Archive for July, 2009
Cheap Flights and Climate Change – Do We Want Too Much?
July 31st, 2009 | 
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Cheap Flights and Climate Change – Do We Want Too Much?
What can be done about this increasingly worrying contribution to global warming?
The most important options to reduce aircraft CO2 emissions are:
Changes in aircraft and engine technology; use of alternative fuels, such as (sustainably produced) biofuels; regulatory and operational measures such as improvements in air traffic management; economic measures such as inclusion of aircraft emissions in emission trading schemes.
But, as Giovanni Bisignani, manager of International Air Transport Association (IATA), stated: “Emissions trading schemes only make sense with efficient infrastructure. The IPCC estimates that there is 12% inefficiency in air traffic management globally: we produce up to 73 million tonnes of carbon emissions each year by aircraft flying inefficiently due to air traffic management limitations”. **
On a personal level we could ask ourselves especially in the developed world: “Do we really need to fly so frequently?” The use of telework, teleconference and video conference could be largely increased to plan work and meetings. Can’t the development of land and air transportation infrastructures be balanced better according to the real needs of people and businesses? Trains could connect cities better and more cheaply for example in Europe, where the prices are not competitive with those of many flights anymore (and night train services have been reduced if not cancelled).
Life styles do matter because if millions of people want to have cheap weekends in relatively close tourist locations, many flights are needed to satisfy their desires and consequently a lot of pollution is generated. Also, our per capita emissions could be cut also by reducing the “surplus” trips, by slowing down our life rhythms and enjoying more local attractions in our free time. Who knows? We could discover the “exotic” in our own neighborhoods without flying to the Caribbean Sea…
Furthermore the relationship between the costs and the environmental externalities (i.e. costs not included in the economy like health damages caused by pollution) needs to be considered as well: there are higher marginal impacts for short-distance flights that should be considered in prices paid by passengers.
All these political, technological and personal choices are some of the good examples needed by the developing countries to follow the 21st century’s Western society along a new sustainable path which looks like the only good alternative forward.
**”Talks to reduce aircraft global-warming emissions
For further information on Climate Change please visit the Responding to Climate Change website – http://www.rtcc.org
First Solar: How Crucial Are Costs? – Environmental Capital – WSJ
First Solar had great earnings, but investors are spooked by a narrowing cost gap with rivals. Is there room for everyone at the solar banquet?
Clark Energy Inks Deal for Largest DoD Solar Project …
The US Army Corps of Engineers has selected Clark Energy Group, an affiliate of Clark Realty Capital, to develop the largest solar power project in the Department of Defense (DoD) at Fort Irwin, California.
First Solar Turns In Awesome Q2 (FSLR)
In February, First Solar Chairman and CEO Michael J. Ahearn Ahearn warned that the meltdown in the banking industry put some of its customers under financial stress, sapping their ability to pay for solar. …
Suntrica SolarStrap Portable Solar Charger
Solar power is very handy to use as generally you can get power for your devices anywhere that you have the sun as a light source. Most are quite bulky (in.
Xcel to Solar Users: Pay Up! – Environmental Capital – WSJ
Should clean-energy customers have to pick up the tab for the rest of the power grid?
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When Sea Levels Rise
When Sea Levels Rise
It is no new scientific fact that there is a slow steady increase of temperature; we’ve been studying and recording changes for a few decades. For some reason people are only now starting to take notice of how desperate the situation is.
Due to the increased temperature, sea levels are on the rise. It now is easier for boats full of scientists to access the Northwest Passage for research due to the polar icecaps melting . Areas that were once almost unreachable are now becoming navigational and the search for precious gems, gold, and oil is on! There is no end to mans greed.It makes sense that when the sea levels rise the ground surfaces slowly disappear. We will lose our agriculture farmlands. There may not be enough food needed to sustain ourselves, let alone other countries that we already support. Many farmers will lose their farms and their lifestyle.
Should sea levels on the rise be a worry about freshwater? Our drinking water is not a luxury it is a necessity and is as important for people, plants, and animals. The possible damage to freshwater due to rising sea levels should be a major worry to all of us.
For hundreds of years polar bears have been the king of the Arctic ice and roamed over vast areas of icy tundra. But with the icecaps melting away, and the distance between ice flows becoming greater, many polar bears have drowned from exhaustion before reaching shore. It also makes hunting their primary source of food, the seal, more difficult. Dying of hunger is now a probable fate for many of them.
The total extinction of many of the world’s beloved land animals may be just around the bend due to rising sea levels.
