“Some of the nation’s largest oil companies will over the next 30 years have to pay to clean up groundwater befouled with gasoline additive MTBE. In settling a suit brought by 153 public water providers in 17 states, a dozen companies — including BP, Shell, ConocoPhillips, and Chevron — will also have to pay a total $423 million cash.”

Thought #1: Finally!
Thought #2: 30 years! How about 3? And how about shipping clean water to homes in the affected areas in the mean time?
The article goes on to state that the estimated cost of the cleanup is $30 billion…
Thought #3: Why $423 million then?! I’m taking that same logic with me next time I fill up my car. “What, the cost is $4 a gallon? I’ll pay $1.50.”
It also mentioned that Exxon Mobile (among others) did not agree to settle…
Cartoon #1: Big Oil’s Mess? It MTBE, It Could Be, It Is!
And,
Thought #4: How can 17 states worth of contaminated groundwater even be cleaned up?
That’s when discovered that a few University of Aberdeen researchers have found that a whiskey bi-product may just do the trick.

The whiskey DRAM (Device for the Remediation and Attenuation of Multiple pollutants) was announced in early March. This article from the University of Aberdeen does not explain how it will work, but does explain the following:

The DRAM technology is different to current remediation techniques in a number of ways:
It is the first technology that can remove metal contaminants at the same time as degrading organic pollutants such as pesticides. No intervention is required to apply it to contaminated sites as it can use existing infrastructure and remain in place unobtrusively for years.

Now for getting this technology on the market.

The University of Aberdeen researchers – Dr Graeme Paton, Professor Ken Killham and Dr Leigh Cassidy – are considering forming a spinout company to commercialise the technology that could be licensed to land consultants and other companies involved in remediation.

Terrific. I hope this stuff goes as well as planned. If so, we may be able to clean this MTBE mess up quicker than the allotted 30 years and maybe even for the minimal sum of $423 million.

More articles on the whiskey Dram:

BBC news–”Dram ‘helps clean contamination’ “
The Telegraph–”Whiskey bi-product helps clean contamination”

More on the MTBE cleanup settlement:

NY Times–”Oil Giants to Settle Water Suit”

Photo credit: http://blogs.jsonline.com

Especially if that mess is the gasoline additive MTBE, a possible carcinogen that has leaked into our groundwater. It’s been around since 1979 (ironically, when I was in kindergarten) and is now banned in 23 states, and has not been used by oil companies since 2006.

For more on the 423 million dollar law suit requiring Big Oil to pay big money, check out this article in Grist–after you take a peek my cartoon, of course…

Hate rising gas prices? Ride your bike! In cities like Copenhagen and Amsterdam they seem to outnumber cars. Portland and Chicago are catching up. People of all ages, all over the world ride them daily to school, work, the store, a friend’s house…

It’s THE #1 solution to rising gas prices, yet our fearless leader won’t even mention it.

Stupid, weak, bicycle lobbying groups…

“Which means more people seeing that living a simple, conscious life is more cool and rewarding than having a McMansion and a Hummer or II.”

You can play a part in their success by calling or e-mailing your favorite papers and tell them about the strip and the web site.

For my interview with Brad Gilchrist…

What are your backgrounds?
   
I started working with my brother, Guy, directly out of high school, helping him write an educational comic book for The Weekly Reader Group. While doing that, I met Mort Walker who introduced Guy and I to King Features Syndicate, who was looking for someone (or sometwo) to create a new Muppets Comic Strip. SOMEHOW, Guy and I got the job and worked with Jim Henson and his creative staff for 5 years on the comic. During “The Muppets” I got married and enjoyed my most important success, a fantastic, supportive wife named Beth. From 1986- 1992, I did free lance, wrote some books for Looney Tunes and tried selling my own comics unsuccessfully. To make ends meet I did landscaping, tiling and drove a snack food truck – then I came up with an idea for a creative Family activity program called “Together Time.” It was a monthly package with a magazine (stories, information, trivia, games and craft instructions) plus all the materials you need to make the crafts. It was a box that you could open up and make things, read, color a big calendar. . . And spend Together Time with you kids or grandkids. It was a fairly nice success and got me back into writing and drawing.  In the late 90’s Guy approached me on the idea of trying out for the Nancy comic, which he learned was looking for a new creator. I wrote it, Guy drew it and we got the job.  While it was a real challenge to write in Ernie Bushmiller style- it was great to get back into syndication and be back on the comics page.    We’ve been doing it for about 11 years now, and I’m starting to back off of the writing and Guy’s taking that over, so I can work full time on The Green House and Shades Of Green, the once a week version of The Green House.

