These are so awesome! Rooftop wind turbines would make clean energy affordable for homeowners. The production grant from the government wasn’t that much money. I can’t wait to see this get moving!
Click the picture to start the rooftop wind turbine video. Check out GreenEnergyTV for other great technology videos.
Thursday is Bike to Work Day, so get on those 2-wheelers and get pedaling.
Actually, it’s Bike to Work Week, so any day will be great!
I know Crocs aren’t the cutest things, but they are so comfortable.
When your crocs are worn out, you can recycle them through Soles United. Your Crocs will be melted down and made into new shoes which get sent to places around the world where people can’t afford shoes.
Nike also has a shoe recycling program called “Let Me Play: Reuse-A-Shoe.” Worn out shoes - any brand! - are processed and made into playing fields, courts, tracks, and playgrounds.
Since the birth of Reuse-A-Shoe, we’ve recycled more than 20 million pairs of athletic shoes and created more than 250 sport surfaces; giving thousands of young people access to new playgrounds and athletic facilities around the world.
Here’s a math problem. I’ve been thinking about how efficiently my vehicles get me to work. Here we go…
My husband and I have a Honda Civic Hybrid, a Suzuki Grand Vitara, and a Genuine Buddy scooter. Gas will cost $4 soon, so we’ll just say $4.00 is the price of gas. This is how far we can go on one gallon of gas:
Civic - 42 miles
Suzuki - 16 miles
Buddy - 98 miles
My daily commute is 8 miles, so I can drive to work this many days for $4.00:
Civic - about 5
Suzuki - 2
Buddy - 12
Essentially, I can drive to work 2 days in the Suzuki for $4, or I can fill up the Buddy for $4 and drive to work 12 times. (My husband takes the Civic now, since I take the Buddy.)
I drive to work about 20 times per month, which costs $40 in the Suzuki, and about $8 in the Buddy.
A monthly bus pass costs $50 - for endless miles around Akron!
What’s your families’ car math?
If you get mom some flowers for Mother’s Day, look for Fair Trade Certified flowers, or flowers that are sustainably grown.
Buying Fair Trade and sustainably grown flowers ensures that all of Mother Earth’s creatures are treated well. Most flower workers are women (or children) and buying Fair Trade certified means that the workers are paid a living wage, and their working environment is healthy and safe.
VeriFlora sells certified sustainably grown flowers. You’re likely to find VeriFlora at your local grocery store. Make the right choice for your mom, and the workers who picked her flowers.
Visit FairTradeCertifiedFlowers to learn about the workers who pick the flowers, the farmers who grow them, and where to buy.
A bunch of thoughts from my head…
My favorite blog, Planet Green, changed its layout and I don’t really like it. Plus, the first few posts I read on there were “brought to you by Wal-Mart.” While I can see that Wal-Mart is coming around, I still don’t want my environmental news and conservation suggestions brought to me by a multinational corporation.
My cats go crazy when we play audio on the laptop. It makes me wonder if there’s something going on in the background that I can’t hear. Is it harmful? Or, do they like it? Does anyone else have this problem?
The busiest post on this blog is “Build your own electric car.” “Electric car,” or some form of it, is the search term that brings the most people here. I hope this blog is helpful, or at least guides you toward some help in converting your car, if that’s what you’re looking for. It also tells me that a lot of people want an electric car. The big automakers are busy creating fuel cells, or hydrogen cars, or natural gas cars, or gas-electric hybrids. Consumers want simplicity. We want to plug our car in to the wall (which hopefully will soon have electricity generated by solar or wind power). It’s pretty simple. The other technologies that they’re concentrating on will require a new fueling infrastructure. Keep It Simple Stupid.
My mind is on Burma lately, for a few reasons. I know many people from Burma, and they are so happy and sweet. Their country is being ravaged by bad government, and now a cyclone. I also learned that Chevron is not exactly helpful in the situation. If we need another reason to get off oil, it’s to protect the human rights of the people who process oil, and who live near the pipelines. Oil is dirty. For us, it’s great because we pull up to the gas station and it just comes out. There’s a human story in the background that cannot be ignored.
WordPress, where this blog is hosted, added a new feature that I like. The bottom of each post will have 3 or 4 links to other blogs with posts of a similar topic. If you want more information, or a different perspective, you can follow those links.
I’ll have some more relevant discussions soon.
World Fair Trade Day is May 10, and NE Ohio is celebrating! A World Fair Trade Fashion Show is being held in Independence from 5-8. The event is sponsored by the InterReligious Task Force on Central America (IRTF), and by Catholic Schools for Peace and Justice.
