UK singer Leona Lewis has become the latest celebrity to sign up for Earth Hour 2010 — a global “lights out” event on March 27th to draw attention to climate change and energy conservation.

“You see these films about natural disasters and they are all Hollywood and crazy – but actually they are not that far from the truth about what is going to happen to the planet in generations to come. Something is happening and it’s going to really affect us if we don’t do something about it. My children will be affected, I think about that all the time,” she said.

Earth Hour was started three years ago by the World Wildlife Fund. This year is shaping up to have the most participation yet — with initial support from 656 cities, towns and municipalities in 80 countries across every continent. The Las Vegas Strip, Mount Rushmore, Sea World, the Empire State Building and the Golden Gate Bridge are just some of the landmarks in the U.S. that will either dim or go dark starting at 8:30pm.

“I’ve been asking everyone to switch off the lights. Campaigns like this really help and are effective,” says Leona. “It’s about getting the message out.”

To learn more about organizing Earth Hour events in your own town, hit the official site here.

via AHLAN!

Adapted from Josh's next book The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget: Save Money. Save Time. Save the Planet.

Those of us determined to green our jeans will find that most eco-aware denim is priced at or above $150 a pair. But there are exceptions. Good Society delivers high-style, fair-trade certified organic cotton jeans for about $100. Not only is the styling clean and sharp, but every pair purchased also helps provide fair wages for the workers who produce them in India. When we think about “going green,” we typically focus on reducing our environmental impact. But fair-trade certification also ensures that the people making the products we use are not exploited in the process. This helps to create a web of positive change — a good society, if you will. And for Aiden Dingh, Good Society’s co-founder, it’s not enough to sell clothing that respects both the people who make it and the environment we live in, it’s also essential to make those items affordable. While Sling and Stones, Dingh’s original organic cotton denim line, carries designer prices, Good Society makes eco-chic clothing accessible to a broader audience. You can find the collection at big national retailers like Urban Outfitters and at smaller boutiques across the country. Good Society keeps the good going by giving 10 percent of its profits to environmental causes. They're available here in women's and men's styles.

Other Affordable, Eco-Friendly Denim Options:

Arizona Jeans
Arizona’s new eco-collection is available at J.C. Penney. Instead of tossing the cotton that’s left over from the cotton mill in a landfill, Arizona Jeans recycles it into jeans that retail for around $40 per pair. The company does the same thing with T-shirts, incorporating 60 percent recycled cotton.

Levis
Levis keeps it green with its 100 percent organic cotton Levis Eco denim collection featuring boot cut, straight, and slim cuts for men and women with prices that hover around $68 per pair.

Quiksilver
Guys and girls will dig the vibrant, fresh designs that are increasingly made of organic cotton by Quiksilver. From stylish tees to denim jeans, Quiksilver is rapidly introducing eco-friendly products that are sure to be a hit in dorms rooms everywhere.

Adapted from Josh's next book The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget: Save Money. Save Time. Save the Planet.

L to R: Sundance Channel and IFCtv President Evan Shapiro, Host of Eco Trip David De Rothschild, Executive Producer of Eco Trip Colleen Halpin, Executive Producer of The Lazy Environmentalist Dave Metzler, Creator and Star of Green Porno Isabella Rossellini, Host of The Lazy Environmentalist Josh Dorfman and Sundance Channel EVP and GM Laura Michalchyshyn (courtesy of Ecorazzi.com)

I’m currently in Los Angeles to film my new tv show – The Lazy Environmentalist – for Sundance Channel. One thing I’ll say about television crews is that they definitely are not lazy. Mornings begin early and days go long. On the show we put lazy green solutions to the test with professionals, organizations, companies and individuals from all walks of life. The results are frequently surprising and often in one way or another transformative. We’ve also been walking our own talk by finding lazy solutions for greening our roving set. Crew members have all received FilterForGood reusable water bottles and a cooler of water is on site so the crew can stay conveniently hydrated. Plates and utensils are made of corn-based, biodegradable materials. When and where possible vanpooling is encouraged. Though there are few vegetarians on set, we’ve also been eating healthy during lunch and pretty low on the food chain with lots of vegetable dishes available.

The series will begin airing on Sundance Channel on June 16th at 9pm. I think what differentiates this green television show is that some degree of failure is always a possibility in our segments. We really want to see whether green solutions will realistically work for everyday Americans based on the demands and criteria for success that they outline. If cost-effective environmental solutions are what they want, I have to deliver. If it’s style they want, then style is what I have to find a green way to give them. I’m not going to give away the plots. You’ll have to tune in for that but I’m enjoying filming because I believe we’re making a really entertaining television show that is also environmentally informative.

LedItLight presents a led lamp in a G9 fitting, which is fed via grid voltage 230 V AV. The light bulb is made of several small printed circuit boards with leds on them. This lamp emits a warm white light.

This article shows the measurement results. Many parameters are also found in the Eulumdat file.

See this overview for a comparison with other light bulbs.

Summary measurement data

parameter	meas. result	remark
Color temperature	2948 K	Warm white
Luminous intensity Iv	10 Cd	Measured straight underneath the lamp
Beam angle	306 deg	Valid for all C-angles as there is symmetry along the 1st axis.
Power P	3.8 W
Power Factor	0.51	For every 1 kWh net power consumed, there has been 1.7 kVAhr for reactive power.
Luminous flux	193 Lm
Luminous efficacy	50 Lm/W
CRI_Ra	63	Color Rendering Index.
Coordinates chromaticity diagram	x=0.4475 and y=0.4187
Fitting	G9 bipin
PAR-value	5.9 μMol/s/m2	The number of photons seen by an average plant when it is lit by the light of this light bulb. Value valid at 1 m distance from light bulb.
PAR-photon efficacy	0.4 μMol/s/We	The toal emitted number of photons by this light, divided by its consumption in W. It indicates a kind of efficacy in generating photons.
S/P ratio	1.1	This factor indicates the amount of times more efficient the light of this light bulb is perceived under scotopic circumstances (ow environmental light level).
D x H external dimensions	31 x 59 mm	External dimensions of the lamp (D = diameter).
D x H luminous area	23 x 25 mm	Dimensions of the luminous area (used in Eulumdat file). This is equal to the surface of the boards in which the leds are.
General remarks		The ambient temperature during the whole set of measurements was 23.5-25.5 deg C. The temperature of the lamp gets about 70 degrees hotter than ambient. Warm up effect: during the warm up time the illuminance decreases with 15 % and the consumed power with 15 %. Voltage dependency: the power consumption and illuminance do not depend significantly on the voltage when it is varied from 200 - 250 V.
Measurement report (PDF)	tbc
Eulumdat file		Right click on icon and save the file.

Overview table

The overview table is explained on the OliNo website. Please note that this overview table makes use of calculations, use this data with care as explained on the OliNo site. E (lux) values are not accurate, when within 5 x 25 mm = 150 mm. Within this distance from the lamp, the measured lux values willl be less than the computed values in this overview as the measurements are then within the near field of the lamp.

Note that the beam angle > 180 deg, which makes the results reported in Ø50% not valid.

Eulumdat light diagram

This light diagram below comes from the program Qlumedit, that extracts these diagrams from an Eulumdat file. It is explained on the OliNo site.

The light diagram giving the radiation pattern.

It indicates the luminous intensity around the light bulb. The directions C90-C270 and C0-C180 give the same result as there is a symmetry along the 1st axis.

Illuminance Ev at 1 m distance, or luminous intensity Iv

Herewith the plot of the averaged luminous intensity Iv as a function of the inclination angle with the light bulb.

The radiation pattern of the light bulb.

This radiation pattern is the average of the light output of the light diagram given earlier. Also, in this graph the luminous intensity is given in Cd.

These averaged values are used (later) to compute the lumen output.

Intensity data of every measured turn angle at each inclination angle.