When and why did you start this line of cartoons?

One of my unsuccessful comic ideas was called “Down To Earth” and was about a cartoonist who created a comic strip about a Superhero Earthworm.  I’ve always been into green ideas, although back then, I think it was just “ecology and environmentalism.”  The ideas seemed easy to come by for me. “Write what you know. . .”  I also liked the idea of spinning off the Superhero Earthworm, “Wormy,” into a children’s educational comic strip once “Down To Earth” got rolling.

I worked on this for a year or so by myself, then tried collaborating with my friend (and illustrator), Mark Brewer. It wasn’t quite working out for either of us and I put it aside for a few years while working on Nancy. In 2000, Mark and I went to New York for the Annual Reuben Awards, the Academy Awards for cartoonists. Mark introduced me to a friend of his, Peter Menice and Peter and I hit it off. He also loved tiling and getting into the earth and all the green, wonderful stuff I love.

Out of the blue, about 6 months after meeting Peter, I got out my old “Down To Earth” roughs, and thought I’d send them over to Peter to see if he wanted to help me resurrect the idea. That same day, Peter called me, also out of the blue, to ask me about some licensing issues. He was on his way home to Boston for a vacation- and I drove up there and met his family and talked about the comic. We both knew it was a perfect match for us- and we started working on it. After about 2 years, and several versions of the strip later- after getting rejections from all of the major syndicates, we decided to rethink our approach and came up with The Green House.  In The Green House Todd Green (the cartoonist) will eventually get the idea of creating a comic for kids about a Superhero Earthworm. It will tie in with a side story of one of our critter characters, Wormy and his dreams of becoming a superhero for the environment.  

We sent The Green House to all the syndicates who were interested, but already had “green-themed” comics in the works, so we decided to create our own green syndicate, Core Productions. We’re moving along slowly but steadily and really doing what we love- now we just have to get into a bunch of newspapers, sell online subscriptions and make money.
  
What are your goals for the cartoon?

Let’s see. . . We’d like to be in 500+ papers and really reaching the public with a comic that has a positive message on the environment and being more socially, globally, locally and personally conscious.  We think that showing a young couple living a greener life is an important way of making a subtle difference in the world- along with the eventual goal of teaching kids about being green with Earthworm comics. It’s what Peter and I love to do, so it’s really gratifying to be able to illustrate our concerns in a way that utilizes or talents. By saying that we want to be in 500+ papers- that’s just a dream number that in the comic industry means you’re a major force. To get there would mean that Peter and I would be making a comfortable living, allowing us to do more to spread our message. . . Which means more people seeing that living a simple, conscious life is more cool and rewarding than having a McMansion and a Hummer or II. We have dreams of an educational green “compound” where we create and teach and share ideas with kids and adults. So, if anyone can help us get some more newspapers, we’d really appreciate it! Just call or e-mail your favorite papers and tell them about the strip and the web site.  We’re also trying to reach audiences with a greener form of comic reading- sending the strips to your daily by (cheap!) subscription or 3 times a week (free!) via e-mail. Basically, anything we can do to share our work. Sorry for the shameless plug. . . Sort of.
  
How do you plan on reaching out to the mainstream public (instead of preaching to the choir–as well all find ourselves doing most often)?

Oh, I kind of covered that one in my previous answer. . . But there may be another side of the question- focusing more on “preaching.”  When we first started sending the strips out on the internet, we got back a lot of. . . I’ll call them “activist” e-mails, telling us what a great vehicle we had here to inform and educate.

