Save and Conserve

In Rollingstone magazine's recent 40th anniversary issue, Bob Dylan was interviewed by Jann Wenner. Dylan is always full of poignant insight, and the two had the following exchange:

Wenner: It [global warming] seems a pretty frightening outlook.

Dylan: I think what you're driving at, though, is we expect politicians to solve all our problems. I don't expect politicians to solve anybody's problems.

Wenner: Who is going to solve them?

Dylan: Our own selves. We've got to take the world by the horns and solve our own problems. The world owes us nothing, each and every one of us, the world owes us not one single thing. Politicians or whoever.

Dylan's right, of course. The people out there who think "they" will come up with a hydrogen powered auto fleet are people who expect someone else to solve their own problems. The people out there who think "the oil companies" conspire to raise gasoline prices feel entitled to $1.00 per gallon gasoline - even though they drive gas guzzlers that get 14 miles per gallon. The bigger problem is that we're not even aware that our mode of living here in America is a problem. Until we accept that fundamental truth, there won't be any taking the world by the horns to solve problems. First step: get out of denial.

Posted by tom c. at 4:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The American Institute of Architects announced the top 10 green buildings in 2007 winners recently.

The 2007 COTE Top Ten Green Projects program celebrates projects that are the result of a thoroughly integrated approach to architecture, natural systems, and technology They make a positive contribution to their communities, improve comfort for building occupants, and reduce environmental impacts through strategies such as reuse of existing structures, connection to transit systems, low-impact and regenerative site development, energy and water conservation, use of sustainable or renewable construction materials, and design that improves indoor air quality.

Visit the link above to read a detailed description of each project. A few neat examples follow below:

• Solar chimneys with south-facing glass are designed for passive ventilation, operating without additional energy. Sunlight heats air within the glass chimney tops, creating a convection current which draws cooler air into the building through north facing open windows.
• The 30,000 square foot green roof with glazed bubbles floods the facilities below with daylight.
• There is a 2.4KW PV array above the roof. This array acts as a shade canopy at the roof stair access. The PV array was designed to provide 60-75% of the homes energy usage.
• A copper roof acts as the "engine" that triggers a thermo-syphon, radiating heat from the sun into a ceiling plenum. The heated air begins to rise and is exhausted through "chimneys" on the building's north face. This hot, exhausting stream of air is continuously replenished with 100% fresh outside air that is routed across occupied space from a vented under-floor plenum.

Posted by tom c. at 4:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The American Wind Energy Association released some wind power-related stats a couple of weeks back. Some really good information on that page, including a list of the 5 largest wind farms ranked by productive capacity (in MegaWatts - MW). Note: there are 1,000,000 Watts in one MegaWatt.

Here's the list, from one to 5:

1. Horse Hollow, TX (736 MW) ... The Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center is comprised of 291 GE 1.5 megawatt wind turbines and 130 Siemens 2.3 megawatt wind turbines spread over nearly 47,000 acres in Taylor and Nolan County, Texas. Horse Hollow also happens to be the world's largest operating wind farm as of this writing.
   source
2. Maple Ridge, NY (322 MW) ... This site consists of approximately 12,000 acres of hilltop pasture and feed-crop land at an average elevation of 1600-1800 feet. Tug Hill is an ancient geologic formation that lies just downwind of the eastern shore of Lake Ontario, separated from the Adirondacks to the east by the Black River Valley. At a maximum elevation of 2000 feet above sea level, the Tug Hill plateau experiences strong lake-effect weather patterns and has long been known for its exceptional wind resource.
   source
   View a tour of the Maple Ridge wind farm over at YouTube
3. Stateline, OR & WA (300 MW) ... The Stateline Wind Energy Center is located on Vansycle Ridge,a crest of land straddling the Washington–Oregon border, near Touchet, WA and Pendleton, OR. The ridge catches winds from the Columbia Gorge, which average 16 to 18 mph. A total of 454 turbines are currently operating in both states. On average the project is expected to receive enough wind to deliver 30 to 35 percent of its peak capacity year–round—enough power for about 72,000 Northwest homes.
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4. King Mountain, TX (281 MW) ... This site is located on a mesa in Upton County, West Texas. The 214 wind turbines connect to the grid network via four 85MVA primary substations.
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   214 turbines sited in rows along the southeastern and northwestern edges of a mesa (a tabletop mountain) surrounded by deep ravines. Typical turbine spacing 2.5 D. The longest row holds 56 turbines. Dust, sand and high temperatures place extraordinary demands on the wind turbines. Consequently, the design was modified for the desert-like conditions, providing additional cooling and protection against wind-blown sand.
   source
5. Sweetwater, TX (264 MW)

Posted by tom c. at 11:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This is a post that aggregates online reviews and comments about the Solio Solar Charger (shown in the picture to the right). I have been looking for a small solar charger device that I could use to charge my iPod or cell phone, and since the Solio kept popping up in my searches, I have decided to pull together reviews and comments from several websites. Thought I'd share what I have found ...