This plot shows per inclination angle the intensity measurement results for each turn angle at that inclination angle. There normally are differences in illuminance values for different turn angles. However for further calculations the averaged values will be used.

When using the average values per inclination angle, the beam angle can be computed, being 306º.

Luminous flux

With the averaged illuminance data at 1 m distance, taken from the graph showing the averaged radiation pattern, it is possible to compute the luminous flux.

The result of this computation for this light spot is a luminous flux of 193 Lm.

Luminous efficacy

The luminous flux being 193 Lm, and the power of the light bulb being 3.8 W, yields a luminous efficacy of 50 Lm/W.

Electrical properties

A power factor of 0.51 means that for every 1 kWh net power consumed, a reactive component of 1.7 kVAr was needed.

Lamp voltage	230 VAC
Lamp current	33 mA
Power P	3.8 W
Apparent power S	7.5 VA
Power factor	0.51

Of this light bulb the voltage across ad the resulting current through it are measured and graphed. See the OliNo site how this is obtained.

Voltage across and current through the lightbulb

The higher harmonics of the current are computed.

The squared amplitudes of the higher harmonics of the current through the lamp

There are no limits for the harmonics for led lighting equipment <= 25 W.

The Total Harmonic Distortion of the current is computed as 178 %.

Temperature measurements lamp

Temperature image (overview) of the light bulb

status lamp	> 2 hours on
ambient temperature	24 deg C
reflected background temperature	24 deg C
camera	Flir B-CAM Western S
emissivity	0.95(1)
measurement distance	0.15 m
IFOVgeometric	0.6 mm
NETD (thermal sensitivity)	100 mK

⁽¹⁾ The emissivity is set at 0.95 which is close to the value of the masking tapes used.

The base gets a bit warmer than warm-to-the-touch with 48 deg C. The printed circuit boards get locally much hotter.

Color temperature and Spectral power distribution

The spectral power distribution of this light bulb, energies on y-axis valid at 1 m distance.

The measured color temperature is about 2950 K which is warm white.

This color temperature is measured straight underneath the light bulb. Below a graph showing the color temperature for different inclination angles.

Color temperature as a function of inclination angle.

The measurement of CCT is measured for inclination angles up to 90º.

The beam angle is maximally 306º, meaning a 153º inclination angle. In this area the majority of the light is present. The variation in correlated color temperature in the measured area (up to 90º inclination angle) is area is about 2 %.

PAR value and PAR spectrum

To make a statement how well the light of this light bulb is for growing plants, the PAR-area needs to be determined. See the OliNo website how this all is determined and the explanation of the graph.

The photon spectrum, then the sensitivity curve and as result the final PAR spectrum of the light of this light bulb

parameter	value	unit
PAR-number	0.1	μMol/s/m²
PAR-photon current	1.6	μMol/s
PAR-photon efficacy	0.4	μMol/s/W

The PAR efficiency is 65 % (valid for the PAR wave length range of 400 - 700 nm). So maximally 65 % of the total of photons in the light is effectively used by the average plant (since the plant might not take 100 % of the photons at the frequency where its relative sensitivity is 100 %).

S/P ratio

The S/P ratio and measurement is explained on the OliNo website. Here the results are given.

The power spectrum, sensitivity curves and resulting scotopic and photopic spectra (spectra energy content defined at 1 m distance).

The S/P ratio is 1.1.

More info on S/P ratio can be found on the OliNo website.

Chromaticity diagram

The chromaticity space and the position of the lamp’s color coordinates in it.

The light coming from this lamp is a bit away from the Planckian Locus (the black path in the graph).

Its coordinates are x=0.4475 and y=0.4187.

Color Rendering Index (CRI) or also Ra

Herewith the image showing the CRI as well as how well different colors are represented (rendered). The higher the number, the better the resemblance with the color when a black body radiator would have been used (the sun, or an incandescent lamp). Practical information and also some critics about the CRI can be found on the OliNo website.

Each color has an index Rx, and the first 8 indexes (R1 .. R8) are averaged to compute the Ra which is equivalent to the CRI.

CRI of the light of this lightbulb.

The value of 63 is lower than 80 which is considered a minimum value for indoor usage.

Note: the chromaticity difference is 0.0043 indicates the distance to the Planckian Locus. There is no norm yet that states what the max deviation from white light is allowed to be.

Voltage dependency

The dependency of a number of lamp parameters on the lamp voltage is determined. For this, the lamp voltage has been varied and its effect on the following light bulb parameters measured: illuminance E_v [lx], the lamppower P [W], the (Correlated) Color Temperature [K] and the luminous efficacy [Lm/W].

Lamp voltage dependencies of certain light bulb parameters, where the value at 230 V is taken as 100 %.

The illuminance and consumed power do not vary significantly when the voltage is varied.

When the voltage at 230 V varies with + and - 5 V, then the illuminance varies ≈ 0.3 %, so when abrupt voltage changes occur this effect is not visible in the illuminance output.

Warm up effects

After switch on of a cold lamp, the effect of heating up of the lamp is measured on illuminance E_v [lx], color temperature CT or correlated color temperature CCT [K], the lamppower P [W] and the luminous efficacy [lm/W].

Effect of warming up on different light bulb parameters. At top the 100 % level is put at begin, and at bottom at the end.

The warm up time is about 15 minutes. During that time the illuminance decreases with ≈ 15 %. and the consumed power with 5 %.

Rob Hopkins founder of the Transition movement, reminds us that the oil our world depends on is steadily running out. He proposes a unique solution to this problem — the Transition response, where we prepare ourselves for life without oil and sacrifice our luxuries to build systems and communities that are completely independent of fossil fuels.

Rob Hopkins: Transition to a World Without Oil

More Information

Transition Culture
Transition Towns WIKI

Filed under: Hydrogen

Pike Research has read some high-tech tea leaves and thinks that, by the end of 2020, 2.8 million light duty fuel cell vehicle (FCV) sales will have occurred. While we can't say if their FCV prediction (summary in PDF) is more accurate than their short term plug-in prognostication, or their medium-term electric two-wheeler forecasting, they certainly seem to have a firm grip on who the players in the hydrogen space are and have interviewed a good number of people to prepare this report. While some other reports recently have had accusations of bias hurled after them, the company does make a point of saying that they are independently run and have endeavored to produce an impartial look at the unfolding market "unfettered by technology hype, political agendas, or emotional factors that are inherent in cleantech markets."

According to Pike Research, whether the FCV future plays out as predicted will hinge on two things: the growth of hydrogen supply infrastructure and improvements in the "durability and efficiency" of the fuel cell itself. The firm has faith that automakers can meet their targets but is a little less sure whether governments and gas companies will make the investments necessary to grow the segment beyond the niche level in the first years of commercialization. Feel free to unfetter your own feelings about their findings in the comment section after the break.

[Source: Pike Research via Green Car Congress]

Pike Research predicts 2.8 million fuel cell vehicles sold by 2020 originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Hybrid, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Ford, GM

Each year that Consumer Reports offers up its annual list of Top American Picks, it seems less and less a consolation bracket and more like a reasonable set of choices. To wit, if you wanted the very best family-sized SUV (Chevrolet Traverse) or fullsize pickup truck (Chevrolet Silverado), Consumer Reports will tell you that you're best off choosing American, regardless of which list its from.

Further, CR has found the Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan twins have proven to be more reliable than a Honda Accord or Toyota Camry. Blasphemy, you say? To borrow a marketing phrase from the Blue Oval itself, drive one and find out for yourself. We have, and we found out that it's a great car. Apparently, it's also reliable. Not surprisingly, the Fusion managed to earn two more awards in its hybrid guise, including CR's Best Overall Car.