Well. . . That got us thinking that we really needed to focus on NOT preaching. Our focus has always been to educate by entertaining- sharing ideas and illustrating what we perceive as a conscious lifestyle. The strip is about a young couple, Pam who’s very well educated and focused on green issues. She’s a vegan, yoga instructor and special ed teacher. Todd on the other hand is a combination of me and Peter- a little goofy, wrapped up in music and drawing and trying to be a better, greener person. He eats junk food, loves baseball,  Springsteen and drawing. . . And he’s sort of a kid in a new world, trying his best to learn.

We also have a secondary group of characters who live in a landfill/ transfer station. The group is comprised of Link, a leftist blogger rat, Mantis, a sensei and objective voice of reason, and Wormy, a kid who wants to learn everything. Naturally, Wormy is well connected to the Earth and he starts to dream of doing great things to help it be a better and healthier place. So, he gets most of his information from two interesting sources and keeps dreaming. Eventually, he does become a superhero for the planet.  

So, in a nutshell, Peter and I want to entertain first and let the details of our work and storylines creep out into the public psyche-  Subtle but steady, positive messages. There are plenty of very talented bloggers (you for one) to take up the daily concerns, education and activism. We’ll do our part personally, but not obviously in The Green House.
  
Who are your art and environmental heroes?

Charles Schulz (Peanuts), George Herriman (of Krazy Kat), Dik Browne (Hagar), Walt Kelly (Pogo), Norman Rockwell, Jim Henson and many others.
Environmentally. . . Rachel Carson got me interested in the environment back in 6th grade. “The Sea Around Us” was required reading for a cool science class I had called, Ecology. Then we read this book about two goldfish, Buck and Roe who got dumped into a pond or stream and had to deal with all kinds of issues. I’ve never been able to find that book or what the name of it was, but as a younger guy, it hit the mark for me. Of course, Walt Whitman, John Muir, Thoreau, Ansel Adams, and Gifford Pinchot have become inspirational as I’ve gotten old enough to understand them. Currently, and quite seriously, I’m inspired daily by the people who contact me about the Green House and link me to their work. I’m developing a nice network of people who I see as heroes for many important causes. They are truly inspirational. The Hollywood and Music stars get a lot of notoriety, but they are essentially the popular faces for all the amazing people who started getting their hands dirty and giving of themselves to help others. Oh, put Bob Geldorf on the hero list.
  
Anything extra you’d like to add?

Just that I’m really honored by the attention and great feedback we’ve gotten on our work from really amazing people. The trappings and conventional thinking of the comic syndication world was slightly depressing- but also served as motivation to just do what we thought was a good comic strip, be true to ourselves and see what happens. What’s happening is that we’re being read by all kinds of people and reaching them. Believing in your work can be difficult at times, but seeing the response we’re getting and the connections we’re making is amazing.

Thanks Brad! And continued success!

Thanks!

picture credit: www.greenhousecomics.com

I wasn’t too bummed, because as I alluded to earlier, it did open my eyes to Mana and their Selva Negra Foundation, and Missy Higgins and her carbon neutral tour. The article also highlighted the other things their top ten green bands, or “Green Ten”, are doing to share their music and their ideals. Like, The Roots giving away autographed compost bins, or Radiohead’s desire to travel only when needed, and to partner with Best Foot Forward when they do, or Serj Tankian’s Sky Is Over website, or a whole fleet of biodiesel buses, etc… (I’ll let you read the article for more).

I was also happy that Billboard did leave out one of Jack’s most important “green” features, so that I could be left with a little writing of my own…


As great as it is that there are recycled paper CD covers and biodiesel buses, we cannot create true worldwide change without organized organizing. Without linking a bunch of little individual movements together we remain isolated and much less able to make a meaningful difference. As a result, Jack and Kim Johnson (with operational support from Music Matters, and technical support from Oniracom) created the All at Once Community. Their tagline reads: “An individual action, multiplied by millions, creates global change.”

