The Green Life

Gas? Where We're Going, We Don't Need Gas.

So our dreams of zipping off to work every morning in our hover cars may still be a bit far-fetched, but our dream of greener streets and highways may be just over the horizon. According to a study released today by UC Berkeley’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology, electric cars could become the most popular vehicles on the U.S. road by 2030. The paper asserts that benefits of electric cars would be immediate and far-reaching, improving our economy, health, and environment.
    The study estimates that in a mere 21 years, electric cars “will account for 64 percent of U.S. light-vehicle sales” due to the “low purchase price and operating costs of electric cars with switchable batteries.” This sort of battery swapping is being championed by companies such as Better Place; their subscribers will have access to battery-charging and switching stations across the nation, allowing for increased usability.  

Daily Roundup: July 9, 2009

Tap, Mate: Residents of Bundanoon, Australia, voted to ban the sale of bottled water. Huffington Post

Coal Countdown: The Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign celebrated an important milestone--100 coal plants have been prevented or abandoned since 2001. Sierra Club and Daily Kos

Taking a Stand: Discount airlines in China and Ireland may be able to carry between 30 to 50 percent more passengers per plane by offering a standing-room option. Treehugger

Dead Zone, Hot Spot: A new study ranked the mouth of the Mississippi River top among the world's coastal "hotspots," where human activity on land threatens marine ecosystems. Science Daily

Fast Food Power: A New Jersey Burger King franchise plans to equip its drive-thru lane with a speed bump designed to capture kinetic energy. Green Tech

--Della Watson

A Bright Idea: Energy-Efficient Incandescents

The incandescent light bulb is in some ways the SUV of light sources: an energy-guzzler that's being phased out by more energy-efficient options. 

Congress passed a law two years ago to phase out incandescents by 2012, when stricter efficiency standards are set to be enforced. In March, the E.U. passed similar legislation.

But according to this New York Times article, incandescent bulb-makers, including Philips, General Electric and Osram Sylvania, aren't ready to throw in the towel. These companies are responding to the legislation with a wave of research and innovation that's yielding more efficient lighting products.

Daily Roundup: July 1, 2009

Your Save My Planet, I’ll Save Yours: After a series of serious compromises and concessions, the House of Representatives passed a landmark piece of climate-change legislation, marking the first time either house of Congress has passed a bill establishing a cap on the emissions blamed for global warming. The bill still waits action in the Senate. New York Times
 
Less Bush, More Tress: On Tuesday, a California federal judge nullified national forest-management rules established during the Bush era. As a result, The Forest Service will reintroduce regulations to protect wildlife and curtail logging. San Francisco Chronicle

Bright Idea: Obama spoke of future efforts to create and standardize energy efficient light bulbs, asserting that the more efficient bulbs would save consumers billions annually, conserve energy, reduce emissions, and lessen our dependence on coal-fired power plants. MSNBC

Seal the Deal: Francois Hugo of Seal Alert South Africa is collecting donations from around the globe to purchase a fur company that intends to buy the pelts of baby seals that live on the Namibian coast. The fur company plans to club 85,000 seal pups in Namibia to meet its business goals. Hugo is reaching out on YouTube and Facebook, imploring people to donate $15 each to reach the necessary $14.2 million to buy the fur company and stop the killing. Yahoo

Flying Solar: In a nation best known for chocolate and cheese, Switzerland unveiled a new claim to fame: its prototype for a new solar-powered airplane that will be able to fly during day and night without fuel. Test flights start late this year. CNET

--Julia Gelbaum

New EPA Site Lets You Investigate Your Local Environment

National statistics about water and air quality barrage us constantly, but most of us know little about the quality of our local environment. How clean is the drinking water? What’s the quality of the ozone? Much radon in the ground?

For some of these questions, we’d probably just as soon not want the answers. But whether you're an aspiring activist or just curious what conditions you're raising your family in, this often hard-to-find information is good to have.

The EPA's new MyEnvironment tool provides a great range of information about local environmental conditions, from air quality to cancer-risk levels. A system of interactive maps and charts makes it easy to assess the environmental quality of the place you’re living, or a location you’re considering moving to. 

