Green Options » Rob Yunich

A Solar Community in Israel

Rob Yunich — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 20:17:08 +0000

Most likely, the world’s first solar community will be housed in one of the most politically-driven regions of the world.

Kibbutz Reim, located in the western portion of Israel’s Negev desert, will soon rely entirely on energy derived from the sun for domestic consumption. According to Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth’s YNet site, solar panels will be placed on the roofs of all 130 house in the community and produce electricity for the community. Excess energy will be sold to the Israel Electric Company.

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National Building Museum Explores ‘Green Community’

Rob Yunich — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 15:42:43 +0000

President Barack Obama’s environmental-friendly plans have gotten a lot of publicity, but there’s another green part of the nation’s capital that fits the bill.

The National Building Museum is featuring Green Community, an exhibit open through Oct. 25, that according to the museum’s Web site, “explores the origins of our precarious ecological situation and introduces communities large and small where citizens, political leaders, planning and design professionals, developers, and government agencies are working together for a more sustainable future.”

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Think Twice Before Painting

Rob Yunich — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 19:55:24 +0000

A part of the environmental debate that hasn’t gotten a lot of attention made the pages of the March 2009 issue of Consumer Reports and it’s sure to raise some eyebrows. The offender? Interior paint.

A moment of pause should occur before you decide you head to the store and start thinking about changing the color of their dwelling’s walls. According to eartheasy.com, “indoor air is three times more polluted than outdoor air, and according to the [U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)], is considered to be one of the top-five hazards to human health. Paints and finishes are among the leading causes.”

The offending toxin in paints are called Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), organic chemical compounds that have high enough vapor pressures under normal conditions to significantly vaporize and enter the atmosphere. The EPA lists possible symptoms as eye, nose, and throat irritation; headaches, loss of coordination, nausea; damage to liver, kidney, and central nervous system.

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Buffet: ‘No Magic Bullet’ on Credit System

Rob Yunich — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 21:24:29 +0000

In a wide-ranging interview with “Nightly Business Report” on Jan. 22, Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett addressed the economy, credit crisis, government stimulus bills, the Madoff scandal and his own investing strategy.

“Well we’ve had to get the credit system partially fixed in order for the economy to have a chance of starting to turn around. But there’s no magic bullet on this,” he said. “They’re going to throw everything from the government they can in. As I said, the Treasury is going all in, the Fed and they have to and that isn’t necessarily going to produce anything dramatic in the short term at all. Over time the American economy is going to work fine.”

Several times during the interview, Buffet spoke about devoting every resource to fixing the economy.

“All you know is you throw everything at it and whether it’s more effective if you’re fighting a fire to be concentrating the water flow on this part or that part. You’re going to use every weapon you have in fighting it. And people, they do not know exactly what the effects are,” he said. “Economists like to talk about it, but in the end they’ve been very, very wrong and most of them in recent years on this. We don’t know the perfect answers on it.”
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Nuclear Power Debate Heats Up California

Rob Yunich — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 18:00:25 +0000

California’s nickname of the Golden State couldn’t be more apropos than with its leadership on energy. PBS recently devoted an entire episode of “Nova” to the subject of “The Big Energy Gamble” about California.

“It is leading the United States, and quite frankly, even though the bulk of the United States is behind the developed world, I think California in many respects is partially leading the world,” newly-confirmed U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu said in an interview for the special. “It’s wonderful to be director of a major research lab that wants to work on this energy problem in a state that is so receptive to this work.”

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Obama Focuses on Wind, Solar Energy

Rob Yunich — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 19:06:40 +0000

President-elect Barack Obama spent part of his Jan. 8 speech at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., discussing alternative energy, specifically doubling production over the next three years.

“We will modernize more than 75 [percent] of federal buildings and improve the energy efficiency of two million American homes, saving consumers and taxpayers billions on our energy bills,” Obama said, according to his change.gov Web site. “In the process, we will put Americans to work in new jobs that pay well and can’t be outsourced – jobs building solar panels and wind turbines; constructing fuel-efficient cars and buildings; and developing the new energy technologies that will lead to even more jobs, more savings, and a cleaner, safer planet in the bargain.”

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Are Biofuel-Powered Jets Next?

Rob Yunich — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 05:46:51 +0000

Even though gas prices have declined recently, there’s still no magical environment-friendly solution to the ongoing oil crisis. However, some progress has been made recently — and it has nothing to do with hybrid cars.

On Wednesday, Jan. 7, Continental Airlines tested a new brand of bio-fuel that is the airline industry’s first step in combating the extremely high cost of jet fuel. According to the airline, the bio-fuel blend includes components derived from algae and jatropha plants. Even before the nascent technology test, the Houston-based airline had shown a commitment to the environment by making an effort to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions throughout its fleet. The Continental flight is one of three currently being conducted.

And, according to a New York Times article, “In theory, people in the industry say, replacing petroleum in airplanes could be easier than replacing it in cars.”

This is certainly a concept that could gain some wings, so to speak.

Image Credit: Martin Rottler at Flickr under a Creative Commons license