Jacob Tell, Vice President and Creative Lead of Oniracom and Oniric Records shared some background with me this afternoon:

Jack’s song “All At Once” is the ethos surrounding the concept of this online social networking site. Music Matters has been good to work with - they are behind the logistics and operations, whereas Jack and Kim are the architects of the general idea. It’s like an environmental myspace. The goal is to provoke environmental education and communication. We’ve been involved on most decisions from a technical perspective, allowing our online marketing experience to mature within the realm of All At Once. It’s been great to be a part of. We’re excited to watch the community continue to grow.

They are linking a growing list of environmental non-profits together with a large number of individuals to create what will hopefully become one large voice for change. View the video explaining their vision here. And remember, “An individual action, multiplied by millions, creates global change”, so start changing…

…the world!

For more on what Jack Johnson is doing to green up the world check out his “greening” page.

photo credit: www.jackjohnsonmusic.com

There’s great info in this Treehugger article by our very own Jeff McIntire-Strasburg, and the NRDC has created polarbearSOS.org so you can get involved and stay informed about the reality of climate change as it relates to the polar bear.

Life as they once new it, is ending. And they never had the opportunity to see it coming…

This Earth Day let’s break it all down and see things for what they are.

Our world is in a state of climate chaos as a result of our conveniences. This CleanTechnica blog is an opportunity to see what is being done worldwide in the realm of clean technology (ie. renewable energy, alternative fuels, sustainable products and services etc…) so that we can keep these conveniences.

That’s terrific–I’m glad it is being done, but this Earth Day I’d like to say–F your conveniences!

Here are 22 (since it’s April 22nd) things you can do daily that are inconvenient but we would all benefit greatly if everyone did them. And, to be honest–they’re not that inconvenient. They may in fact be just inconvenient enough that when you do them you get the rewarding feeling that you are doing something to benefit the greater good (i.e. earth, and its many earthlings) besides simply donating to a charity once a year during the holiday season.

I know we live in a country full of citizens more excited that Starbucks has a drive-thru than Toyota has a Prius, and will not be truly satisfied until Starbucks has a video camera mounted a mile from its store so it can read your license plate to anticipate your arrival and have your drink ready for you by the time you get there. Then all you’d have to do is slow down enough for the “barista” to throw your “coffee” into your car as you rolled by with your window down. After all, complete stops are for suckers! I digress…

Those people are out there in large numbers–and they are probably not reading this blog, so it’s up to you to send it to them because these 22 inconveniences can change the world.

This list is pared down from the original 78 I started with. Instead of overwhelming you (as much as I’m in an “I’d love to overwhelm the world” mood right now) I whittled my original list down to its current state. Also, I am hoping people will add to my list through the comments section (at least one please!) and we’ll end up with a list even better and (dare I dream) more overwhelming than my original 78!
Here we go:
1. Buy a rain barrel. You can’t drink the collected water, but you can water your lawn and wash your car with it. You’ll save thousands of gallons per year in the process!
2. Turn off your TV!!! At least limit your TV watching!
3. Drive less. Walk, bike, skip, skate, and stroll, more. This way you can get some fresh air while running an errand, and you’ll feel (and look) better in the long run.
4. Use natural fertilizers on your lawn and garden. Harsh chemicals found in conventional fertilizers are bad for your lawn and all who play on it. Also, it harms our groundwater supply.
5. Replace old bulbs with CFL’s and/or LED’s.
6. Compost. Keep your food scraps separate from your garbage to reduce your waste and to keep any household plants or vegetables extra healthy.
7. Recycle. By recycling and buying products made from recycled goods we save natural resources AND put less toxic chemicals into our food chain.
8. Shop less. C’mon, you don’t really need it anyway. But if you HAVE to shop at least shop sustainably.
9. BYO shopping bag. When you NEED (not want) to shop, use your own bag–you’ll save trees and keep harmful chemicals (from making plastic bags) out of the environment.
10. Use a low-flow showerhead. You’ll save a lot of water. May I also suggest showering less and showering with a friend? Yes I may.
11. Use power strips. By plugging many appliances (e.g. your computer and printer and scanner and stereo) into a power strip you can turn off everything with a flick of the button. This will save on energy consumption, because even when things are turned off they still suck small amounts of energy (see: phantom loads).
12. Turn off everything (except your lover). Power strip or not, turn off (or unplug) things when not in use. Turn on your lover in the meantime. After all, the more you’re in bed; the less you’re watching TV, driving somewhere, shopping, etc…
13. Buy local food. It’s good to know where your food comes from. And it’s great to know it traveled 5 miles rather than 500 or 5,000 to get to your table.
14. Buy organic. Pesticides and fertilizers deplete and poison our soil, and our food is ONLY AS GOOD AS THE SOIL IT GROWS IN!
15. Junk junk mail. Start here.
16. Start a vegetable garden. You’ll appreciate food, soil, nature, and compost so much more!
17. Spend time outdoors! And bring your friends and family with you!
18. Take Action! Pay attention to legislation that will benefit the environment, and write your representatives to persuade them to support the environment as well. Collectively we are stronger than ANY lobbying interest!
19. Use your windows first, HVAC second (if at all). Use your blinds to let in or keep out heat. Save the heating or AC for extreme cold or hot weather. And you don’t need it as low or high as you think, so set it two degrees warmer in the summer and 2 degrees colder in the winter.
20. Use natural (plant-based) cleaning products. It cleans as well AND keeps harmful chemicals out of our houses and out of our drains, thereby keeping the chemicals out of our environment.
21. Say no to bottled water! Use your own re-usable bottle. The plastic in our environment and the chemicals from creating the plastic will wreak havoc for generations to come.
22. Talk to people. Don’t be a nag and don’t brag, but let it be known that you do certain things for the good of the environment. People love to follow the leader. Be the leader. But if it’s too late, then be the follower–this time it’s OK!