All told, seven of the 10 awards handed out by CR went to Ford - an impressive performance. Two Top Picks were filled by vehicles from General Motors while Chrysler didn't have a single model on the list, which isn't particularly surprising since the Dodge Ram is the only model from the Pentastar that CR even recommends. Click here to check out the rest of the winners from CR.



[Source: Consumer Reports]

Consumer Reports releases annual list of American Top Picks, Ford Fusion Hybrid the big winner originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Reacting to Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague's speech on climate change and foreign policy today, Greenpeace Executive Director John Sauven said:

"The fact that William Hague has recognised climate change as one of the top issues affecting British foreign policy is significant, especially in the run up to a general election.

"Global warming carries dangerous consequences not only for foreign governments but for British interests at home and abroad. The Conservative party must now show that it is prepared to put the issue at the heart of its decision making, and show the determination and boldness to tackle the problem head on."

Quotes on specific areas of the speech:

EU emissions cuts

John Sauven said:

"William Hague concedes that the EU needs a more ambitious target to reduce emissions, but then claims we need to wait for a global deal before announcing it. Given the urgency of the problem and the diplomatic stalemate we face it's vitally important that he backs a 30% target right now, to show the rest of the world that the EU is serious about tackling climate change".

Note:

Hague commits to "moving to a 30% emissions reduction target by 2020 on 1990 levels when a legally binding treaty is agreed". This would simply echo the current EU position. To show real leadership the Conservative party should back calls to increase the target now.

Reform of the EU budget

John Sauven said:

"Making climate change a priority within the EU budget makes sense, because at the moment the high rhetoric of European politicians is rarely reflected in their spending commitments. But this process could take years, and Hague needs to recognise that Britain must commit funding right now to tackle urgent problems like deforestation and climate adaptation."

Note:

The shadow foreign secretary suggests that "There are strong arguments for the EU to make a single global offer channelling such funding through the EU budget, as the best and most constructive way forward."

Set against Hague's criticism of the EU should be the fact that it has been instrumental in encouraging countries including the UK to commit to emission reductions, and has played a significant role in promoting the renewable energy industry across the continent. However, politicians have failed to put their money where their mouths are, especially considering the number of speeches devoted to climate change by European leaders.

Funding for forest protection

John Sauven said:

"William Hague is right to recognise that the market will not deliver cash to protect forests before 2020, and that public funding is needed now. The UK must commit a substantial level of money immediately, because without this there may be no forest left to protect in the future."

Notes:

A report from an international group, co-chaired by the UK government and called 'The Informal Working Group on Interim Finance for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation' recently estimated that if financing of €15-25 billion were made available between 2010-15, global deforestation rates could be cut by 25%, or 7Gt of carbon dioxide equivalent. (1)

Illegal Timber

John Sauven said:

"The EU has moved too slowly to ban the importation of illegal timber into the UK, so the Conservative proposal to introduce UK legislation is welcome news. We must now make sure that any new law requires companies to prove the origin of the wood they use and is tough enough to take meaningful action against those that break the rules."

Notes:

Illegal timber remains a significant problem in the European and UK markets. New EU regulations will improve the situation but the timetable for their introduction is proving to be slower and overall strength weaker than had been hoped. A complete solution to the problem of illegal timber requires effective Europe-wide laws. In the absence of a complete European response and subject to the detail, the proposals announced by William Hague signal a step in the right direction.

Greenpeace background document: www.greenpeace.org.uk/forests/destructive-and-illegal-logging

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT THE GREENPEACE PRESS OFFICE ON 0207 865 8255

FOOTNOTES

(1) www.rainforestsos.org/page/-/pages/pdfs/IWG-IFR-Summary_final_ENGLISH.pdf

We always thought that the government's economic case for the third runway at Heathrow was flawed. Particularly so given their plan to only allow use of half of the runway's capacity if environmental targets weren't met.

And it turns out we're not alone in our belief. Yesterday this line of argument received some unlikely support from Lord Clive Soley, the campaign director of aviation lobbyists Future Heathrow.

He said on the Today programme:

"... if the airport doesn't meet the pollution restrictions including noise, then they have to reduce the use of the runway until they come within that level... my conviction is that they will actually reach it anyway because of all the technical and other developments that are taking place but really even if they didn't, think the worst possible case, then in that case the runway cannot be used to it's full extent - in those circumstances you might say that it wouldn't make economic sense, but I'm convinced that they will meet it..."

So... He's agreeing that the economic case for the third runway doesn't stack up if the runway doesn't run at full capacity. This is significant. (Even though we reckon the economic case barely stacks up even with full-capacity operation.)

Lord Soley has faith in what he calls, intriguingly, ‘technological developments and indeed, other developments', which will cut emissions from planes, squaring the circle of how to have more flights at Heathrow with reduced overall emissions.

The government predict that these hypothetical emissions reductions will emerge over the next ten years, and allow an expanded Heathrow to pass their emissions tests.

'Technological and other developments'.We can only speculate what Lord Soley means when he talks about ‘other developments' - what development would mean more flights but less emissions? Possibly Future Heathrow have a plan to breed some sort of Avatar-style flying bird lizard as an alternative to short-haul flights, we'll let you know if we see any.

Anyway, at least the technological developments argument is well-trodden. The idea is that having more flights doesn't increase emissions because the planes are more efficient - so each flight produces less carbon.

The aviation industry, who generously pay for Lord Soley's interventions on the Today programme, reckon they can reduce emissions from planes by 2% a year. The government reckon that 1.5% per year is more reasonable.

The Committee on Climate Change, the independent experts who were specifically tasked to look into this issue by the government, reported back after about a year of work saying they thought that 0.8% per year was a likely bet.

And herein lies the problem. The government say that planes are going to get more efficient about twice as fast as the CCC's assessment. And the industry (quelle surprise) is predicting even faster than that. (Although the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution said they were being ‘clearly aspirational', which is kind of a polite way of saying it's never going to happen.)

The issue for Lord Soley is that the experts don't seem to agree with him that an era of massively increased capacity at Heathrow with lower emissions is just around the corner. It's unlikely a third runway at Heathrow would pass the environmental tests the government claims it's going to enforce.

That means that a third runway at Heathrow would, if you believe the government would enforce these tests, never be run at full capacity.

And according to Lord Soley, (and us) that means that the economics of Heathrow will never make sense.

Update: Tim at FullFact points out that Lord Soley's claims about the majority of people in west London supporting a third runway are a bit suspect.

UPDATE: Thursday - Day 3

The third and final day in the high court turned out to be the best one so far.

The government's barristers continued to try to defend the statistics that the Department for Transport had used to support the case for a third runway, and it turned out to be a bit of a minefield for them. (Perhaps because the statistics were basically pretty shoddy.)

At one point a somewhat annoyed judge asked whether the government accepted that their figures of how many passengers they could fit on the tube were wrong. (He was referring to the creative accounting that had suggested you could fit 4 people plus luggage into every tube carriage square-metre.)

The government's lawyer, squirming slightly, replied that he couldn't say either way, which didn't go down too well.

On the climate part of the argument, the judge noted that the climate bill changed the policy context in which government decisions, like the one to build a runway, were made. This is great - a key part of the argument we've been making is that the decision to build a third runway just can't be squared with a commitment to cut carbon emissions and deliver a low-carbon economy, and the judge said that the Climate Change Act 'seemed... to be a very significant part of the context of the Heathrow decision'. A good sign.

We're hoping to get the ruling by mid-March, but it could be before then, so we'll keep you posted...

UPDATE: Wednesday - Day 2

This morning, our lawyers wrapped up presenting our side of the case.

Most of the climate change arguments were covered yesterday, and today we moved onto the ‘surface access' part of the case.

This part of the case follows a theme you'll all be familiar with - how the government conjured up some slightly suspect figures in an attempt to prove that you could cram the millions of extra passengers generated by a third runway onto the tube, roads and trains. Well, that's my understanding of it anyway - the lawyers said it a lot more eloquently.