Expect a fantastic fashion show, speakers, poetry slam, food, energetic tables, and loads of information on how you can buy fair trade products.
Saturday, May 10 5-8pm
Independence Civic Center
6363 Selig Drive
In Akron, you can find Fair Trade goodies at the Market Path, Brueggers Bagels (coffee), Hattie’s Cafe (near UA).
I must confess, I bought something new. I’ve been pretty good about “buy nothing new,” but when I saw this thing last year, I knew I had to have it. It’s a Genuine Buddy 125cc scooter. Looks kind of like a Vespa, at 1/2 the price. It gets about 100 mpg, and it just makes so much sense. I got my Buddy at Pride of Cleveland Scooters. (the one pictured isn’t mine) They now have two stores for more convenience.
When you think about the price of gas, and the concept of a 4-wheeled car, it just doesn’t add up. We’re paying for gas to move a 1,000 (or 2,000) pound car, to move a 100-200 pound person. The gas we pay for doesn’t move us, it moves 1,500 lbs (approx). That process is so inefficient. And, most of the time, the 5-person car is occupied by 1 person, who drives less than 20 miles a day to work and home. This is one area where technology innovation has not kept up with lifestyle.
Enter… the scooter. It’s a 1 person car, driven by one person. It weighs about 200 lbs, and carries my 120 lb person to work at back, 8 miles a day. That makes sense. The gas I buy moves 350 lbs.
Plus, it’s fun to drive. I can smell the flowers, and see everything. The wind freaks me out a little, but other than that, I can’t wait to get back on the scooter! It’s a quicker ride to work, and I can always find a parking space. The benefits are endless.
I looked for electric, or diesel scooters, but couldn’t find anything practical. (to survive Akron traffic, you have to go at least 45mph) After buying the gas scooter, I’ve seen a few electric conversions that people are doing themselves. This guy built his from forklift parts. What ingenuity!
The best is an electric bicycle! You can pedal sometimes, and when you’re tired, or it’s too hilly, the electric motor kicks in to get you through it. I love that idea! (it looks pricey, but some bike enthusiasts pay more than that for just the frame)
Overall, the good news is that there are options! We can have a 1 person car, or a 5 person car, or an electric car, or a scooter or an electric bike. Whatever suits our lifestyle and our needs. We just need to invest a little research and find one that fits.
Take 30 seconds and do the test in this video. You’ll see why later…
I hope everyone passes this test! I didn’t.
Get the best gas mileage you can by hypermiling. Hypermiling was created a few years ago, and it’s a driving style that attempts to reduce wasted energy and make your car as efficient as possible. Wayne Gerdes coined the term hypermiling, and he has achieved 84 mpg from a Ford Ranger, and 180 mpg from a Honda Insight.
Here are a few less-intense hypermiler things you can do:
If you’re ready to go all the way to hypermiler status, check out this forum (about 1/2 way down the page) on cleanmpg.com. It includes tips like “Potential Parking” - parking at the highest point of the parking lot so you can coast downhill when you leave. Another tip is to drive to the side and behind of a semi-trailer, so you reduce your wind drag. Forbes Autos points out 10 tips to save gas.
While research and development is being done on renewable energy for our vehicles, some people are going to great lengths to reduce their fuel consumption. I find the easiest techniques to be the ones I highlighted above - no idle, go the speed limit, don’t brake so much.
Media Update: Sherrod Brown Press Release
Tiffin Advertiser-Tribune
I was fortunate enough to be included on a lunchtime conference call with Senator Sherrod Brown, who was announcing his new comprehensive energy bill. Senator Brown has participated in a series of “green” energy roundtables across Ohio. Anyone in Ohio knows that we have the potential to utilize our manufacturing base, and our educated workforce to create renewable energy. We can be the “Silicon Valley of Alternative Energy.” I’ve summarized his speech, and his answers to the press questions below.
Summary
Senator Brown introduced the Green Energy Production Act as a jobs bill, an energy bill, and an environment bill. Its purpose is to turn research into products, and put people to work in production of renewable energy technology. Our economic future depends on our ability to move to renewable alternative energy. If we take this step, we’ll attain the global leadership that America is accustomed to. This will would utilize the potential of this state, and other manufacturing states to expand businesses like solar & wind entrepreneurs.
Currently, Germans lead the world in solar technology because they made a decision to invest in it years ago. China is investing in wind production technology (building windturbines to sell to other countries)
While we’re debating whether to punch more holes in the ground, the rest of the world is passing us by.
