brad said:
"the u.s. Better hurry up and do this. This could make us so much more efficient= more wealthy..." [read]
alisa said:
"all I have to say is... "who killed the electric car"..." [read]
David Chaves said:
"Great article. The one thing I will say i don't 100% agree with is the ethanol factor. I'm not certain that ethanol is that "carbon friendly". E..." [read]
Annie said:
"I find it funny that the Google add listed above has a link for "bear rugs". I wish it were possible to control these adds a bit more, as I don't ..." [read]
michi said:
"I agree with Tahoe Valley's post, though I haven't looked at the website yet. @Mark, individual transportation is only here to stay if we let it s..." [read]
chopper said:
"a skateboard is nice, but not so much fun on the cracky sidewalks by my house. this thing looks like it'll probably handle uneven ground better and..." [read]
Will the next large-scale manifestation of global warming prove to be just another blip in time or, as Mike Tidwell put it in a recent Orion piece, a violent "snap" -- signaling a fundamental shift in our planet's climate? The idea, also advanced by noted environmental writer Fred Pearce in his latest book, has everything to do with what scientists call "abrupt" climate change.
The U.S. Climate Change Science Program, which is currently seeking public comments for revision of its synthesis and assessment report, defines abrupt climate change as: "A large-scale change in the climate system that takes place over a few decades or less, persists (or is anticipated to persist) for at least a few decades, and causes substantial disruptions in human and natural systems."
The wheel most likely was 'invented' in ancient Mesopotamia in the 4th millennium BC, yet we're still finding new ways to use it. The Magic Wheel is... Well, just watch the video. It says it all. For more information on this 'foot scooter', check out Magic Wheel's official website. Via ::The Magic Wheel goes beyond crystal ball
Researchers have found that at least one species of bird is coping well with global warming in the UK: Great Tits. They are laying their eggs earlier in the spring to better synchronize with the arrival of caterpillars. But the Great Tits in the Netherlands haven't been able to adjust, so this seems to be a local phenomenon. Many Great Tits could be affected.
As JP Morgan’s Bruce Tozer mentioned briefly in our interview with him about his company’s acquisition of UK offsetting pioneers Climate Care, the internationally recognized Gold Standard is likely to play a big role in maintaining consumer confidence in the credibility of carbon offsets. It’s for this reason that Climate Care has been developing specific methodology to enable efficient stove technology to be accredited under the Gold Standard – allowing this hugely beneficial technology to benefit from the rapidly growing carbon market. The latest press release from the organization lays out why they see this as such an important development [for more on how efficient stoves save lives, check out the video Climate Care produced a little while back above]:
Unlike iron fertilization, whose intended aim is to stimulate large phytoplankton blooms in the hopes of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide draw-down, the main objective of the University of Toronto's Danny Harvey seems far simpler (hewing closely to basic chemistry principles): to neutralize increased ocean acidity by adding a base, limestone. To do so, he proposed dumping huge quantities of powdered limestone -- around 4b tons every year -- into the oceans; his findings were just published in the Journal of Geophysical Research (h/t Discovery News' Jessica Marshall).
Unless you've been living under a rock, you'd be hard-pressed to miss the continuous stream of news stories describing the threat posed by the world's dwindling reserves of freshwater. With some talking up the potential for water becoming the next "oil," it has become imperative for international NGOs and governments to focus their energy on forestalling a global crisis that could devastate developing countries. Fortunately, the WWF and Nature Conservancy have developed a handy new resource, the FEOW (Freshwater Ecoregions of the World) map, to help guide current and future conservation efforts.
Solar rooftop installations just got a lot easier: Lumeta, a subsidiary of construction heavyweight DRI, has developed a solar panel sticker -- the Power-Ply 380. The company says its convenient peel-and-stick solar technology allows it to be installed almost twice as fast as regular rack-mounted panels -- a claim put to the test in the above video.
The panels are half as heavy as concrete roofing tiles and can be tailored to fit on most tile designs -- concrete, clay, profile and flat (added bonus: they come in a variety of colors). As Wired Science's Alexis Madrigal notes, the Power-Ply's main downside is that it loses the sun's optimal angle, thus making the peel-and-stick panels less efficient than some of its alternatives.
When I recently had the opportunity to interview Greensburg mother Sharon Schmidt she sounded tired but resolute. Much like you’d expect a mom who has been through a lot in the recent past, putting her own life back together while ensuring her son has the best possible experience as a high school junior despite the fact that their entire town has been rebuilding from a tornado that took it off the map.