Highlights included our barristers unraveling the Department of Transport's assumptions about how many people you can (in theory) fit in a tube carriage. According to the government you can fit four people per square meter, including their luggage.

The judge didn't look convinced.

This afternoon, it was the turn of the government's lawyers to try and convince the judge. According to a text I've just received from Anna they're having a hard time.  

DAY 1:

Today we (along with local councils, other NGOs and residents threatened by Heathrow expansion) took the government to court for a Judicial Review of the planned third runway at Heathrow.

In a judicial review, two teams of lawyers argue the toss over a complicated issue of importance - in this case, whether the government had conducted the consultation over Heathrow expansion properly, and whether their plans to balance environmental impact with aviation expansion stacked up. 

First up, there was a good piece on the Today programme this morning about the Judicial review.

Then, when I got to the court, the front of the building was thronged with local Heathrow residents, environmental campaigners, local councillors and Alistair McGowan holding a 'No third runway sign'. Pretty impressive, considering the driving cold which drove me inside pretty quickly. The sole campaigner who had turned up early to cheer for Simon Singh looked a bit mystified.

Unfortunately, given that I was looking for some warmth and comfort the court had been designed a) to accommodate significantly less people than turned up and b) in 1875 - the cramped public gallery was massively uncomfortable.

During the course of the day our lawyers outlined the issues in meticulous detail. We heard our lawyers running through how the understanding of climate change as an issue of importance had improved massively since the publication of the 2003 aviation white paper, how the Committee on Climate Change's advice to the government in December 2009 had undermined the government's own case for the runway, rather than strengthening it, how the public consultation process had precluded a proper appraisal of the final plans for controlling environmental damage from a third runway, and a run-through of the flawed economic case for the runway.

The Times has probably the best summary:

Nigel Pleming, QC, told the High Court in London: "There was a consultation process here, but the decision that was made was fundamentally different from the subject matter of the consultation.

"That decision was such that it was conspicuously unfair to make the decision without giving the claimants the opportunity to make further representations."

He said that if congestion and the environmental impact of expansion had been properly accounted for, the economic benefit of expansion would fall from £5.5 billion, as set out by Government, to just £0.9 billion.

There's more reporting of the day's events here -  the wire service, and here with commentary from Susan Kramer, the Lib Dem MP, who remarks that you've got to take the government to court to even find out what their environmental policy is.

The trial continues tomorrow.

Geothermal heating process is widely used from Roman times as it is way of heating buildings. By utilizing sources of hot water and hot steams which exist near the earth's surface. Where such resources of geothermal are available, it is possible to distributes hot water or steam to multiple buildings. This technique is used throughout the world in location such as Reykjavik, Iceland and Boise, Idaho, USA which is known as District Heating.

Now days the term Geothermal heating has frequently been used to refer to the heating and cooling that can be achieved through the use of Geothermal Heat Pump.

Closed Loop System in which the fluid circulates through the loops fields' pipes. There is no correct interaction between the fluid and the earth. There is heat transfer only across the pipe. There are different kind of closed loop such as vertical, horizontal, slinky and Pond.

Vertical Closed Loop Field: This loop is composed of pipes that run vertically in the ground. Where hole is bored in the ground, normally 150 to 250 feet deep in to the ground with a U shaped loop placed inside the hole. A vertical loop being used when there is a limited square footage of land available.

Horizontal Closed Loop: This loop is composed of pipes that run horizontally in the ground. A long trench being dug which is deeper than the frost line, where dug and U shaped coils are placed horizontally inside the same trench. A trench which is made for horizontal loop is similar to slinky loop field. The width of loop strictly depends on the how many loops installed. Horizontal loop fields are very common. Horizontal loop are economical if there is adequate land available.

Slinky Closed Loop: This loop field is also in Horizontal orientation, in this pipes are overlay each other. Very easy way of picturing Slinky fields is to imagine holding a slinky on the top and bottom with your hand and then move your hands in opposite directions. Slinky Closed Loop being used when there is not sufficient space to install horizontal system.

Closed pond loop: Closed Looping has been becoming increasingly popular. It is achieved by placing coils of pipe at the bottom of an appropriately sized pond or water source. Closed Loops system has been promoted by the DNR (Department of Natural Resources); who support geothermal systems and the use of ponds for geothermal systems. Closed Loop field is for a 12-ton system, it is unusually large for most residential applications. A pond loop is extremely similar to a slinky loop, except that it is attached to a frame and located in a body of water versus soil.

Related posts:

1. Horizontal Installed Loop Field
2. Horizontal Closed Loop
3. 18 10slinky Closed Loop Field

Research is constantly being done on global warming. The research is being done by studying statistics and by going directly to the source. Various scientists are coming up with different answers to the most basic questions about global warming.

Some scientists studying global warming in the Arctic have discovered thinning sea ice near the northern reaches of Alaska. The summer of 2007 showed the least sea ice since sea ice was first tracked in 1979. Scientists participating in the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's Gyre Exploration Project cruised aboard the Canadian Coast Guard's ship, the Icebreaker, to see the effects of global warming for themselves.

When they reached the area where ice would usually be the thickest and heaviest, the ship sailed right through. When they did see ice, it was in a state of disintegration because of global warming. Most of the ice remaining was young ice, which is more vulnerable to thaw. The scientists took their data home to analyze during the colder months.

Another group, with the Arctic Modeling Group and the IJIS Research Group, set sail along the Alaskan coast in the Chukchi Sea. Their mission was to study different variables of the ocean water that might affect phytoplankton. They found that the water was warmer than the satellite statistics. The satellite showed 10 degrees Celsius, while their measurements showed 14 degrees Celsius. This is an example of global warming.

One study was done linking the Russian peat bogs with global warming. The bogs produce a large amount of methane gas. According to carbon dating that was done, this has been the case since the last ice age. Since methane is one of the greenhouse gases, this impacts global warming.

However, the studies also show that the peat bogs absorb carbon dioxide at an impressive rate. They contain the largest carbon stores on the planet. If the peat bogs dry up due to global warming, they would release this carbon dioxide into the air. The trade-off of carbon dioxide for methane would not be a good one, since methane stays in the atmosphere a shorter time.

Researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography have been busy proving that humans bear some culpability for the climate change in the oceans. They have done this both by observing and noting evidence, and by constructing computer models.

The computer models are based on the evidence that they do have, so they are thought to be quite accurate. With all the data in place, the evidence seems to point to definite global warming events. It also makes it clear that humans have played a part in causing this phenomenon.

An MIT professor has studied the effects of warming waters on hurricanes over the last fifty years. He studied statistics from past storms and generated computer models to test his theory. His specialty is meteorology, so his take on global warming is of interest. He found that the hurricanes have indeed been getting stronger since 1970.

Research is important to the field of global warming studies. It is only by knowing the problem in precise detail that people can adequately confront it.

Related posts:

1. How And Why You Should Research Global Warming
2. The History Of The Movement To Stop Global Warming
3. The Ipcc Reports On Global Warming

An emissions performance standard would mean no more unabated power stations.

We almost did it. Thousands of you emailed your MP via our website, WWF's, and with online campaigners 38 degrees. And they listened, and turned out to vote, and we almost secured an emissions performance standard - a legal limit to pollution which would have stopped dead any future plans to build dirty, unabated coal power stations.

The problem was this: Despite Ed Miliband's clear concerns about coal emissions, the government have been firmly resisting setting a legal limit on power sector pollution.

Even though it's been a step forward, government coal policy still risks handing piles of cash to power companies to research carbon capture and storage with no regulatory guarantee that power plants will actually be cleaned up. It's a high stakes gamble - because if CCS doesn't work, then we're back to square one.

An emissions performance standard would provide a legally binding insurance policy to help ensure future emissions are curbed, no matter what.

