President of Minnesota. This year we decided that our service project would be GO GREEN, so if anyone could recommend me to some great speakers for our State Convention (to speak about going green) that would be great.

Please e-mail me at flip_52@hotmail.com

Thanks a lot!

I was recently introduced to your website and really like it! I was looking at the section on "How to Go Green" and didn't find anything on 'how to green your investment portfolio'.

I am very interested in investing in companies that specialize in 'green production', not just have 'green practices' (i.e. renewable energy, manufacture products from recycled/renewable materials, etc.)

Any suggestions you can offer would be greatly appreciated!

Does anyone know about the technology being used in India to turn coal into gasoline? I see some information on various google sites but have not been able to confirm that this is a viable. If this technology exists we could eliminate our dependence on foreign oil immediately and solve a lot of our problems with the middle east.

Here is an interesting article I came across when reading about steps towards energy independence:

Grassroots Efforts Towards Energy Independence

I think the steps presented here are doable - We just have to make effort to at the grassroots level to make this a reality.

can anybody tell me if a person can make wood pellets for a pellet stove at home

The biofuels industry is responding to OPEC's claims that ethanol is the
reason for high gas prices. Yeah right! Ethanol keeps the prices lower.
Several biofuels organizations issued the following press release to draw
attention to their ad in the Financial Times. Lets discuss!

Hey, this is Jenny. I'm from treelessproducts. Just wanted you guys to check out some eco-friendly products that are convenient for your home, restaurant and company. This website will provide you with products such as plates, toilet paper, dinner napkins, to-go containers, cups, etc., and you can also order a box of samples if you are half convinced. Our products are 100% biodegradable meaning you can practically bury it in your backyard and it would disappear in approximately 45 days. We have a reasonable price to all of our products. So be sure you can come look around if you love the earth as much as we do. Please ask me for the website. I will be happy to answer any questions.

We must not discount the planets ability at radical simpatico adaptation; or second guess a far more superior system which has survived for eons in hostile space environments. The part we play may be minuscule in comparison, but misguided in the extreme.

Help! I live at Fort Lewis, WA. It's beautiful here, for now, but I've been watching landscaping crews hacking away trees and bushes for months (topping small trees and improperly pruning limbs). I complained to the housing office to no avail.
Now the Army wants to clear nearly 41 acres (1300 trees) next to the Nisqually River and a wildlife refuge to install HIMARS rocket systems that they have already been able to use at their Yakima Training Center in eastern Washington. Is there any way to stop this, or at least verify that an objective environmental study has been done to see what kind of impact this will have on the surrounding area? I have emailed the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge, the US Fish & Wildlife Service, my senators and representative, and the Nisqually Tribe that borders Fort Lewis. I received very little response, and I'm beginning to think no one cares if the Army cuts down all these trees. What else can I do?

The 2009 Future Food Congress, from March 29-31, 2009 in Las Vegas, NV will have top food industry manufacturing experts discussing how to turn Waste into Fuel and how to Reduce your Water Footprint. 100 vice presidents and c-level executives from within the food industry who will come together for 3 days of keynote presentations, closed roundtable sessions, workshops and panel discussions to dicuss these issues and much more.

Here in Venezuela the government is building on a large scale a housing project for the poor called " petrocasa". Houses made out of plastic. I am not an expert and would like to know if this kind of construction is healthy.

Thanks

Hey everyone.
My name is Scott Pepper, I am a Caifornia Conservation Corps member at the San Luis Obispo center. If you guys didnt know, the governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed to eliminate the CCC. The CCC has been a gateway for many disaffected youth into the green collar community, over 3,000 a year since 1976. It has provided a role model for youth development programs nationwide, earning many environmental awards and earning praise from 3 US presidents recently. We work hard doing all types of natural resource work, including native plant propagation, erosion control, energy conservation, and solar panel installation. As well as emergency response to wildland fire, floods, and oil spills. We were even there for Hurricane Katrina and the past years of hurricanes in the south. Corpsmembers also earn their high school diploma, up to $10,000 in scholarships, ad special training. The official website is www.ccc.ca.gov. I strongly urge everyone who has been affected by the CCC or not to join my letter writing campaign
to the governor. The plan is 10,000 or more letters urging him to reverse his proposal. Every letter counts, so please take 20 mins out of your day to write one. The address is: Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building Sacramento, CA 95814. Please urge people to write. Thank you guys all for your support. Save the youth! Save the Environment! Save the California Conservation Corps!

Check out this Green Home Show promoting awareness to the Green Movement Coming next year to TV, looks good.

It is produced by Carbon America.

Carbon America intends to promote awareness of the world’s green movement and America’s carbon footprint reduction. Their strategies is to show America and the world how being green can be affordable and the return on investment to the planet and our pockets can be sizable. Their intention is to help the global environment by appealing to the general public through the mass media. Specifically, by capitalizing on “Green Game Shows” and “Green Reality Show" trends.

The Show is called “America’s Gone Green” along with two spins off shows “Green Improvements” and “Green Seeding”

“America’s Gone Green”
The Game format is as follows.
The purpose of game show is for America to determine which contestants home is the greenest and has the smallest carbon foot print while retaining mass market appeal or “green sex appeal”. Once the home has been qualified contestants receive cash to improve on their homes and carbon footprint and compete with other qualifying round winners.
The format will be similar to other shows consisting of Subject Matter Experts (SME) as panel judges intermixed with celebrities or other notable figures that are currently identified with the “Green” movement. These SME judges could include professionals and members of organizations such as LEED, Green Building Council, and Energy Star.
The final winner will receive a lump sum cash prize donation for to their favorite Green organization.
The process will consist of qualifying rounds and a final round elimination. Outlined below are the proposed recommendations for each round.

Check out the rest of the Game info at www.carbonamerica.net

Looks great, I think these guys got the right ideas appealing to the mass media, what do you think?

Do you think that (charity) donors will be will pay for green product purchases made by people who find it hard to afford the often higher upfront cost of green products. If so, then which donors? Look forward to hearing from you.

A new "TREEHUGGERS" RANT!

As I excitedly shared with others about my recent experience "going green", I was surprised to find that many were actually "ANTI-GREEN"! They actually laughed at the concept. One (a medical doctor) said "it's survival of the fittest. If trees aren't strong enough to survive, than I am simply fitter than they are". I was APPALLED! Another, concluded that climate change was probably a myth, so why change our lifestyle?
Has anyone else run into such ignorant thinking? It was incredibly discouraging to me as a newcomer to green thinking, and yet motivating in that I now realize my incredible duty to this neglected planet!

saw this on redferret, thought it would make a good link to here/from here.

http://www.redferret.net/?p=13842

LincVolt Continental - the American Dream retro hybrid machine

LincVolt. Take one 2.5 ton, 19.5 foot long Lincoln Continental Mark IV convertible from 1959, drop in a state of the art hybrid power plant. Measure off 100 mpg and zero emissions, enter it for the Automotive X Prize and draft in aging rocker Neil Young to add a little charismatic celebrity sauce. Stir, leave to settle and wait for applause. Somewhere Henry Ford is spinning like an armature. Video.