By the way the “F” in “F your conveniences” stands for “Forget”. What did you think it stood for???

Let me end this post with a great quote from Mr. Mark Twain:

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

(photo credit: livegreencincinatti.com)

This weekend, a few months after my trip to Chicago, I was returning some books to my local library. They have a “free magazine” rack near the door so I stopped and grabbed a gardening magazine and a few National Geographics from 2007. When I got home I began flipping through the October 2007 National Geographic which highlights the pros and cons of ethanol (for more read this post from Gas 2.0), and there on the page right after the table of contents was an Ameriprise Financial article about the place I walked past in Bucktown a few months earlier. It is the home of Frank and Lisa Mauceri and their record company Smog Veil Records.


Turns out, it is also the first LEED for Homes gold certified home in Illinois (8th in the country)! Receiving such a lofty status is no easy feat. The steps to LEED certification included: re-using reclaimed wood from the pre-existing roof, adding two wind turbines, a solar array, a roof garden, and 15 geothermal wells.

On top of that, 80% of the waste from the renovation was recycled by Chicago’s Recycling Services Incorporated. Of course, the record company, housed under the same wonderful green roof, is going to follow suit. They plan to publish a “green report” that will give stats on how the various energy features in the building are performing. Smog Veil also intends to phase out paper use in marketing materials, relying instead on computer downloads to serve the same purpose.

Little did I know when I walked past that Bucktown building a few months ago that it had so much greatness blooming inside and above. And to find it all out in a free magazine I took from the library this weekend made this blog almost as fun as a trip to Map Room.

All of the clean technolgy involved in the renovation of this home/office more than allows me to post this on our Cleantechnica blog, and I hope Frank and Lisa drop in and check out the post. But they may be bummed to find that the name Cleantechnica, and the url Cleantechnica.com is already taken.

It would’ve been a great Smog Veil Records band name.



Image Credit: Chicago Tribune and Michael Tercha.

Even in this economic down turn, oil companies are still making record profits!

Is it sad that I dream of a day when we are exploited by the renewable energy industry?

General Customer Inquiry-A summary of the key information you have provided. If this
data was incomplete or partial, we provided a solution based upon what was available at the
time the plan was created.

Your Property Satellite Map-We use mapping software to isolate the property, primarily
for facing orientation, rooftop design, trees or other obstructions and land footprint. If this
was a new property, this is the approximate location. Again, several variables enter into a
final solution. A site inspection ultimately is the best methodology to finalize these
variables. The map is normally oriented as north-facing.