Her words give life to what it means to be a mom from Greensburg, and I suspect you’ll enjoy reading what she has to say this Mother’s Day as much as I did listening to her speak a short time ago.
TreeHugger: What’s this school year been like while Greensburg is being rebuilt?
Sharon Schmidt: It’s started out just kind of surreal and at the very first of the school year in late summer and very early fall there were still some very bad storms and we were living in FEMA-ville, and they didn’t have their storm shelters yet so it was just very trying.
I guess when they would hit we would have gotten notice, but they were fast moving storms so it was unsettling I guess… But they do have shelters now (at school) so as a mother I feel better about it.
As JP Morgan’s Bruce Tozer mentioned briefly in our interview with him about his company’s acquisition of UK offsetting pioneers Climate Care, the internationally recognized Gold Standard is likely to play a big role in maintaining consumer confidence in the credibility of carbon offsets. It’s for this reason that Climate Care has been developing specific methodology to enable efficient stove technology to be accredited under the Gold Standard – allowing this hugely beneficial technology to benefit from the rapidly growing carbon market. The latest press release from the organization lays out why they see this as such an important development [for more on how efficient stoves save lives, check out the video Climate Care produced a little while back above]:
...
Image courtesy of pierreyves0 via flickr
Unlike iron fertilization, whose intended aim is to stimulate large phytoplankton blooms in the hopes of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide draw-down, the main objective of the University of Toronto's Danny Harvey seems far simpler (hewing closely to basic chemistry principles): to neutralize increased ocean acidity by adding a base, limestone. To do so, he proposed dumping huge quantities of powdered limestone -- around 4b tons every year -- into the oceans; his findings were just published in the Journal of Geophysical Research (h/t Discovery News' Jessica Marshall). ...
Image courtesy of conner395 via flickr
Unless you've been living under a rock, you'd be hard-pressed to miss the continuous stream of news stories describing the threat posed by the world's dwindling reserves of freshwater. With some talking up the potential for water becoming the next "oil," it has become imperative for international NGOs and governments to focus their energy on forestalling a global crisis that could devastate developing countries. Fortunately, the WWF and Nature Conservancy have developed a handy new resource, the FEOW (Freshwater Ecoregions of the World) map, to help guide current and future conservation efforts. ...
Solar rooftop installations just got a lot easier: Lumeta, a subsidiary of construction heavyweight DRI, has developed a solar panel sticker -- the Power-Ply 380. The company says its convenient peel-and-stick solar technology allows it to be installed almost twice as fast as regular rack-mounted panels -- a claim put to the test in the above video.
The panels are half as heavy as concrete roofing tiles and can be tailored to fit on most tile designs -- concrete, clay, profile and flat (added bonus: they come in a variety of colors). As Wired Science's Alexis Madrigal notes, the Power-Ply's main downside is that it loses the sun's optimal angle, thus making the peel-and-stick panels less efficient than some of its alternatives. ...
When I recently had the opportunity to interview Greensburg mother Sharon Schmidt she sounded tired but resolute. Much like you’d expect a mom who has been through a lot in the recent past, putting her own life back together while ensuring her son has the best possible experience as a high school junior despite the fact that their entire town has been rebuilding from a tornado that took it off the map.
Her words give life to what it means to be a mom from Greensburg, and I suspect you’ll enjoy reading what she has to say this Mother’s Day as much as I did listening to her speak a short time ago.
TreeHugger: What’s this school year been like while Greensburg is being rebuilt?
Sharon Schmidt: It’s started out just kind of surreal and at the very first of the school year in late summer and very early fall there were still some very bad storms and we were living in FEMA-ville, and they didn’t have their storm shelters yet so it was just very trying.
I guess when they would hit we would have gotten notice, but they were fast moving storms so it was unsettling I guess… But they do have shelters now (at school) so as a mother I feel better about it.
...
Chart courtesy of Seattle P.-I.
Courtesy of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer comes this nifty side-by-side comparison chart (see here for a blown-up version). The article does a nice job of running through the (many) problems associated with biofuels, citing two studies by The Nature Conservancy and a team of U.S. scientists. ...
When you’ve got a brand new music festival you’re putting together it’s really a great opportunity to think outside the box when it comes to greening the event. And this July, organizers of the ROTHBURY Festival in Rothbury, Michigan will do just that; offsetting the carbon footprint of folks enjoying acts like the Dave Matthews Band, Gov’t Mule, Snoop Dogg, and John Mayer in a novel way....