Ed Miliband really should have just adopted the standard - but since he refused, it came to a vote in Parliament on Wednesday night. And the result was massively, massively close. 27 Labour MPs rebelled against the government, and in the end, the amendment to the energy bill that would have delivered an emissions standard was only defeated by 8 votes.

So, who were the heroes of the night?

Alan Simpson, for tabling the amendment calling for an emissions performance standard in the first place. His suggestion would have effectively ruled out any future plans for unabated coal plants. It was a good idea, and it would have provided some strong signals to the energy industry about the future of energy provision in Britain. It's a shame that Mr Simpson is standing down at the next election - he's been a great advocate for the climate - but at least he'll get to spend more time in his eco-house.

It was great that 27 Labour MPs rebelled against the government and supported the amendment. That's a big rebellion, especially close to the election, and shows how important the issue is to progressives.

The Tories deserve some praise as well. David Cameron and lots of his MPs came out to bat for the amendment, even including the self-declared climate skeptic John Redwood. (You see, a low-carbon economy is a good idea whatever your other beliefs.) Great stuff from the Conservatives, and it provides some reassurance that even with the grumbling about green issues from some parts of his party, David Cameron was able to get most of his team to vote the right way. Most but not quite all - the positive effort was tempered by the 39 Tory MPs who didn't turn up.

And the villains?

Well, villains might be a bit strong. But weirdly, it looks like the Liberal Democrats have really dropped the ball on this one. They've had a very progressive policy on coal, including supporting an emissions standard. But the hard truth is that when it came to a vote 13 liberal democrats, including 9 of their front bench, didn't bother to turn up. That's about a quarter of their MP's. So what happened? Our campaigners spoke with their advisers, and we know they feel they made a mess of this one. We're sure that with the benefit of hindsight they'd have done thing differently, but lest we forget, the amendment was only defeated by 8 votes.

Although the proportion of Lib Dem MPs not voting was the same as the Tories, we usually expect more of them. If I was a Liberal Democrat MP with a passion for environmental issues - and they do exist, in significant numbers - I'd be feeling pretty embarrassed today. As a response to getting it wrong this time, it'd be good to see the Lib Dems giving some serious profile to their environmental commitments - pushing the other parties on issues like tar sands, and having senior people like Vince Cable making the economic and competitiveness case for clean energy investment in the UK.

In conclusion...

THANKS! Thousands of you emailed your MP telling them to support the amendment - and at very short notice. I also get that ‘emissions performance standard' is a bit of a dry issue, so that so many of you put pressure on policymakers is really immense. We were up against powerful special interests - the CBI and E.ON for example, who were lobbying hard - but we gave them a good run for their money.

The close result and Tory support for the amendment means there's now more space to pursue emissions standards post-election. And the breadth of support for the issue is a strong signal that whichever party forms the next government the future for highly polluting power stations in this country is very, very uncertain.

We're definitely coming back to this one.

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Green Daily

There are a lot of unknowns concerning the upcoming plug-in vehicle market expansion, but we don't often hear that we might have too many lithium-ion batteries in the coming decade. Nonetheless, that's what a new report from Roland Berger Strategy Consultants called "Powertrain 2020: Li-ion batteries - The next bubble ahead?" suggests. Specifically, RBSC believes that the U.S. and Japan are building so much li-ion battery making capacity that, between 2014 and 2017, we'll see "significant overcapacity" relative to the demand. RBSC writes:

Given the announced investments, capacity in 2015 will already reach 200% of the demand projected for 2016. In addition, not all investments have been announced; as-yet unknown investments by key players will lead to further overcapacity, and national subsidies will stimulate even more investments.

Who'da thunk it?

All of this overcapacity, RBSC says, will severely decrease the number of battery manufacturers that will be able to survive. In fact, RBSC predicts that just six to eight "global battery manufacturers" will survive through that timeframe, out of about 60 today.

[Source: Roland Berger Strategy Consultants via Green Car Congress]

Will there soon be "significant overcapacity" in global lithium-ion battery market? originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 19:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

LedItLight presents a led lamp in a GU10 fitting. This lamp emits a warm white light.

This article shows the measurement results. Many parameters are also found in the Eulumdat file.

See this overview for a comparison with other light bulbs.

Summary measurement data

parameter	meas. result	remark
Color temperature	2791 K	Warm white
Luminous intensity Iv	567 Cd	Measured straight underneath the lamp
Beam angle	29 deg	Valid for all C-angles as there is symmetry along the 1st axis.
Power P	5.0 W
Power Factor	0.51	For every 1 kWh net power consumed, there has been 1.7 kVAhr for reactive power.
Luminous flux	188 Lm
Luminous efficacy	37 Lm/W
CRI_Ra	84	Color Rendering Index.
Coordinates chromaticity diagram	x=0.4533 and y=0.4099
Fitting	E27
PAR-value	5.6 μMol/s/m2	The number of photons seen by an average plant when it is lit by the light of this light bulb. Value valid at 1 m distance from light bulb.
PAR-photon efficacy	0.4 μMol/s/We	The toal emitted number of photons by this light, divided by its consumption in W. It indicates a kind of efficacy in generating photons.
S/P ratio	1.2	This factor indicates the amount of times more efficient the light of this light bulb is perceived under scotopic circumstances (ow environmental light level).
D x H external dimensions	50 x 54 mm	External dimensions of the lamp (D = diameter).
D luminous area	40 mm	Dimensions of the luminous area (used in Eulumdat file). This is equal to the diameter of the circle at encloses all three leds at the front
General remarks		The ambient temperature during the whole set of measurements was 23-25 deg C. The temperature of the lamp gets about 45 degrees hotter than ambient. Warm up effect: during the warm up time the illuminance decreases with 15 % and the consumed power with 4 %. Voltage dependency: the power consumption and illuminance do not depend significantly on the voltage when it is varied from 200 - 250 V.
Measurement report (PDF)	tbc
Eulumdat file		Right click on icon and save the file.

Overview table

The overview table is explained on the OliNo website. Please note that this overview table makes use of calculations, use this data with care as explained on the OliNo site. E (lux) values are not accurate, when within 5 x 40 mm = 200 mm. Within this distance from the lamp, the measured lux values willl be less than the computed values in this overview as the measurements are then within the near field of the lamp.

Eulumdat light diagram

This light diagram below comes from the program Qlumedit, that extracts these diagrams from an Eulumdat file. It is explained on the OliNo site.

The light diagram giving the radiation pattern.

It indicates the luminous intensity around the light bulb. The directions C90-C270 and C0-C180 give the same result as there is a symmetry along the 1st axis.

Illuminance Ev at 1 m distance, or luminous intensity Iv

Herewith the plot of the averaged luminous intensity Iv as a function of the inclination angle with the light bulb.

The radiation pattern of the light bulb.

This radiation pattern is the average of the light output of the light diagram given earlier. Also, in this graph the luminous intensity is given in Cd.

These averaged values are used (later) to compute the lumen output.

Intensity data of every measured turn angle at each inclination angle.

This plot shows per inclination angle the intensity measurement results for each turn angle at that inclination angle. There normally are differences in illuminance values for different turn angles. However for further calculations the averaged values will be used.

When using the average values per inclination angle, the beam angle can be computed, being 29º.

Luminous flux

With the averaged illuminance data at 1 m distance, taken from the graph showing the averaged radiation pattern, it is possible to compute the luminous flux.

The result of this computation for this light spot is a luminous flux of 188 Lm.

Luminous efficacy

The luminous flux being 188 Lm, and the power of the light bulb being 5.0 W, yields a luminous efficacy of 37 Lm/W.

Electrical properties

A power factor of 0.51 means that for every 1 kWh net power consumed, a reactive component of 1.7 kVAr was needed.