TreeHugger - 4 out of 5 Hugs - Comments:

• It works
• Took 7 hours of sunlight to charge an iPod
• Simple to operate
• Difficult to attach to a backpack during hikes
• Difficult to position the charger perpendicular to sun’s rays

CNet - 8 out of 10 (Rated Excellent) - Comments:

• Compact design
• Does not balance on its side when open
• Adapters fit most Motorola, Nokia & Samsung phones
• Sony Ericssons are not supported
• 8 – 10 hours of charge time required
• Charging takes longer on cloudy days (Editor's note: duh!)
• Suction cup included for attaching to a window

MyMac - 4 out of 5 - Comments:

• 500 - 1000 charge cycles until you will need to replace the Solio internal battery
• 2 flashes (of the Solio charge light) would charge a (iPod) mini and a 20GB, 4 flashes should charge a 40GB and 60GB iPods
• Solio is weather resistant
• Use a damp cloth to clean the Solio
• The red “being charged” light goes away when the Solio is fully charged

Sustain Lane - 4 out of 5 - Comments:

• I love telling people that I have a Solar-powered cell phone!
• One of the best features is that it holds the charge so if you are off camping in the rain with no sun in sight, you can still use the solar powered Solio to charge your devices

Retailing for around $90, the Solio seems like a solid choice for the gadget-head with a conscience. You should also check out the comments at Amazon because there are some negative reviews posted there. I've come to take the Amazon user reviews with a grain of salt because it seems like people get really over-heated on that site.

If you have any experience with the Solio, please leave a comment right here.

Posted by tom c. at 4:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Per Boston.com, there is a new book that ranks the 50 bigggest American cities in terms of "green-ness" ... also known as the amount of its electricity that is generated using renewable sources of power. Information about the book and - presumably - ways to purchase the book can be found at HowGreenIsYourCity.com.

Unfortunately, the full ranking of the cities does not seem to be available online. However, the Boston.com piece included a few nuggets:

Boston ranks high among US cities when it comes to using renewable energy, the only East Coast city to make the top 10, according to a new study. Oakland, Calif., topped the list, with 17 percent of its municipal electricity drawn from renewable energy sources. Boston ranked fourth on the list, with 8.6 percent of its electricity coming from renewable energy sources. Three California cities tied for second place on the list - Sacramento, San Francisco, and San Jose, which all got 12 percent of their municipal electricity from renewable sources. Other non-West Coast cities to make the top 10 list included Austin, Texas; Minneapolis; and Chicago.

Update: Renewable Energy Access provides more stats on the top 10; I updated the table below.

So the top 10 looks like:

1. Oakland, CA - 17% renewable
2. Sacramento/San Francisco/San Jose, CA - 12%
3. Portland, OR - 10%
4. Boston, MA - 8.6%
5. San Diego, CA - 8%
6. Austin, TX - 6%
7. Los Angeles, CA - 5%
8. Minneapolis, MN - 5%
9. Seattle, WA - 3.5%
10. Chicago, IL - 3%

Source: SustainLane U.S. City Rankings data 2006/2007



Posted by tom c. at 5:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

US gasoline stocks are currently near the bottom of the 5 year average range. Stocks should be rebounding over the next two months before the high-demand summer season. Should be very interesting to see the next point the red line lands at. If the next point is not pointing the line higher, we could be looking at very high gas prices in summer 2007. Just look at the demand so far this year:

Source

Posted by tom c. at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bankrate.com has released the results of a survey of current American homeowners on the topic of mortgages.

The stunning news: over one third of the homeowners surveyed have no idea what kind of mortgage they have.

Surely the mortgage market has become much more complex in the past five years, but can anyone honestly blame the mortgage vultures companies for the coming lending bloodbath? Please. This survey is a super-sad read. Confidence in my fellow Americans continues to scrape along the bottom of the barrel.

Sure, there is a sucker born every day ... but purchasing a house is considered one of the most important financial decisions of your life. To fully understand the details and implications of conducting this transaction would seem to be a prerequisite to signing on the dotted line. The fact that so many people have no idea what type of mortgage they have - let alone what it means to have that type of mortgage - says it all.

The no clue, no responsibility binge is ending. Let's hope the politicians don't make us all pay for the actions perpetrated by these idiots.

Posted by tom c. at 12:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)