With gasoline prices rising so, we expect consumers to increasingly shop online to reduce their personal climate "footprint" and save money. Especially if the green products selection is good.
To explore this question a bit, we checked out the Amazon green product listing where one can find many of the familiar "green" items and then some. A total of 713 items were "tagged" as green by customers. Click and scroll, click and scroll....
The average Canadian produces 22 tones of carbon dioxide each year - equal to the weight of about 4 large elephants. Doesn't everyone measure carbon dioxide in elephants? One of those Canadians happens to be biochemistry professor Hervé Philippe from the Université de Montréal.
Philippe was surprised to discover that his scientific work (computers, air travel, and air conditioning) added up to 44 tons of carbon dioxide a year, or almost 9 extra elephants. Amidst reports of rapidly accelerating carbon dioxide emissions, it is not surprising that we often forget the many aspects of our life that cause carbon dioxide emissions.
“I did my PhD on nucleotide sequencing in the hope of advancing our knowledge of biodiversity, but I never thought that the research itself could have a negative impact on biodiversity" said professor Philippe. He continued, "By viewing oil as an unlimited resource we are making a tremendous mistake."
Image courtesy of NASA/MODIS
These photos, which vividly capture the scope of the tragedy that befell Myanmar (or Burma), were taken by NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), the Terra satellite's visual-infrared instrument. The U.N. estimates that over 1.5 million individuals may have been affected by Cyclone Nargis; over 100,000 are feared to be dead.
Via ::Scientific American: Myanmar Cyclone: Before and After (news website)...
I mean I jst so wnt a hi Kitty sola Charger. It ltz me hlp save d world's NRG n hi Kitty fashiN! So w@ f it costs 2x as mch as a norml sola charger, it cn kip my ph chrgd n my ipod chrgd n its so cute!
teacha typz @ Triple Pundit sA "the people at Sanrio are introducing a concept into the worlds of our generation’s youth: renewables. The brands that already hold significance in young people’s lives are great vehicles to teach them about the environment and sustainability. However, whether this is a conscious effort by the makers of Hello Kitty to influence the way we consume products, or if this is a moment of clever PR work is hard to know for sure." WE dat means.
d nerds sA " I-Power is equipped with large 1200mAh Lithium battery. Also comes with LED to lighten up the environment, it is capable to provide the lighting for 48 hours straight." bt hu givs I wnt it::Triple Pundit...
It’s not just any old organization that can set a goal like this: protect 10% of every ecosystem type on Earth by 2015, effectively doubling the headway of the conservation movement over the last century. But The Nature Conservancy can. Acting president and CEO Stephanie Meeks chats with TreeHugger Radio about this and other mind-boggling commitments. It's no wonder they own the URL "nature.org." ::TreeHugger Radio
Listen to the podcast of this interview via iTunes, or just click here to listen, right-click to download. Click here for part one of our interview.
(Full text below.)...
Image courtesy of Mel B. via flickr
When questioned by the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works yesterday about the potential health risks posed by perchlorate, a chemical used in solid rocket fuel, Benjamin H. Grumbles, the EPA's assistant administrator for water, said: "We know that perchlorate can have an adverse effect and we're concerned about that."
Yet, when further pressed by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), who chairs the committee, on whether the agency would take action to limit the amount of perchlorate in water -- a no-brainer, you'd think, right? -- Grumbles answered that there was a "distinct possibility" (read: almost guaranteed) that it would not, reports the LAT's Marla Cone. ...
Technology Review has created a useful animated primer on regular hybrid cars, plug-in hybrids and 'extended-range' electric car. The latter is what the Chevy Volt will be; A plug-in hybrid, but unlike with regular hybrids and plug-in hybrids, the gasoline engine cannot turn the wheels directly. All it can do is charge the battery, which then powers electric motors that turn the wheels.
TR's animation shows operation of the vehicles both in charged conditions and when the battery is depleted. It's well-done and should answer the questions of those who are not familiar with the differences between these types of vehicles that are bound to become increasingly popular in the near future. You can see the animated primer here: ::Electric Cars Primer...
One of the major contributors to climate change is carbon dioxide (CO2). My colleague at Earth Policy Institute, Frances Moore, has been tracking CO2 emissions and recently released an Eco-Economy Indicator on CO2 emissions.
Check out the Earth Policy Institute data.