L.A. River In Focus

Last week we blogged about Conan O'Brien's comedic adventures on the L.A. River. In response to our post, we were contatcted by Juan Devis, the Director of Production of New Media at KCET Local in Los Angeles. Devis tipped us off to an exciting project called Departures: L.A. River. An online documentary produced by KCET in collaboration with Friends of the Los Angeles River and with participation of students from Los Angeles Leadership Academy, Departures: L.A. River features interactive panoramas, video portraits of the river, inteviews, and a "Remix" section, which allows site visitors to make and share their own Departures-style panoramas. "This is one of the most comprehensive online documentaries about the L.A. river," Devis says. "The scope of the project included environmental lessons and hands-on multimedia training for students that empowered them to help us tell this amazing story from multiple perspectives." Check out the Juan Devis's blog entries to find out more about the project's production process.

--Della Watson

Image: KCET

Fresh Tools for Eating Seasonally

The merits of eating with the seasons are many -- increased freshness, nutrition, and sustainability are just a few. As seasonal diets gain momentum from bestselling books like Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and Michael Pollan's The Omnivore’s Dilemma, tools are (forgive the pun) cropping up to help consumers avoid globe-trotting, energy-intensive produce and find the freshest, earth-friendliest options. 

Seasons is a new app for the iPhone and iPod touch that lets users quickly gain information about what's local and in season. The database contains information for 170 fruits, vegetables, herbs, mushrooms, and nuts, including their seasonal availability, a picture, and some helpful background. Users can search by month or by category; a weekly overview explains what's currently in season.

The creators of Seasons designed it with farmers' markets in mind, but it can also help shoppers sort through the produce aisles of their local grocery stores. It can be downloaded for $1.99 at the iTunes App Store.

Daily Roundup: June 26, 2009

Climate or Coal? The House of Representatives is expected to vote on the much-debated climate bill today. Its passage may come down to on-the-fence democrats from states with coal interests. Treehugger and Grist 

Skip the Carbon, Please: The Southern Ocean, historically a major carbon sink, is absorbing the stuff at an increasingly slower rate. Scientists blame the hole in the ozone. New Scientist

Around the World: Swiss innovator Bertrand Piccard, famous for circling the globe in a hot air balloon, announced his prototype for a solar-powered plane he plans to fly around the world by 2012. BBC News

Bad Gas: A new California regulation requires landfills to capture the greenhouse gas, methane, that results from decomposing trash. ENN

Give Me a Brake: Angry car drivers plan to blockade part of an annual Colorado bike ride in a "celebration of driver's rights." Treehugger

--Jamie Hansen

Green Innovations Inspired by Trees

When it comes to sustainability, trees have got it down. Not only do they make their own energy, but through that process, they remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

So it seems natural that scientists have started basing their clean-energy innovations on nature's own carbon cleaners. For instance, Columbia University scientist Klaus Lackner has invented a plastic tree able to capture 1,000 times the carbon dioxide the living versions can.

The synthetic tree costs about as much as a car to manufacture but has many advantages: It can capture carbon dioxide from the air without the sunlight a living plant requires, and that trapped gas could be used to create fuel for jet engines and cars, says Lackner.

Daily Roundup: June 19, 2009

Under Pressure: The government of Cameroon has granted Wildlife Works, an environmental group, 30 days to create a conservation proposal for a tract of rainforest. If the group does not come up with an economically viable plan, the forest will be sold to loggers. Mongabay and Treehugger

New Cars on the Block: Nissan Motor Company has plans to build electric cars at its Smyrna, Tennessee plant. Reuters

Break It Down: Researchers in China have isolated a type of microbe with the ability to break down phthalates. The discovery has potential applications in wastewater treatment. Science Daily

Green Jobs: Two recent reports suggest that an annual $150 billion clean-energy investment by the federal government could create 1.7 million new jobs. GreenBiz and Green Inc.

Methane Happens: The House Appropriations Committee approved a $10.6 billion EPA spending bill with an added amendment that prevents the EPA from requiring factory farms to report greenhouse gas emissions. New York Times and Grist

--Della Watson