Lamp voltage	230 VAC
Lamp current	43 mA
Power P	5.0 W
Apparent power S	9.8 VA
Power factor	0.51

Of this light bulb the voltage across ad the resulting current through it are measured and graphed. See the OliNo site how this is obtained.

Voltage across and current through the lightbulb

The higher harmonics of the current are computed.

The squared amplitudes of the higher harmonics of the current through the lamp

There are no limits for the harmonics for led lighting equipment <= 25 W.

The Total Harmonic Distortion of the current is computed as 170 %.

Temperature measurements lamp

Temperature image (overview) of the light bulb

Tape was used on the housing to get a known emissivity.

status lamp	> 2 hours on
ambient temperature	24 deg C
reflected background temperature	24 deg C
camera	Flir B-CAM Western S
emissivity	0.95(1)
measurement distance	0.2 m
IFOVgeometric	0.7 mm
NETD (thermal sensitivity)	100 mK

⁽¹⁾ The emissivity is set at 0.95 which is close to the value of the masking tapes used.

The base gets hot with 68 deg C.

Color temperature and Spectral power distribution

The spectral power distribution of this light bulb, energies on y-axis valid at 1 m distance.

The measured color temperature is about 2800 K which is warm white.

This color temperature is measured straight underneath the light bulb. Below a graph showing the color temperature for different inclination angles.

Color temperature as a function of inclination angle.

The measurement of CCT is measured for inclination angles up to 52.5º, since beyond these angles the illuminance was value low (< 5 lux).

The beam angle is maximally 29º, meaning a 14.5º inclination angle. In this area the majority of the light is present. The variation in correlated color temperature in this area is < 1 %.

PAR value and PAR spectrum

To make a statement how well the light of this light bulb is for growing plants, the PAR-area needs to be determined. See the OliNo website how this all is determined and the explanation of the graph.

The photon spectrum, then the sensitivity curve and as result the final PAR spectrum of the light of this light bulb

parameter	value	unit
PAR-number	0.5	μMol/s/m²
PAR-photon current	1.8	μMol/s
PAR-photon efficacy	0.4	μMol/s/W

The PAR efficiency is 65 % (valid for the PAR wave length range of 400 - 700 nm). So maximally 65 % of the total of photons in the light is effectively used by the average plant (since the plant might not take 100 % of the photons at the frequency where its relative sensitivity is 100 %).

S/P ratio

The S/P ratio and measurement is explained on the OliNo website. Here the results are given.

The power spectrum, sensitivity curves and resulting scotopic and photopic spectra (spectra energy content defined at 1 m distance).

The S/P ratio is 1.2.

More info on S/P ratio can be found on the OliNo website.

Chromaticity diagram

The chromaticity space and the position of the lamp’s color coordinates in it.

The light coming from this lamp is on top of the Planckian Locus (the black path in the graph).

Its coordinates are x=0.4533 and y=0.4099.

Color Rendering Index (CRI) or also Ra

Herewith the image showing the CRI as well as how well different colors are represented (rendered). The higher the number, the better the resemblance with the color when a black body radiator would have been used (the sun, or an incandescent lamp). Practical information and also some critics about the CRI can be found on the OliNo website.

Each color has an index Rx, and the first 8 indexes (R1 .. R8) are averaged to compute the Ra which is equivalent to the CRI.

CRI of the light of this lightbulb.

The value of 84 is higher than 80 which is considered a minimum value for indoor usage.

Note: the chromaticity difference is 0.0004 indicates the distance to the Planckian Locus. There is no norm yet that states what the max deviation from white light is allowed to be.

Voltage dependency

The dependency of a number of lamp parameters on the lamp voltage is determined. For this, the lamp voltage has been varied and its effect on the following light bulb parameters measured: illuminance E_v [lx], the lamppower P [W], the (Correlated) Color Temperature [K] and the luminous efficacy [Lm/W].

Lamp voltage dependencies of certain light bulb parameters, where the value at 230 V is taken as 100 %.

The illuminance and consumed power do not vary significantly when the voltage is varied.

When the voltage at 230 V varies with + and - 5 V, then the illuminance varies ≈ 0.2 %, so when abrupt voltage changes occur this effect is not visible in the illuminance output.

Warm up effects

After switch on of a cold lamp, the effect of heating up of the lamp is measured on illuminance E_v [lx], color temperature CT or correlated color temperature CCT [K], the lamppower P [W] and the luminous efficacy [lm/W].

Effect of warming up on different light bulb parameters. At top the 100 % level is put at begin, and at bottom at the end.

The warm up time is about 25 minutes. During that time the illuminance decreases with ≈ 15 %. and the consumed power with 4 %.

Image: complements of Duluth Timber NBC's coverage of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games has drawn comments from the sidelines, ranging from How We Hate NBC's Olympics Coverage: A Statistical Breakdown to NBC delivers the goods in Winter Games coverage. We will stay out of the content debate, but we want to share one thing NBC did right: they hooked ...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Expect a hundred comments about how climate change is a hoax, reminding us of how much snow fell this month, the non-shrinking glaciers or hacked emails. They will probably be from people who will not even bother reading Al Gore's long op-ed in the Sunday New York Times. If they did, they would find that he addresses all of these issues. To summarize it, he writes:

• If only it were true, it would be a great relief;
• The errors in the reports and the emails are embarrassing, but do not change the overall picture;
• Global warming puts more moistu...Read the full story on TreeHugger
  
  
  

Leeches drink blood until they're full and then fall off of their host, but our plugged-in gadgets keep drinking electricity even once they're fully charged.  The Outlet Regulator changes this by ejecting the plug from the electricity source once the gadget is done charging, turning vampire electronics into leeches.

Designed by Conor Klein, a student at Rhode Island School of Design, this device solves a dilemma faced in every home.  We all want to prevent frivolous energy use by leaving gadgets plugged in too long, but it's almost impossible to unplug your devices at the exact point they're done charging.  The Outlet Regulator takes care of that for you as demonstrated in the video above.

The product works by using a timer circuit and electromechanics to eject its plug which disconnects your device from the wall outlet, stopping electricity consumption.

This is an example of a design where you think, "how has no one thought of this before?"  It's such an obvious solution and could easily be adopted by everyone.  Hopefully we'll see this product on shelves soon.  My only qualm is this:  why must these things alway involve blood?

via Engadget

The state of New York has opened up its electrical grid allowing further net-metering with the passage of a bill in the state legislature following a "Net Metering Summit" in the state last year. Among other provisions, the new regulations cap interconnect fees for small facilities under 25 kW, and allow non-residential wind- and solar-power projects to participate in net-metering arrangements.

The new law also helps move New York closer to its '45 by 15' goal which targets the State meeting 45 percent of its electricity needs by 2015 through increased energy efficiency and renewable energy.

Net-metering provisions in state laws are one of the fastest ways to speed the adoption of residential and small-scale renewable power production from wind, solar, and other renewable sources. A statement from Adrienne Esposito, Executive Director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment, noted that "Net metering propels us into the 21st century and moves NY forward as our electric meter moves backwards."

via: NA Windpower

images: http://www.flickr.com/photos/moe/ / CC BY 2.0 and Martin Bodman / CC BY-SA 2.0

If you visited EarthFirst last week, you probably noticed something was amiss.

No longer. Today, EarthFirst is introducing a brand new look: brighter, greener, easier to use than before. Our eco future looks better than ever, and we wanted a community to match. Thanks to the WordPress wizardry of fellow green publisher Chris Baskind and his web team, EarthFirst is now as fresh and dynamic as its readers.

If you’re reading this via one of our feeds — in Google Reader, on iGoogle, or some other RSS client — click over to the main site and take a peek.

Faster, simpler, better

The first thing you’ll see is a cleaner, more open look. We’ve simplified the home page to make finding what’s new much easier. There’s a big, colorful features section right up top with the latest articles. Below that, you’ll see what’s still fresh and green. There’s always a cool video and cartoon in the sidebar, and quick links at the bottom to help you find what you need.