She writes that despite the unambiguous evidence that carbon dioxide is warming the planet, the growth in emissions is accelerating. "Emissions from the burning of fossil fuels stood at a record 8.38 gigatons of carbon (GtC) in 2006, 20 percent above the level in 2000. Emissions grew 3.1 percent a year between 2000 and 2006, more than twice the rate of growth during the 1990s. Carbon dioxide emissions have been growing steadily for 200 years, since fossil-fuel burning began on a large scale at the start of the Industrial Revolution."...
Engineers Malcolm Knapp and Heather Fleming of the San Francisco Chapter of Engineers without Borders helped design this $100 wind turbine. ( I also love her "club sandwiches, not seals" T) Wired reports that unlike the large-scale assemblies found in wind farms, the roughly two-foot-wide and three-foot-tall turbine has a vertical axis. McLean said that orientation worked better in the choppy conditions likely to meet the turbine out in the field, where it'll be bolted on to buildings, towers or even trees.
It will be built in Guatemala, designed to be a cheap replacement for the kerosene lamps that are a fire and health risk. Project leader Matt McLean says "We've had to simplify the way we were thinking and get rid of the idea that everything had to be as efficient as possible," such as using teflon plumbing tape. "It's normally used for sealing pipes," said McLean. "But it's a very low cost way of reducing friction." ::Wired via ::Materialicious...
Last week, three of the world's biggest oil companies reported record-breaking quarterly profits in excess of $27 billion. It's pretty hard to fathom that kind of money - but what is easier for the rest of us to see in real terms is also breaking records: the cost of a gallon of gas.
And of course as the gas prices skyrocket yet again, rather than getting the energy leadership our country really needs, we hear the same old calls to drill for more domestic oil - especially in some of our last wild places, like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Polar Bear Seas (the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas off the coast of Alaska)....
Smart electricity meters and real-time pricing are an important first step in modernizing our electrical grid. Right now it is pretty dumb in most places, charging the same rate during peak hour as in the middle of the night, with no way to reward those who make an effort to have better consumption patterns.
But that's slowly changing. An example of that is PPL's pilot program that offers to install "smart" power meters and alternative pricing methods to the traditional "average monthly rate" to residential customers, something that has been available for years to industrial clients.
"By signing up tens of millions of people like Brubaker to change patterns of electric usage, the companies expect the new power meters and time-based rates to help avoid blackouts, curb greenhouse gas emissions and beat back the immediate need to build expensive new power plants."...
It sounds tasty, but what "crispy noodles" is referring to here is (unfortunately) not a delicious dish -- but a new material that could both help cut carbon dioxide emissions and power the next generation of hydrogen vehicles. Developed by a team of chemists at the University of Manchester, this polymer, whose structure resembles that of crispy noodles, is currently being explored as a potential sequestration device to be installed on coal-fired power plants.
The £150,000 18-month study, led by materials chemist Peter Budd of the university's Organic Materials Innovation Center (OMIC), will investigate the use of this "polymer of intrinsic microporosity" (or PIM, for short) as part of a catalytic membrane system to trap and recover carbon dioxide -- a scheme similar to other membrane technologies we've coveredin the past....
Making Solar Power Competitive with Coal?
Sunrgi recently made an impressive claim at the National Energy Marketers Association’s 11th Annual Global Energy Forum in Washington, DC: They say that their system will soon be able to "produce electricity at a wholesale cost of 5 cents per kWh (kilowatt hour). [A] price competitive with the wholesale cost of producing electricity using fossil fuels and a fraction of the current cost of solar energy."
They do it with Xtreme Concentrated Photovoltaics (XCPV) by concentrating the Sun's light close to 2,000 times (!) into extremely efficient solar photovoltaic cells. Part of Sunrgi's patent-pending technology has to do with the cooling of the solar cells, dual-axis sun tracking, and the way the whole system is optimized for mass-production....
We'll be working on better category archives soon. In the meantime, take a look at the weekly archive if you really want to dig around, or use the search box at the top of the page.
TreeHugger breaks it down for you in a series of in depth how-to articles that will help you green your life. No time like the present!
![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.treehugger.com/nav-commenters.gif)
When I recently had the opportunity to interview Greensburg mother Sharon Schmidt she sounded tired but resolute. Much like you’d expect a mom who has been through a lot in the recent past, putting her own life back together while ensuring her son has the best possible experience as a high school junior despite the fact that their entire town has been rebuilding from a tornado that took it off the map.
