A Finnish company, AW-Energy, recently signed a $4.4 million (€3 million) contract with the European Union (EU) to implement WaveRoller (wave energy) technology in Portuguese waters. This looks interesting. The location for the project is near a town deemed to be “capital of the waves.”
Yesterday, marking the 100-day countdown to the world-changing climate change conference in Copenhagen, Greenpeace presented beautiful ice sculptures in China and India to “to symbolise the ‘disappearing future‘ for the 1.3 billion people in Asia at risk of water shortage as a result of climate change” and “to show ‘the world washed away’ by glacial melts. They also engaged in several other creative demonstrations around the world to encourage climate action in Copenhagen in December.
In 2002 the Coca-Cola Company used 3.12 liters of water to produce every liter of poduct. The company, which has captured the taste buds of drinkers worldwide used .57 megajoules of energy and averaged 12.54 grams of waste per liter of product. It’s no wonder that the Coke Kingdom has been less than popular among environmental groups.
Diepenbeek, Belgium - On June 2, 2009, 365-Energy announced that the Katholieke High School of Limburg (KHLim) will begin deploying ChargePoint(TM) Network charging stations from the infrastructure manufacturer Coulomb Technologies as part of the first European Clean Mobility Center in Belgium.
Coulomb’s international partner 365-Energy will provide the charging stations and manage the ChargePoint Network for subscribers.
KHLim produces its own green energy through wind, heat and solar as part of its CO2 neutral area. The ChargePoint charge stations will be connected to KHLim’s own power grid, which will supply the necessary energy.
What was a “look, cool: wild yeast-fermented beer!” afterthought to my post on sustainable brewing has met an indignant commenter crowd who found my two-sentence description rightfully vague and careless. And so, as penance suggested by commenter koelschip, here is a complete guide to making lambic beer. Whether you are an old Belgian couple who ferments outside or a homebrewing web user with closed wild yeast inoculations in your basement, I think we can all agree that sour beer is delicious. And the greenness isn’t so bad either: reclaimed oak barrels, energy-free inoculation and all natural ingredients (provided you don’t start with the sham fruit syrups and packaged yeast…) contribute to its carbon-reduced diet.
For purists, this is a must. Only in the Senne valley of Belgium can the brewer encounter the true wild yeasts of lambic beers which contain the essential bacterias, Bretanomyces bruxellensis and B. lambicus. In fact, to move to Belgium is the only way to enjoy an authentic lambic experience without compromising the eco-friendliness of the endeavor with trans-Atlantic shipping.
A lambic wort is traditionally comprised of 60-70% barley malt and 30-40% unmalted wheat.
Editor’s note: Leather hasn’t come under quite the scrutiny of other animal products like fur, but our friends at Life Goggles ask a good question today: should an environmentalist wear the stuff? To answer the question, LG blogger Adam interviews Katleen Baum of georgette, a Belgian store that specializes in “animal friendly footwear.” This post was originally published on Thursday, May 8, 2008.
Katleen Baum and her twin sister Liesbet run georgette, an online and real world shop in Antwerp which specializes in animal friendly footwear. The website is a delight. Handily written in English, you navigate with a flea circus and clicking on a link can give you a nice surprise. Oh, and the shoes are great too. Katleen spoke to Life Goggles about reconciling veganism with wearing leather.
“Ever since we were kids, we were always fascinated with fashion and shoes. And also with animals. From the moment we realized that the animal we saw in the country, ended up on our dinner plates, we did not want to eat it anymore. So we became vegetarian and evolved to veganism. No biggie, right? But as time progresses, you start to question other things…
Every vegetarian or vegan, some day, will be confronted with the same dilemma: how to reconcile a strict vegetarian-vegan diet with wearing leather?
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