Green Options

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Any mother can tell you the benefits of breastfeeding, but scientists recently discovered stem cells in human breast milk. Stem cell research and treatments using embryonic stem cells, which are more versatile than adult stem cells, is controversial. An embryonic stem cell can produce cells for almost any tissue in the body, whereas adult stem cells are more specific to blood and skin types. The discovery of stem cells in breast milk may alleviate the controversy of using embryonic stem cells, if breast milk stem cells behave in the same versatile manner. Stem cell research shows they are promising at treating spinal injuries, diabetes and Parkinson’s disease.

Perth scientist Dr Mark Cregan made the world’s first discovery of breast milk stem cells. He believes this is just the tip of the iceberg in discovering the benefits and potency of baby’s first food.

It is setting the baby up for the perfect development. We already know that babies who are breast fed have an IQ advantage and that there’s a raft of other health benefits. Researchers also believe that the protective effects of being breast fed continue well into adult life. The point is that many mothers see milks as identical – formula milk and breast milk look the same so they must be the same. But we know now that they are quite different and a lot of the effects of breast milk versus formula don’t become apparent for decades. Formula companies have focussed on matching breast milk’s nutritional qualities but formula can never provide the developmental guidance.

Plug-in hybrid, all-electric or fuel cell? Car-makers are hedging their bets on what will emerge as the next generation engine technology of choice – now it seems another alternative approach could well be set to enter the mix. Scottish engineering firm Artemis Intelligent Power has tested a hybrid system that it claims can cut carbon emissions by 30%, with the added advantage that it is better suited to inter-urban journeys than conventional hybrids like the Toyota Prius.

In common with other hybrids, the system employs a regenerative braking system that stores energy as the vehicle slows down, and feeds it back into the engine as it accelerates. The key innovation is that instead of storing the energy in a battery, the new system stores it in a hydraulic accumulator.

First Flex-Fuel Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle

As part of a push by the US Department of Energy (DOE) to make plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) cost competitive with other cars by 2014, Ford has delivered a plug-in hybrid electric flex-fuel Escape to the DOE to join its test fleet of other PHEVs currently undergoing research and testing.

The vehicle is equipped with a 10 kilowatt lithium ion battery that can take it up to 30 miles at speeds under 40 mph before needing to fire up its fuel-fed hybrid-electric engine. After that, the hybrid-electric engine kicks in and can deliver a fuel economy of 88 mpg in the city and 50 mpg on the highway when using E85 (85% ethanol/15% gasoline blend).

As a pacifist, I do not condone the use of violence to solve one’s problems but this topic still intrigues me. Imagine bombs that do as much damage as TNT but without the environmental impact.

Whether detonated or not TNT (Trinitrotoluene) can contaminate the environment. This compound is used frequently as an explosive because in its standard form it is a solid but it can quickly be converted to a harmful gas. According to University of Minnesota researchers, solid TNT contaminates the soil and groundwater. Also, if broken down by water, the chemical can be absorbed directly into the skin causing headaches, anemia and skin irritation.

So, in lieu of the environmental and unintended human safety issues surrounding TNT and similar traditional chemical weapons, German scientists are developing explosives made using tetrazoles. Tetrazoles are found to be extremely stable and get their explosive power from nitrogen rather than the carbon found in TNT and company.

Aw, c’mon, pull my finger!

You’ve probably had that one pulled (pardon the pun) on you at least once in your life, and the old guy got a good laugh out of your response. It’s ok, old guys do strange things, I know.

Well, this isn’t about old guys, but sheep, cattle, deer and goats, the premier emitters of methane gas in the world. In this case, nature is “pulling the finger.”

Green investors often refer to the “triple bottom line”:

• What are the social benefits?
• What are the environmental benefits?
• What is the financial Return on Investment (ROI)?

The first Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) funds avoided companies that made cigarettes, supplied the military, or did business in South Africa. This new approach was called “negative screening”. Later on, SRI investment companies started including environmental screens.

The next logical step beyond negative screens is to assess the proactive “good” being accomplished by the company in which one is investing. What result is the company being responsible for?

Some green investors suggest selecting companies that will “make a lot of money” against the backdrop of climate change or other major issues. While this is a first step, something more is needed. I propose a new approach called the “Ecology Benefit Index”.

I’ve been following the stories about cell phones and cancer closely. It’s not that I use mine very often (in fact, I can rarely find it), and coverage is spotty in rural Vermont. No, I am thinking about all of my students who probably started using cell phones in the seventh grade, and do so heavily (can you say teenager and phones?) now as high school students. I also think of my young daughters, growing up quickly, and their many years of cell phone use when they are older (much, much older-).

Last night I had the opportunity to talk with Bonne Posma, a serial entrepreneur whose most recent company is called Liquid Coal, Inc. He sees a great opportunity for making the world a safer and cleaner place by developing a process that will use heat from high temperature nuclear reactors as part of a process of converting coal into a liquid hydrocarbon.

Bonne is standing on the shoulders of many other engineers and scientists in his efforts. The chemistry required to convert coal, which is mostly carbon and hydrogen, into a liquid hydrocarbon was developed in the 1920s by a German team of Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch. The Fisher-Tropsch process has a rather uncomfortable history - it’s most prominent use has been by Germany during WWII and by South Africa during the apartheid era.

In the June 2008 issue of the journal Nature Reviews Genetics, internationally renowned biofuels researcher Mariam Sticklen proposes that future production of cellulosic biofuels will be made infinitely more efficient and affordable through genetic modification of cellulosic feedstocks such as cereal grains and perennial grasses. Citing the impossibility of fueling the world on starch-based ethanol, such as that from corn, Sticklen argues that cellulosic biofuels are the only viable option for future commercial production.

Editor’s note: Water, water everywhere… not exactly! As we’ve noted on a number of occasions, water issues loom just as large as some other environmental challenges currently facing us. Our friends at Low Impact Living have published a fascinating article on the subject, which we’ll present as a three-part series. Today’s post takes a look at the environmental impact of excessive water use; parts 2 and 3 will focus on how we use water in our homes, and how we can cut consumption without sacrificing quality of life. We’ll publish the last two part on Green Building Elements. If you can’t wait, visit LIL for the original publication of the article.

In the last few years, global warming has received all of the press. But shortages of fresh water are arguably the greater near-term environmental threat in many corners of the globe. In the Western United States, major die-offs of salmon have been attributed to too little clean water flowing downstream after cities and farms pulled out their allotments. In Australia, as much as 25%¹ of farmland may soon be degraded due to water-related problems. And, many predict that future wars in the Mideast are as likely to be about water as they are to be about religion or energy.

Environmental Impacts of Excessive Water Use

Fresh water is at present a somewhat local commodity. Unlike some of the other environmental impacts we discuss on this website, such as petroleum use or global warming, water use in the United States primarily affects US residents (except for some limited overlaps with Mexico and Canada). This could easily change – the only thing that prevents the shipment of water over much larger distances is its weight and relatively low cost today compared to other commodities. And, in almost all other regions in the world, water supply issues are increasingly of international concern.

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UC Davis’s Institute of Transportation Studies has prepared a sort of primer for “non-battery experts” on the pros and cons of different battery technology for use in plug-in hybrid electric cars (PHEVs). The report, called Batteries for Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs): Goals and the State of Technology circa 2008, discusses:

• the basic design concept of PHEVs and inherent trade-offs in different battery technology.
• the current state of the most common battery chemistries, including nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) and lithium-ion (Li-Ion), and their abilities to meet the needs of PHEVs
• potential trajectories for further improvement in battery technology