Solar Information-Baseline solar data is important because on any given day the solar
radiation varies continuously from sun-up to sundown and depends on cloud cover, sun
position, and content of the atmosphere. Peak sun hours is defined as the equivalent
number of hours per day that gives the same energy received from sunrise to sundown.
Many more variables impact the electrical output of Photovoltaic cells, but this provides a
useful benchmark for investment and payback analysis.

Proposed Solutions and Estimated Project Pricing-Based on your input, we
have chosen a solution with estimated pricing for equipment and installation. If you did not
provide a budget number, this output can be used as benchmark. Most or our systems are
scalable, meaning we can increase or decrease modules to meet your criteria. Part of the
Next Steps section will be to close the gap between this estimate and your final,
recommended solution.

Incentives-There are dramatic differences in the tax incentives, state and local rebates,
grants, and cash rewards for the adoption of modern energy. These laws are constantly in
flux. This section will provide current information on these topics, plus information about
Net Metering laws and Interconnection status. We will help you to understand how to
interpret these variables. In the Project Assumption section, some (but not all) of the
prevailing Incentives are included.

Next Steps-As you review your Modern Energy Plan, many questions remain
unanswered. A final solution and estimate can only be created after a qualified installer
conducts an “on-site visit.” From this visit, a final quotation/contract will be prepared for your review and action.

Afterall, with a purchase this important, you’d better be prepared. Well done SNI!

For more on the Modern Energy Plan read Jeff McIntire-Strasburg’s Sustainablog post from December ‘07.

(Photo of Sage Homebuilders’ NZEH home compliments of SNI)

Other motivation for this cartoon comes from the historical (and current) treatment of native Americans, and this unsourced quote from MAD Magazine: “The suburbs are where they cut down all the trees and then name the streets after them!”

“Clean” Coal is a joke — so this cartoon pretty much writes itself…

Bikes in Cleantechnica!?
Of course! Isn’t the goal to consume less non-renewable energy? Just because we’re doing so with the good old bike doesn’t mean it is not worthy of the technology title–especially with the advances in bike technology highlighted below. And although I’ve long agreed with this quote from author Elizabeth West, “Progress should have stopped when man invented the bicycle,” I am glad that–at least in the bike world–it did not.
After the break, I’ve highlighted my four favorite advances in the bike world. For the record, it pained me not to include Fat Tire–but that’s more of an advancement in the beer world (as well as an advancement in my world).

Beer
The Pedal Pub, originating in The Netherlands, has made the long overseas trip to the states–the Twin Cities of Minnesota to be exact. Maxing out at 5mph and seating 16 people, the PedalPub is a human powered travelling pub! The sixteen passengers sit belly-to-the-bar (ten pedal and six get a free ride) while the driver, a PedalPub employee, does the steering. This ensures that after a long pub crawl (or ride) the PedalPub is still on the right side of the road. The only downfall is that you can’t have a beer while pedaling in a public area. You can however, enjoy a beer while parked on the premises of a drinking establishment. And the PedalPub makes sure to stop off at a number of establishments along its various routes. Check out this video of the PedalPub in action, courtesy of YouTube.
Water
Winner of Specialized and Google’s “Innovate or Die” competition, the Aquaduct is an easy way to transport potable water from it’s source to your home: but this bi-cycle has bi-features! As the water is being transported home it is also being filtered when it passes from the storage tank to the clean tank via perastaltic pump. As they say on their informative, short video on YouTube: “the Aquaduct will allow families in developing countries to have daily access to clean water all by harnessing the energy of pedal power.”
Big
The only carbon spewed from this SUV of bikes is that which comes outta yer mouth. The Xtracycle is an extra long bicycle great for transporting brats, brides, bags, and boards, as well as a wide array of things that start with other letters. Their website offers the potential customer the option to turn their existing bike into an Xtracycle or buy an SUB of their own. They also sell some great accessories and have an informative FAQ page–Check ‘em out!
Small
Last, and definitely least in the world of biketechnica, is the Suitcase Bicycle. If the movie Transformers was less about war and more about peace, this puppy would’ve been the star. I shall dub it the Optimus Prime of the bike world! The name and this animated video on YouTube pretty much say it all. Enjoy!
And happy cycling!!!

