Cellulosic Ethanol

Interesting article in the latest issue of Wired about the future of cellulosic ethanol. The future looks bright as long as we can convince the politicians that cellulosic and not corn based ethanol is the way to go.  Okay so maybe the future doesn't look so bright. :)

technorati tags:wired, cellulosic, ethanol, switchgrass, environment

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Who Saved the Electric Car

Here's a good story done by David Pogue from the NYT for CBS News. I was glad to see him mention and talk with the director of "Who Killed the Electric Car".

technorati tags:pogue, cbsnews, whokilledtheelectriccar, gm, tesla, environment, battery

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Is your company Green?

I don't think mine is.

It finally really hit me today while riding the train into the office. There was an article in the NYT about Mayor Bloomberg calling for a reduction in CO2 emissions from NYC buildings. Apparently, 79% of all CO2 emissions in NYC come from buildings as opposed to the national average of 32%. NYC has a relatively low carbon imprint based on density, smallness of the apartments and the fact that the public transportation is so good. But this really got me thinking that it's time for me to do something at work.

Here's what has kept me from acting earlier(no excuses though)...I've been working for this large ad agency for almost a year and a half with a little 3 month hiatus during that time. I'm considered a temporary employee and therefore I don't feel I have the same voice as if I was a full-time employee and a little worried about ruffling someones feathers the wrong way and ending up on a permanent hiatus. Anyway...I've noticed they have no policies that I know of for recycling paper, plastic, glass or aluminum. I'm going to find out what the official policy is first then start trying to make some changes and get a decent recycling policy instituted. The amount of paper that gets wasted here alone is a crime! And many floors have free sodas for employees to drink but there is no recycling bins for the empty cans. The used to have bottles of water but thankfully most of those are gone and replace with filtered water dispensers on each floor. Then of course there is energy use. I know the area where I work is pretty much buzzing wit equipment powered on all time 24/7 even over the weekend. The lights are on timers to go off at 11pm however.

So here I was thinking about all this stuff on my way from getting off the train and walking to the office and what did I see? This...





Now I'm not sure whether this came from my company but it got my blood boiling. All this plastic, CRTs, mercury all being dumped and carted off to god knows where. The iMac looked completely intact while some of the other CPUs and monitors had been gutted. Bottom line... there's a correct way of disposing of these types of material and this isn't one of them. Apple has a recycling program and with the number of computers this company must buy from them certainly sending them back to Apple is an option. Don't know if I can find out where it came from but there were copies of Adweek in the bins also so my guess is ad agency. Just don't know if there are others in the area.

So here I go on my mission. I'm going to start slowly but be persistent. I will of course report my progress. Wish me luck!

Technorati Tags:
green, recycle, apple

The Green

Was walking through the NYC Subway the other day and spotted a large ad campaign for a new series on The Sundance Channel. I took out the old phone camera and snapped a couple of pics. This is the only one that looks decent.


Looks like Sundance, thanks to Robert Redford, is making a big push in the green programming. I also noticed this show on iTunes today, Big Ideas for a Small Planet. You can download the first episode for free. They are also running a Big Idea contest for the best big ideas on how to save the environment. I've got to start thinking......


Technorati Tags:

environment, global warming, climate change, green, television, sundance channel, contest

Discovery Home goes Green

It appears that the green movement is really taking off in the mainstream media. According to this NYT article, Discovery Home, part of the Discovery Channel Networks will begin refocusing their programming on all things green and environmental. This is of course great news and something I look forward to setting my TIVO to record.

Technorati Tags:
environment, green, discovery, television

The Supreme Court Has Spoken!

The times they are a changin' and November 2008 isn't too far away.
What a brilliant victory for the environment. It's amazing to me that the decision was so close but then again look at the dissenters. Full article from the NYT right here.

Bottom line...the EPA must do something about limiting the emission of greenhouse gases or come up with some very good reasons why it can not. Finally the administration can no longer ignore the issue and Congress now has the green light to push legislation.

Hooray for the Environment!

Technorati Tags:
environment, supreme court, global warming, climate change

Apple Hits Bottom of Greenpeace List

This is tough to take as a big Apple user fan of the company. Of course Apple feels differently but it certainly doesn't look good being at the bottom of the list.

Take a look at the article from Greenpeace

Technorati Tags:
apple, greenpeace, environment

The Environments Big Night!

Well for most it was a forgone conclusion that AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH would win the Oscar for best documentary so it's not really any surprise that it did indeed win. Of course I think this will only help to further the awareness of the climate crisis and open up peoples eyes to the seriousness of the issue. As much as I'd love Gore to run for President again I really fear for the next person who has to follow up to W's mess.

Another cool thing about the Oscars last night was they were in many ways the first green Oscars ever. Having lived in LA for 14 years I am very jaded towards Hollywood and the importance we put on actors. But since they are such public people and the Oscars are seen by over a billion people worldwide, getting the message out about global warming is something that at least last night was a very positive result of the evening.

Technorati Tags: carbon dioxide, energy, global warming, Gore, innconvenient truth, oscars

Give the Gift of Wind

This past Christmas I gave an unusual gift to my immediate family members. WIND. It wasn't just a lot of hot air but truly a gift of wind energy or at least the purchase of wind energy credits to help offset their use of coal and oil fired electric energy.

I stumbled upon Renewable Choice Energy when I was researching electricity providers for my home. Each year our local utility, NYSEG, by law offers us users the opportunity to pick our own electricity provider. Sadly, in our area there are no options for 100% renewable energy providers, however I am receiving 450 kilowatts of wind power each month through NYSEG for $10/month. Because that represents a small percentage of our monthly electric usage I was looking for other ways to offset your electric carbon footprint. This is when I found Renewable Choice. For $15 a month I am attempting to offset a larger percentage of our carbon emissions and by committing to their program for a year i received a $50 gift card to Whole Foods Market. Over a year ago, Whole Foods completely offset their entire energy use by purchasing carbon offsets through Renewable Choice.

So my family has the gift of wind. Whether they opt for the monthly $15/month program is up to them. Of course I'll encourage them to go for it. Wind, a great gift for any occasion.

Technorati Tags: carbon dioxide, enery, global warming, offsets, oil

Carbonless Travel?

The family and I are going to be taking a vacation soon. Our travel will require my wife and I and our son to jump on a plane and fly from NY to SC. I booked our flights on Expedia and was very pleasantly surprised when I was offered the option of purchasing carbon offsets for our travel. I didn't occur to me to do something like this until it was offered right in front of me. Expedia has an arrangement with TerraPass and for only $5.95 each I was able to purchase enough carbon offsets for our air travel to and from our vacation. These fees will go to fund clean energy projects and the website goes into some detail on several of these.

Just today the New York Times in the business section had an article on programs like this, "Guilt-Free Pollution. Or is It?". It did bring into question the effectiveness of carbon offset programs. Take a read and judge for yourself. I feel if you've got to travel that this is the least you can do and your money will go to help some great grass root efforts.

Technorati Tags: carbon dioxide, enery, global warming, offsets