Show some concern about the environment and save money at the same time by searching for eco friendly products from sites like http://www.EnergySavingProject.com.
The author is a specialist in environment, energy efficiency and renewable energy.
Green Opportunities News Story, Employment News
Have You Got Earthday Business on Your Mind?
Have You Got Earthday Business on Your Mind?
The sun is shining across the hills of West Cork as I listen to the story of Earthday told by a team of evangelists with nothing but Earthday business on their minds. In 2008, visionary Simon Ford started a group to bring like-minded, positive people together in socially conscious activities. He called the group Social Traffic and right now that group has Earthday business on its mind.
The group’s first major campaign centers around Earth Day with an event named, Earthday Birthday a global birthday party for Mother Earth. Earthday 2009 and the celebrations that will go with it is all set to clamor its way across the social media landscape like some all embracing vine, covering the sometimes harsh elements of the online world with a softer, greener facade which many hope will last for more than a lifetime.
Earthday 2009 is a global celebration and a day to spread awareness of people’s destructive impact on the planet. But before you jump right in there and start changing the world on a massive scale here’s a few simple things you can do to make a difference right now, tomorrow and every single day after that.
Here’s my list of top five things to do to celebrate Earthday 2009 and reduce your impact on our planet;
1. Plant a tree or two. If you’re feeling energetic plant a whole field full.
A tree will absorb CO2 and other forms of pollution, provide a home to hundreds of creatures, help to create and retain soil and performs a whole host of other ecological functions. And, in case you needed a reminder, will leave a lasting legacy of your time on the planet.
2. Walk to work for a day, a week or a whole month. You’ll feel better and the earth will be a much healthier place to live too.
You might even want to think about joining a car sharing scheme and make it a permanent part of your work life balance to drive to work only one day a week and sleep the other four in the passenger seat while someone else does all the hard work!
3. Dry your dishes naturally. Turn off the dishwasher at the dryer stage of the cycle and leave your plates and cutlery to dry themselves for a change!
4. Turn off all your plug sockets before bed. Maybe spend the evening in the dark for one day a week and treat the kids to a few ghost stories before bedtime!
5. Don’t be a water importer.
Get rid of your supply of bottled water, keep a jug of fresh tap water in the fridge and reduce the damage we do to the environment by producing plastic bottles to hold gallons of mineral water that tastes no different to the clear, fresh water that is piped through your home.
So, if you’ve got business on your mind this Earthday, perhaps you should take a few minutes to look around you and realise how precious our planet is and how beautiful that small piece of turf is right outside your window.
If you want to know more about this subject and how you can make a difference take a look at this great squidoo lens all about Earth Day Birthday right now.
Neil Ashworth is a member of Simon Ford’s Social Traffic Team who are raising awareness of environmental issues using the power of social media marketing to support the Earth Day Birthday campaign.
Bears are groaning and bulls are nervous… at least they should be. The recent US-led rally is overdone, from both fundamental and technical perspectives. Is solar power right for you? Google helps you find out If you’ve ever thought about how much money you’d save on your electricity bill by installing solar power, but didn’t want to go through the hassle of getting an estimate, here’s an easy solution to find out on your own. … Inside the year's 2nd largest solar round | Cleantech Group Suniva CEO sheds some light on the cost-per-watt of its silicon solar cells, revealing that today’s $75M Series C actually closed in Q2, the sector’s worst quarter in three years. Sonoma Project Features Large Solar Array « Data Center Knowledge Sonoma Mountain Village is dedicating 1 megawatt of solar power to a data center project at its Rohnert Park, Calif. campus, which is being designed as a sustainable mixed-use community. Two different solar energy cell techniques from Israel – Physics … 3G’s “dye-sensitized” solar cells use titanium dioxide (more familiar as a pigment used in white paints) and complicated dye molecules that contain a metal called ruthenium. When one of the dye molecules is hit by light of sufficient …Your Green Life Segment Of Sun Light
BBC World News America