Got a forklift, 25G, and a desire to live wherever you want? Then the PowerCube from Reluminati is for you! Actually, with its ability to deliver 600-watts of continuous energy, the weight (1 ton) and the cost are the only two negative things I can say about it.

Now, if the PowerCube and, say R2D2, were to have a baby—then, goodbye forklift—it’d have leg-like appendages with wheels, giving it the ability to transport itself. Also, the cost would be justified if said offspring had R2’s sweet demeanor (and his ability to stop trash compactors from crushing people–like he did for Luke Skywalker in Star Wars Episode 4!). I think people would pay $25,000 for a cute, trusty sidekick that can power a home when needed. But, until R2D2 and the PowerCube create such a lovely little love-child, I will focus on the great qualities that the PowerCube actually possesses.

• Houses three 200 watt solar panels with the ability to put out 600W of electricity
• Has six 200 amp hour batteries
• It’s portable. Bring it to a remote tropical island and live like a modern day Swiss Family Robinson.
• Completely water tight (unlike R2D2)
• Ready to use the minute it leaves the factory
• No heat, noise, or emissions
• Excellent warranties on all of the PowerCube parts
• Can be used on-grid or off-grid

Optional

• Six additional batteries
• 35-foot telescoping wind turbine—for MORE power!
• WiMAX-compatible satellite uplink for wireless internet (so you can read Cleantechnica from anywhere!)

Another plus about the PowerCube is that when people are given a fixed amount of anything (in this case electricity) they tend to pay attention to how they use it. Focusing on needs vs. wants, this creates an important lesson in energy use, ie. I need to turn on the computer to do some work vs. I want to turn on the computer to see the Cubs score. Anytime we are made aware of our patterns of consumption we become more responsible consumers. A world full of responsible consumers-of-electricity would do more good than a million PowerCubes (no math involved in that proclamation)…

…even with R2D2-like features.

Photo credit: R2D2 courtesy of Discovery Channel.

John Walke, the Clean Air director for the National Resources Defense Council, called the intervention an “unprecedented and unlawful act of political interference”.

With all due respect Mr. Walke, after the past 7 years unprecedented and unlawful moves seem to be the norm.

For more on this read Thank You Bush for Weakening Smog Limits.

And spread the word. Just because he only has a year left in office doesn’t mean he should be ignored!

The website was created by the California Urban Water Conservation Council under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. They’ve covered everything! For example, in the ‘Home Tour’ section alone they have indoor information on The Bathroom, Kitchen, Laundry, Garage, and Basement and outdoor information on Landscaping, Pool and Spa, Patio, and The Water Meter. To give you further insight on the depth of this site, if you click on the link to the kitchen (which is an illustration looking very much like a Hanna/Barbera cartoon) you are given info and tips regarding: Faucet, Dishwasher, Home Water Treatment, Hot Water on Demand, and Greywater and/or Dual Water Systems.

This site’s information on home water saving is seemingly all-encompassing. Take in to account that the site also offers a resources tab with links to other helpful sites and informative books, and a newsletter covering latest trends; this site is the one-stop-shop for all things water conservation. It’s also very user-friendly and aesthetically pleasing. I’m convinced the tips and technology highlighted will do a lot to make a difference in the area of water conservation–so, fellow water lovers, spread the word to friends and family.

Afterall, we’re all between 45 and 75 percent water.

Of course, we greenies would love a presidential candidate that took a strong-handed, common sense approach to addressing the myriad of environmental issues facing the planet, and did so with the energy and intensity it deserves.

We don’t.

But we do have these three…

…two democratic candidates with a pretty solid-for-a-presidential-candidate focus on the environment. And one Republican with a pretty-good-for-a-Republican (read: still quite bad) focus on green issues.

For more on the green leanings of the 3 candidates read Jennifer Lance’s recent post here.

