Green Options

Sigourney Weaver narrates “Acid Test“, an illuminating and terrifying NRDC documentary that explains how quickly our planet’s oceans are acidifying due to all of the carbon dioxide that we are pumping into our air. This pollution is causing rapid changes in our oceans’ chemistry that will completely disrupt all life on the planet as we know it on a scale that has not been seen for tens of millions of years.

Looking to create products for the real world as soon as possible, a new research center in the UK is aiming to speed up the development and installment of a variety of low carbon technologies to ensure a greener future for us all.

This new £50 million ($80 million) center hopes to do this through more coordinated and focused efforts from four universities and a regional development agency. The four universities that have teamed up are Hull, Leeds, Sheffield and Yorkshire, and they are working with the regional development agency Yorkshire Forward. The name of the new center is Centre for Low Carbon Futures (CLCF).

Is Exelon’s departure from the US Chamber of Commerce a harbinger for the entire utility sector? Or, is there a divide emerging within the industry?

Once upon a time, Obama’s plan called for cap-and-trade dollars to fund health care reform. Greens should be watching the health care fight, because the closer he gets to a bill, the more he will need cap-and-trade in order to pay for it.

Yokohama is introducing the dB Super E-spec tire, with an improved liner and a compound that uses orange oil and natural rubber to cut petroleum significantly in the manufacturing process.

On the inside, an advanced inner liner is thinner, lighter, and provides better air retention.

On the outside, the new Super Nano-Power Rubber compound blends natural rubber with oil squeezed from waste material from the Japanese orange juice industry to create a tire with a split personality. In straight, steady driving, the compound generates less heat, for a lower rolling resistance, while in active driving—cornering and braking—the material softens for better adhesion to the road surface.

Suddenly, “green business” is a little low on green and high on business. Companies that were built to take on Big Oil are now sharpening their elbows in the lobbying fight to make sure that the bottom line does not fall victim to grid enhancements that are built out by someone else.

Before I get into this topic, please read my article on cancer dedicated to someone special to me, each view constitutes a larger donation to cancer research. http://planetsave.com/blog/2009/07/27/help-me-fight-cancer/

The “green movement” is gaining some steam in the general public, and hey I am all for it.  As long as it doesn’t become a fad that fades away into a footnote like slap bracelets and Crocks. The Apple iPhone is the hottest smart phone going today, and with over 65,000 applications in the iTunes App Store and counting, the usefulness of this pocket device goes up all the time. This can only mean that there will be green apps on the iPhone, and of course there will be some clunkers. With all these apps floating around there must be some gems as well. I’ll give some apps a try and tell you what I think, so you, my loyal reader, doesn’t have to.

(Part 2: Paid Apps, will be coming soon, so check back at PlanetSave.com)

Oceans cover close to 70 percent of the earth’s surface. They divide continents and peoples. They are dangerous, swallowing unwary explorers in their great depths. But the danger of the unknown ocean hasn’t stopped sailors in all ages from exploring the treasures that await across the vast blue expanse. With compass in hand and constellation above as guides, brave seamen would embark, never knowing if they would return alive.

You’ve heard of the canary in the coal mine as an indicator of a toxic environment.

The U.S. Department of Energy is using bees and helium balloons to make sure carbon dioxide is staying put in sequestration sites.

How? Researchers at the National Energy Technology Lab are using chemical tracers to fingerprint CO2, then comparing it to pollen collected by the bees.

“Researchers will determine if pollen collected by bees contains measurable quantities of [...]

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) has the potential to cut global Co2 emissions dramatically. We’re talking huge cuts. It has been estimated that a plant implementing CCS can cut emissions by 80-90 percent compared with a plant that doesn’t use CCS. Sounds great, right? Well, there are some some problems.

Cost is the number one challenge that CCS faces. “Applying it would significantly increase the cost of electricity beyond what society is likely willing to pay,” said Sarah Forbes,  a World Resources Institute Senior Associate. Another challenge is that no fully integrated demonstrations have taken place. The pieces have been tested individually, but the entire puzzle is yet to be seen.

Forbes describes CCS and its current challenges in more detail:

One quarter billion dollars is a lot. An awful lot. Most people will never even come near that amount of money, but that’s what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Americans saved this past year by switching over to energy efficient homes.