Green Options

In the constant push for ever newer and greener technology and energy, we sometimes forget that it is often both simpler and cheaper to revisit old techniques in new ways. And that’s exactly what a group of researchers in California has done.

At the Aspen Environment Forum today, MIT professor Dan Nocera gave a revolutionary picture of the new energy economy with an assertion that our homes will be our power plants and our fuel stations, powered by sunlight and water. And it’s not science fiction.

Hydrogen (H) fuel cell technology could perhaps become the cleanest form of energy, both in terms of generating the gas and in terms of combustion products (which are just heat and water). The biggest problem has been making the process of H generation clean, efficient, and cheap, as the current, main source of H gas is coal.

Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have discovered a new way of storing energy from sunlight that could lead to ‘unlimited’ solar power.

The process, loosely based on plant photosynthesis, uses solar energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen gases. When needed, the gases can then be re-combined in a fuel cell, creating carbon-free electricity whether the sun is shining or not.

According to project leader Prof. Daniel Nocera, “This is the nirvana of what we’ve been talking about for years. Solar power has always been a limited, far-off solution. Now, we can seriously think about solar power as unlimited and soon.”

It’s not only the Gulf of Mexico that’s suffering from “dead zones” caused by  excess nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus used as fertilizers.

Marine dead zones are spreading in the Baltic sea, and that could cause the entire ecosystem to collapse for lack of oxygen.  Dire warnings from Lasse Gustavsson, Swedish head of the World Wildlife Funds branch in Sweden.

Over a month ago we discussed the amazing effects of healing houseplants and the wonderful ways they absorb toxins while in return send healthy oxygen into our living spaces. Well, this month we’re back on the topic with this brilliant healing houseplant diagram I discovered via SuperCute that I am pleased to bring to you! The chart explains some of the best of the bunch when bringing nature indoors to cleanse and heal.  The illustration focuses on plants that absorb trichloroethylene, formaldehyde, and benzene, which are three commonly found toxins.

What is with these chemicals that create bad air? Most importantly how do we rid our sacred spaces of them? Well,

Bioreactor Photo Credit: Chlorophyll Collective

How do you take a damaging substance and evolve it into something beneficial?

In 2005, the United States produced 6,008.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

So, how do you turn 6,008.6 million metric tons of CO2 into something essential for human existence?

From the experts at the Chlorophyll Collective, the answer is simple: Take a bunch of algae, submerge it in water, blast it with

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