One of the biggest changes is in site performance. The old EarthFirst had gotten pretty sluggish. It’s no fun waiting for a page to load — we’re in a hurry, too — so we’ve done some things to make browsing a lot zippier. Hope you notice the difference. We’ll keep an eye on this in the future.

New ways to comment

We’ve never required you register to add your opinions to an EarthFirst article. After all, it’s a hassle to keep up with all the passwords we already have. Why add another?

Along those lines, we’ve adopted the DISQUS (it’s pronounced “discuss”) commenting system. You’ve probably already seen DISQUS-equipped sites around the web. DISQUS allows you to log into EarthFirst, and display your avatar, using many popular online identities. We currently support:

Facebook
Twitter
Yahoo IDs
OpenID

If you don’t have one of these, you can also create a DISQUS ID by registering here. This will also allow you to effortlessly comment at thousands of other blogs and websites — and keep track of those conversations, all in one easy place.

Not interested? That’s fine, too. You’ll find the usual blanks for your name, email address, and website. Comment away, no registration necessary. We will, however, permit authenticated users (people who have logged in through one of the services above) to post their comments to the EarthFirst without waiting for someone to approve their comment. Authenticated comments containing links may still be held for moderation.

Depending on your settings, DISQUS may ask if you’d like to share your comment and our article on Twitter or Facebook. We’d really appreciate this — it helps grow EarthFirst, and gets the word out about green news and causes.

What do you think?

EarthFirst is still a work in progress, and we’ll be adding more content and features to the site through the coming weeks. What would you like to see? A forum, perhaps? Maybe a marketplace, with EarthFirst-reviewed goods worthy of greening your life? Maybe there’s a topic you’d like us to cover in more details.

We want your feedback. Try out the new comment system and sound-off below!

Judging from its launch press release, the Bloom Box “energy server” is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

And perhaps it is. After months of media speculation, Bloom Energy finally took the wraps off its fuel cell technology last week at a press conference featuring such luminaries as California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and former United States Secretary of State Colin Powell. Heavy hitters, to be sure, trotted out to add credence to company’s claim that their new Bloom Box centers will soon provide “clean, reliable, and affordable power 24/7.” Who wouldn’t want that?

What the Bloom Box does

Bloom says its fuel cells convert a number of fuel sources — natural gas or biogas, for instance — into energy through an electrochemical process. This sounds a lot cleaner and sexier than combustion methods of power generation, and Bloom promises to deliver compact 100 kilowatt units in a footprint not much bigger than an automobile parking spot.

The idea is to build decentralized networks of Bloom Boxes, each powering small groups of buildings. Since power transmission is inherently inefficient, the concept moves us one step closer to the nirvana of an “energy internet,” where nodes share and generate energy, not just consume it.

But wait a minute …

With claims like this (and an optimistic launch report by CBS’ 60 Minutes), it’s no surprise that mainstream media reports have been little short of gushing. But not so fast, says Hank Green of the popular CleanTech blog EcoGeek. Despite Bloom Energy’s rosy press release (linked PDF download), there remain some nagging inconsistencies:

The Bloom cell really only runs on one kind of fuel: methane. Where it’s sourced is irrelevant.
The first Bloom energy servers will be ferociously expensive. Claims of quick returns on investment seem unlikely.
Bloom says its cells are even cleaner than renewable sources, such as wind and solar energy. This is patently false.

Hank is still a big fan of Bloom Energy, and we’re looking forward to seeing how this technology develops, too. Read the rest of his comments at EcoGeek. You can see the 60 Minutes Bloom Box report below.

By Ed Mass, President and Founder of Yes It's Organic

We'll look at some numbers in a second but first some personal experience. Yes It's Organic is an online store for organic, fair labor, and eco friendly goods including clothing, organic cotton and organic wool bedding, and other organic and eco textiles. During the fall holiday season of 2008 several of my suppliers actually ran out of stock.

Okay, you may be thinking they didn't do a good job of calculating how much they'd need. Here's the rub. They ordered 100% to 150% more than they did the previous year. That's in a very down economy. Prices of these goods aren't at the very low end of the scale either. I'd say that's great growth.

Remember, this isn't organic food which has gotten a lot of notice. I'm talking about organic and eco friendly textiles including certified organic cotton, certified organic wool, hemp, and bamboo.

It shows an increasing number of people are becoming conscious of the impact on the environment of their everyday purchases. And their willing to make changes.

Now for some interesting numbers. Be patient. You'll be amazed by the conclusion (but don't peak). The amount of organic cotton farmers grew worldwide in 2007/2008 increased 152 percent. This is according to a report by Organic Exchange, title "Organic Cotton Farm and Fiber Report 2008." The report included organic cotton production in 22 countries.

The top ten organic cotton producing countries in order by rank were India, Syria, Turkey, China, Tanzania, USA, Uganda, Peru, Egypt and Burkina Faso. India took over the number one position which Turkey had held for quite some time. The majority of the increased organic cotton production took place in India.

That was the foundation for this next amazing statistic. Organic cotton production has grown to an estimated 0.55 percent of global cotton production. That's all. Even with the above seemingly large increase, and the number of countries growing organic cotton, it's still a tiny fraction of all cotton. That means we've got a very long road, or vast opportunity, to make significant inroads into reducing the huge environmental harm from non-organic cotton farming.

And where does the U.S. stand in regard to its organic cotton production as a percentage of worldwide organic cotton production? According to the Organic Trade Association, it's only 2.1%. That's one reason that U.S. grown organic cotton is sometimes hard to find.

Organic production is based on a system of farming that maintains and replenishes soil fertility without the use of toxic and persistent pesticides and fertilizers or genetically modified seeds.

Announcing Baby Clothing from OBLI Organics

Adorable, Must-See Organic Baby Apparel Just Added To Our Growing Selection

Animal-themed and yoga-inspired, these new baby bodysuits, rompers and sleepwear snuggies in 100% pure, Certified Organic cotton are the latest additions to the baby department.

Intrigued by the surf? Loving hybrids? We've got great new baby and children's apparel to spark your interest from the OBLI Organics Baby Clothing Collection.



Baby bodysuits, children's t-shirts, kimonos, yoga pants, dresses and more! All eco friendly screen-printed on 100% pure, Certified Organic cotton with designs to satisfy your humor and your passions.

Announcing New Organic Women's and Baby Clothes from IDEO - All the Way from France!

Be the first to experience this hot, new, Organic clothing collection from France for women, men and children.

Printed t-shirts and tops in sustainable colors add French flair to your eco wardrobe.

Don't just take it from us, check out the witty new looks in women's clothing and baby apparel, available in the IDEO collection. Just because you want Organic apparel for your family doesn't mean you have to compromise style. These new clothing choices make you smile while promising a cleaner earth.

Regular mopping is a big waste of water because of the constant dirt you’re slinging into the bucket (chagning out the water). It’s also not very efficient because you simply can’t keep a bucket of mop water hot enough to be a super efficient cleaner. With this in mind, folks tend to add chemical cleaners to their bucket of mop water.

In many cases a greener option (beyond a typical mop) is a steam cleaning mop which will get super hot and does save water. However, there are pros and cons.

Pros of steam cleaning mops:

• Use less water than traditional mops.
• Very hot steamy water cleans well so you won’t feel the urge to use chemical cleaners.
• Less work for you – i.e. no changing buckets of water and no wringing out gross mops.
• Can be used to safely clean all types of floors; tiles, wood, marble, slate, and more.

Cons of steam cleaning mops:

• Traditional mops are smaller and take fer materials and resources to manufacture.
• Very few steam mops are made with recycled materials.
• Unlike regular old fashioned mops, there can be ongoing costs – such as the replaceable pads that go on the mop’s end or replaceable water filters.