In the Netherlands, at the Delft University of Technology, a traditional windmill is being tested to drive seawater through a reverse-osmosis membrane, thus directly producing freshwater from seawater. On their website, www.drinkingwiththewind.nl they share the following:

On the basis of the windmill’s capacity at varying wind speeds, it is estimated that it will produce 5 to 10 m3 (1,321-2,642 U.S. gallons) of fresh water per day: enough drinking water for a small village of 500 inhabitants. A water reservoir will have to ensure that enough water is available for a calm period lasting up to five days.

This prototype, along with the SeaWater Greenhouse mentioned in my previous post on desalination, is important because the current desalination plants being built use massive amounts of electricity to desalinate seawater. This requires more power plants to be built, in turn, creating more air pollution, which creates more water pollution, which further limits our freshwater supply, which creates more of a need for freshwater, which spawns more desalination plants, which….you see where I’m going. My point is, if more smart solutions like the windmill at Delft and the Seawater Greenhouse, are utilized to address the groing need for freshwater, people find themselves in an environmental win-win; creating fresh, clean water while using little or no energy, and creating little or no pollution, in the process.

To the team at Drinking with the Wind, Dank je wel (thank you)!

Steps to use less water:

• Turn off the water while you wash your face/hands, brush your teeth, or do the dishes.
• Water your lawn in the early morning or early evening so as not to lose water to evaporation.
• Plant drought resistant plants on your property–they thrive on less water.
• Use a rain barrel to capture rainwater for use in watering your lawn and garden.
• Purchase low-flow showerheads.
• Replace a broken toilet with a low-flow toilet.
• Insulate your water heater so it takes less time (uses less water) to get hot water for a shower.

Image source: Delft University of Technology

ECO2 Plastics

Why I Wanted to Sob

In getting info for this article I found out what ECO2 CEO Rod Rougelot calls “recycling’s dirty little secret.” During the process of recycling plastic, tons of water is wasted during cleaning. This water is not your ordinary run-of-the-watermill water, however. A variety of harmful acids and detergents are added to the water to clean the contaminants, glue, and labels off the plastic. Deflocculants are then added to pull the solids out of the wastewater. Finally, (and this is a very general explanation of the process) the wastewater is treated to balance the pH level of the water. This is done through the use of more chemicals. End result: one, sanitized plastic ready to be recycled; two, a cocktail of harmful, detergents, chemicals, acids, bases, deflocculants, and contaminants headed down the drain and back into our fresh water supply (approximately 40 million gallons per year to be–approximately–exact). When I verbalized my feelings of being hoodwinked, Rougelot quickly pointed out that, although a dirty, wasteful process, it is still better than creating plastic from scratch. Thanks for the verbal tissue Rod. Goodbye, for now, tears!

ECO2 to the Rescue!

After years in the recycling biz, building about a half-dozen water-based recycling plants, ECO2 founder Gary DeLaurentiis thought there had to be a better way. After all, recycling is for the good of the planet, so there had to be a “green” way to do a “green” thing (while saving and earning some “green” in the meantime). That’s when DeLaurentiis, along with Honeywell, co-invented a patent which uses a biodegradable organic solvent made of sugar beets and corn (in conjunction with liquid CO2) to decontaminate the recycled plastic. In the entire process (get ready to boogaloo), no water or harmful chemicals are used, and the liquid CO2 is distilled and used over and over again, as is the solvent. Now that’s the type of environmental impact that I always imagined recycling to have. And, make no mistake, without having to use immense amounts of water, chemicals and whatever else, ECO2 saves a good amount of money in the process, thus making it a solid business model able to compete in the world wide market.

With one plant in the San Francisco area, and more in the works, ECO2 is leading a recycling revolution. Rougelot believes this should “change plastic recycling all over the world.” I am inclined to agree. Let’s hope he’s right.

With a passionate DeLaurentiis and his hardworking supporting cast pushing ECO2 into the mainstream—there’s no reason to believe otherwise…so keep dancing!

A Dose of Irony

More and more people all over the world are drinking bottled water because of the real and imagined threats of tap water. Yet, the process of creating the plastic for the water bottles, along with the old (read: current, or non-ECO2) way of recycling are two of the leading contributors that make our drinking water less drinkable…

sip on that.