Silicon Valley is known for both innovation and hype. Recently, this pool of innovation has extended beyond bandwidth to the protection the environment. Google and Yahoo, the search engine giants, are both headquartered in the Valley and have been making headlines by greening their offices, reducing energy consumption, and carbon trading. The PR motivations are obvious, but are the green benefits really there? To set apart the hype from reality, we have analyzed the green value of both Google and Yahoo’s headquarter facilities. We looked at the ecological services provided by green landscape features such as trees and open space (i.e. grass). Grass and trees are pervious surfaces, meaning they allow water to permeate into the ground. Roofs, sidewalks, patios, and asphalt parking lots are examples of impervious surfaces, where rainwater drains into the public storm drains. Heavy metals, oil, and other pollutants are carried off parking lots in rainwater, which often lead directly to open water habitats, where fish, birds, and reptiles live. In terms of ecological services, trees and grass have been proven to: 1. Remove and store carbon from the atmosphere, 2. Remove certain airborne pollutants, 3. Permits rainwater to seep into the ground as opposed to draining into the stormdrains, and 4. Remove certain waterborne pollutants. Here is a look at how green Google and Yahoo really are and how the measure up against each other. Google Green Report Yahoo Green Report The final green analysis? Google kicks Yahoo’s butt, largely due to the forethought, or luxury, of the Googleplex having 50% of its property surface providing green services. The good news for both Google and Yahoo is that over time, as trees grow, so will the tree’s canopy and mass, thus storing more carbon and removing more air pollutants. Green next steps for both Google and Yahoo is to: While we crunched the hard numbers to settle the Google vs. Yahoo green debate, this report illuminates the great opportunity that awaits these two Silicon Valley giants to harness the ecological services of green surfaces. Chris Erichsen is a GIS Mapping consultant with the Erichsen Group, GIS and Mapping in northern California. He has over 10 yrs of GIS experience and helps many industries around the world apply GIS mapping technology. Learn more examples of GIS mapping capabilities.
BBC World News America
Google Vs Yahoo – Who’s Greener?
Google’s headquarters, the Googleplex, covers 44 acres, nearly 50% of which is grass or tree canopy. This is an impressive paved to open space ratio. The grass and trees on the Googleplex remove roughly 2 tons of carbon from the atmosphere per year, or 0.04 tons per year per acre. In addition, 530 lbs. of air pollution are removed per year (e.g., ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter), or 12 lbs. per year per acre. It was assumed that the parking lot of the Googleplex is asphalt, and not a type of porous pavement, so the cost of managing rainfall runoff from the Googleplex is $4,474 per year, or $103 per year per acre. The abundance of grass and tree canopy on the Googleplex go a long way to offset the water quality impacts of the paved surfaces (mainly the parking lot). On average, the grass and trees reduce water pollution by 6%, as opposed to the entire property being paved.
The Yahoo headquarters, Yahooplex, covers 28 acres, a third of which is grass or tree canopy. This is a classic ratio of paved to open space for large office complexes in California. So far, par for the course. The Yahooplex removes 0.36 tons of carbon from the atmosphere per year, or 0.01 tons per year per acre. 114 lbs. of air pollutants are removed per year, or 4 lbs. per year per acre. In terms of rainfall, the cost associated with runoff is $9,219 per year, or $331 per year per acre. The grass and tree canopy help offset the paved areas with a 2.3% reduction in water pollution as opposed to the entire property being paved.
Advanced Solar Energy Technology
If you have not given up plastic bag for your own reusable bags yet, no worries, you can still make a difference! Recycle them! How? Well, there are many ways you can recycle plastic bags. We have listed a few to get you started. Use your imagination! 21 Ideas for Recycling Plastic bags: * for filler when sending packages or when you want to store fragile items. * use old plastic bags for liners in your bathroom or office trash can. * to pick pet waste. * use them as baby bib. * arts and crafts. (off site link) * reuse plastic bags over and over when you grocery shop. * store wet bathing suits in them when at the pool or beach. * dispose of dirty diapers when out and about. * put hubbies lunch in them instead of a lunchbox. * litter box liners. * use plastic bags instead of Ziploc bags when possible. * store holiday items in them. * as a cap when giving yourself a hot oil treatment. * make a kite with your kids. * as a toiletry bag when traveling. * shred and cut them to make plastic bag confetti. * use them as gloves when cleaning. * have your kids put them over their shoes when playing in the snow to keep shoes dry. * cut them in to big squares and let your children finger paint with them. (under supervision, of course) * send them to the recycle bin at your neighborhood grocery store. * or…avoid using plastic bags all together and REALLY make a difference! This is just small list to get you started. There are MANY ways that you can recycle and reuse plastic bags. You can also Google “recycle plastic bag ideas” and you will find tons more! Copyright © Green Christian Network, All Rights Reserved About the Author: Cindy Taylor is a Christian stay at home Mom who love the Lord and cares about God’s planet. You can see her passion and writing at her website, Green Christian Network (http://greenchristiannetwork.com).
Advanced Solar Energy Technology
Recycle Your (Green Tip) Plastic Bags