This bill would encourage the commercialization of renewable products. There are too many great ideas left on drawing board or produced overseas because America hasn’t invested in renewable technology yet. Ohio would benefit from this because we have the potential. Our green energy manufacturing future should build on our manufacturing past.
The bill creates a Green Markets Program, and a Green Redevelopment Opportunity and Workforce program. It seeks to explore as many ideas and inventions as possible, and to encourage internships and apprecticeships to help our students learn the critical skills to meet the demand of the renewable energy future.
There is an efficiency grant program which would match energy companies dollar for dollar to develop renewable energy and to encourage energy savings. Currently, coal-based energy companies have an incentive to misinform the public about the benefits of solar and wind. This bill would help energy companies develop clean technology, so they don’t go bankrupt, but they can do the right thing for the environment.
Senator Brown said we need to build green energy here. It’s inevitable. Importing renewable energy technology like we do oil doesn’t need to be inevitable. It’s not in our country’s best interest.
Essentially, this bill will create good-paying jobs here at home.
Questions…
Funding… over 5 years. This is a $36 billion bill, which incorporates a gradual increase ($1 billion the first year, $5 the next, and then $10 billion the following 3 years). It will make grants & proposals available. Some money comes from climate change legislation, which may include carbon credits.
We currently give oil companies $18 billion in subsidies per year. Perhaps some of that money could be used to fund the bill that creates jobs here in America and makes us energy independent. That idea would make it hard to gain the support of some Republicans, because they like to call the removal of oil subsidies a tax hike. Oil companies are the most profitable they’ve every been, and are more profitable than any other American company. We also spend billions of dollars in Iraq.
The bill creates an “investment corporation” to take it out of political process. There will be 7 members on the board, appointed by the president, confirmed by senate. Eligibility is based on criteria in the bill, which emphasizes business, labor, environment, and manufacturing.
Senator Brown doesn’t support the Lieberman-Warner climate change bill, and he doesn’t think it will pass. (I honestly don’t know much about the bill b/c I’m out of politics, much to my delight) Brown’s Green Energy Production Act is not an amendment to a climate change bill. This bill stands alone.
Is clean coal or nuclear included? No. This is about solar, wind, fuel cells and other new tech. “Clean coal” and nuclear power are not called “green” energy by most because of their harmful byproducts. They are not renewable sources.
Ethanol is not specifically mentioned in this legislation. As we look at food prices, Brown said, more technology will be developed to create energy from renewables other than food, such as restaurant waste.
What are the chances of it passing in this cycle? This bill is so different and innovative that it will take a long time to pass, so he is entering it into the public debate this week. It has potential. There are two other energy bills left to be debated this term.
This bill will get economic development off the ground by building solar panels, fuel cells, wind turbines, etc. Not necessarily producing the energy, but producing the technology. (The solar panels at Oberlin College came from Germany. They should come from Ohio.)
This bill gives me a little hope that, if we can get something like this started, we can swing ourselves out of the recession. We need green jobs, green manufacturing, and renewable energy that is inexpensive for the consumer. We can achieve this by producing the technology here at home. It’s the responsible thing to do.
While we certainly don’t need to be wasting any more water, here is a cool invention that I’ve recently stumbled upon… a water clock. This clock runs strictly on water. No batteries or electricity needed. The water lasts months. Just add a little bit of water, and you will have a clock, thermostat, countdown, and alarm!
I am fascinated by this, so I mentioned it with great enthusiasm to my husband, the history teacher, and he told me, nonchalantly, that some of the earliest clocks were water clocks. What?! I never knew about this! Here’s a little background…
It’s possible that the earliest water clock was made in China around 4000BC. They were mostly used for “astronomical and astrological reasons.” They functioned in coordination with sundials. Clocks weren’t essential until the Industrial Revolution, when people had to keep track of their time for wages.
Through the centuries, water clocks were used for timing lawyer’s speeches during a trial, labors of prostitutes, night watches of guards, sermons and Masses in church, to name only a few.
I guess you learn something new every day.
I think this would make a great gift. It looks cool and doesn’t require any energy! (the one pictured is just a clock. click here for the multi-function version)
Most people save greeting cards because they treasure the gesture behind them. RecycledIdeas has created greeting cards that you can plant in your garden! These greeting cards are really special because you can plant them in your garden, and remember the sentiment every time you smell the flowers! They will grow all sorts of beautiful flowers or herbs. There is a whole range of sprouting paper products at her Etsy store.
If you need something more professional, check out these Sprouting Business Cards.
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