Chart courtesy of 
When you’ve got a brand new music festival you’re putting together it’s really a great opportunity to think outside the box when it comes to greening the event. And this July, organizers of the ROTHBURY Festival in Rothbury, Michigan will do just that; offsetting the carbon footprint of folks enjoying acts like the Dave Matthews Band, Gov’t Mule, Snoop Dogg, and John Mayer in a novel way....
With gasoline prices rising so, we expect consumers to increasingly shop online to reduce their personal climate "footprint" and save money. Especially if the green products selection is good.
To explore this question a bit, we checked out the Amazon 
The average Canadian produces 22 tones of carbon dioxide each year - equal to the weight of about 4 large elephants. Doesn't everyone 
Image courtesy of NASA/MODIS
These photos, which vividly capture the scope of the tragedy that befell Myanmar (or Burma), were taken by NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), the Terra satellite's visual-infrared instrument. The U.N. estimates that over 1.5 million individuals may have been affected by Cyclone Nargis; over 100,000 are feared to be dead.
Via 
I mean I jst so wnt a hi Kitty sola Charger. It ltz me hlp save d world's NRG n hi Kitty fashiN! So w@ f it costs 2x as mch as a norml sola charger, it cn kip my ph chrgd n my ipod chrgd n its so cute!
teacha typz @ Triple Pundit sA "the people at Sanrio are introducing a concept into the worlds of our generation’s youth: renewables. The brands that already hold significance in young people’s lives are great vehicles to teach them about the environment and sustainability. However, whether this is a conscious effort by the makers of Hello Kitty to influence the way we consume products, or if this is a moment of clever PR work is hard to know for sure." WE dat means.
d nerds sA " I-Power is equipped with large 1200mAh Lithium battery. Also comes with LED to lighten up the environment, it is capable to provide the lighting for 48 hours straight." bt hu givs I wnt it
It’s not just any old organization that can set a goal like this: protect 10% of every ecosystem type on Earth by 2015, effectively doubling the headway of the conservation movement over the last century. But 
Image courtesy of 
Technology Review has created a useful animated primer on regular 
Engineers Malcolm Knapp and Heather Fleming of the San Francisco Chapter of Engineers without Borders helped design this $100 wind turbine. ( I also love her "club sandwiches, not seals" T) Wired reports that unlike the large-scale assemblies found in wind farms, the roughly two-foot-wide and three-foot-tall turbine has a vertical axis. McLean said that orientation worked better in the choppy conditions likely to meet the turbine out in the field, where it'll be bolted on to buildings, towers or even trees.
It will be built in Guatemala, designed to be a cheap replacement for the kerosene lamps that are a fire and health risk. Project leader Matt McLean says "We've had to simplify the way we were thinking and get rid of the idea that everything had to be as efficient as possible," such as using teflon plumbing tape. "It's normally used for sealing pipes," said McLean. "But it's a very low cost way of reducing friction."
Last week, three of the world's biggest oil companies reported record-breaking quarterly 
Smart electricity meters and real-time pricing are an important first step in modernizing our electrical grid. Right now it is pretty dumb in most places, charging the same rate during peak hour as in the middle of the night, with no way to reward those who make an effort to have better consumption patterns.
But that's slowly changing. An example of that is PPL's pilot program that offers to install "smart" power meters and alternative pricing methods to the traditional "average monthly rate" to residential customers, something that has been available for years to industrial clients.
"By signing up tens of millions of people like Brubaker to change patterns of electric usage, the companies expect the new power meters and time-based rates to help avoid blackouts, curb greenhouse gas emissions and beat back the immediate need to build expensive new power plants."...
It sounds tasty, but what "crispy noodles" is referring to here is (unfortunately) not a delicious dish -- but a 
Making Solar Power Competitive with Coal?
Sunrgi recently made an impressive claim at the National Energy Marketers Association’s 11th Annual Global Energy Forum in Washington, DC: They say that their system will soon be able to "produce electricity at a wholesale cost of 5 cents per kWh (kilowatt hour). [A] price competitive with the wholesale cost of producing electricity using fossil fuels and a fraction of the current cost of solar energy."
They do it with Xtreme Concentrated Photovoltaics (XCPV) by concentrating the Sun's light close to 2,000 times (!) into extremely efficient solar photovoltaic cells. Part of Sunrgi's patent-pending technology has to do with the cooling of the solar cells, dual-axis sun tracking, and the way the whole system is optimized for mass-production....