Choose a greener steam mop:

• Look for the lightest steam mop model you can – lighter = fewer materials.
• A good typical model should heat water in 60 seconds or less and have a good warranty.
• There are a few companies making steam mop with eco-friendly or recycled materials so search around before you buy.
• If your steam mop needs a specific brand of mop pad, try using a reusable, washable microfiber cloth or other washable towel as the mop top instead. This will save money and resources.

One good brand is the HAAN SI-35 Upright Slim Steam Mop (shown above) which cleans sans chemicals and comes with reusable pads vs. non-reusable.

Post from: Blisstree

Steam Mops Save Water & Cut Chemical Use

Green your toilet: Older toilets are considered a major water waster. In recent years toilets have become more water efficient, but if you have an older (not remodeled) home you may want to consider a toilet upgrade. The EPA notes that a good WaterSense labeled toilet can save you $90 per year in reduced water utility bills and $2,000 over the lifetime of the toilet. Also, you may even be able to score a tax credit or rebate for your new toilet which of course allows you to save even more.

Green your cleaning: Most conventional bathroom cleaners are anything but green. Conventional cleaners can be full of chemicals and other icky stuff you shouldn’t be breathing in. You can make homemade green cleaners that work just as well as conventional or choose the best store bought green cleaners you can.

Green your body care products: Switch from chemical body care to natural and organic body care products and cosmetics. It’s not that tough if you make small changes and ease your way into a healthier bathroom. Non-green body products have toxins, chemicals, and weird fragrances and additives that you don’t need. Most green bath and body products have perks like responsible packaging and recycling programs as well. You can save some money and make your own body care products or learn how to choose greener body products.

Green your toilet paper: Aim to find a good recycled brand of toilet paper. You may have a hard time because many brands of recycled toilet paper suck, but the trees you’ll save makes the search worth it. Thus far the best recycled toilet paper I’ve used is the Trader Joe’s brand.

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Blisstree

4 Ways to Green Your Bathroom

Eventually, Congress will get around to “Immigration Reform.”  The process will be all too predictable.  There will be a lot of huffing and puffing from angry old white men trying to conflate the issue with “National Security” and using “invasion” imagery and thinly veiled racism.  There will be lots of posturing about “getting control of our borders.”  Anyone who puts forward reasonable ideas will be subject to attack from the Right and Left. What will probably be missing from the discussion will be the perspective that in the not too distant future, we will need to be actively competing for immigrants.  We will need to shift from talking about how to limit immigration to how finding ways to encourage it.

Read more of this story »

Part 1 in a series where Krates Ng (co-founder of Mokugift environmental rewards) interviews fellow ecopreneurs.  Today, Krates interviews Brendan Gill of PlentyWays.

1) Why did you start PlentyWays?

We’ve always wanted to create an environmentally focused organization and its really our first opportunity to do that.  At school and college we learned about the climate change issue and it became obvious that this issue is going to form a backdrop to our entire lives.  Its already a crucial matter, but it is only going to grow more and more important over the coming decades.  We wanted to be involved with this issue and to do our bit to help.

2) Is there a story about the name ‘PlentyWays’?

These days its very hard to come up with a name.  Finding something short, simple and with an available web address is difficult so when we finally came up with PlentyWays, we were really satisfied.  The idea behind it is that there are plenty of ways to make a difference.  That’s really our guiding philosophy: through the products we make available, the tips we provide, the services we review, we are trying to show people all the ways in which they can do their bit.

3) What was the toughest challenge in getting your company started and how you got over that?

There was a combination of challenges at the beginning.  It took us a long time to come up with our name, we even tried crowd sourcing it and put up a bounty of $200 we were so stumped, but even that proved fruitless.  The second big challenge was picking out the right products to offer our customers.  There are a lot of green products out there now and the number is increasing by the day.  We had to do a lot of research into what we thought were the most popular ones and would be most useful to our users.  Its a lot of work to then build relationships with the companies that make these products as well, which we are still working on.

4) If you had to pick one company in your lineup, which one would you showcase and why?

When people ask me what they can do to go green, the very first thing I ask them is if they have switched from incandescent bulbs to CFLs.  This is the most simple straightforward thing someone can do which is guaranteed to save both energy and money.  Sometimes it can be a challenge to convince people of a more expensive option that is more ecological, but using CFL bulbs is a complete no brainier.  Also people who are waiting for their current incandescent supply to run out before switching to CFLs - a quick calculation will show you that in almost all situations you should switch straight away.

5) How is PlentyWays going to grow in 2010? And how can other ecopreneurs help?

PlentyWays has huge plans!… We are working extremely hard on our blog, which we are going to focus on helping people to go green.  We will keep our ears to the ground on all the latest environmental apps, services and products and review them on our blog making it easy for budding ecopreneurs to take advantage of them.  We also want to provide some apps of our own.  The first we made was a very simple tool to stay on top of the latest green news, which pulls in news from some of the most popular green-focused websites out there e.g. TreeHugger and NY Times Environment.  We also want to work on a system that can monitor the energy and monetary savings people can make with various green goods.  For example, if someone purchases a few CFL bulbs from us, we would like to use the date they purchased to automatically calculate how much energy savings that has resulted in and the effect on their wallet.  It will probably use an average energy cost and an average figure for daily light usage as default, but would allow people to customize the calculation to their situation by entering their cost per KWHr and average light usage.  Stay tuned to our blog for details on all new features.

SSF Contributor Deborah Barnes reports on her visit to The Fashioning the Future Summit that took place at the Centre For Sustainable Fashion at the London College of Fashion...

The Fashion show last night with student designs was amazing with good tunes and gracious hosts. The show was very professional and a delight with a good soundtrack; we've come a long way from the beige hemp canvas that started it all.

This morning, I caught the underground and navigated to the 'circus' of Oxford Circus. The day started with speakers and then we broke into one of 3 groups. I was in the luxury group and discussed topics like: what is luxury and how do we design it, how it has been appropriated by the likes of Gucci and Louis Vuitton who have democratized it with a fast fashion business model, and how now all that needs further debate....thinker's stuff. I have met and will connect back with some great people and a woman from a college in Scotland...who wants to know more of what we do in Seattle and more about fashionRIP! Yahoo! This has been one of the most exciting sustainable related events I have ever been involved with or even attended as a spectator.

The Sustainable Fashion Centre Summit stimulated a slew of lively discussions on fashion as an ethical economic, socially just and environmentally concerned industry while maintaining fabulous design. The three main topics were divided further into 3 groups per topic and lucky me I was in the lively group. It was a joy to be with so many intelligent, talented, caring and responsibly minded people that I am determined to start this kind of support network here in Seattle. Lucky me, I was in the radical group with Orsula de Castro ("From Somewhere") and Kerry Seagen (Junky Skyline") who coined luxserious - the new luxury...where the technique (craftsmanship ousted as a word formerly abused by media!), quality and personality of the designer outrule the license BS and the rest of the evils of the fast fashion curse. My work in recyCouture goes happily along this line as a matter of course! I feel so validated and "hugged" after this expressive, optimistic, mindful, international event!

Here are 5 reasons to get excited about Wheatware guitar picks and drumsticks:
• They reduce our reliance on foreign oil.
• They’re renewable. We have an abundant surplus of American wheat every year.
• They reduce our need for wood and trees, saving our forests, which help to cool the planet.
• They’re completely natural and non-allergenic.
• They’re biodegradable. If you bury them in the ground, they turn to compost in 90 days.

Wheatware drumsticks deliver all the performance advantages of wood, yet are made of a sustainable material. The Wheatware compostable guitar picks offer an alternative to the millions of plastic picks manufactured each year -- without sacrificing performance. Far from being fragile, Wheatware music products can withstand a musicians' beating. And both products are ultra-functional: the picks come in an easy-to-grip design and the drumsticks are slightly textured to resist slippage.

Here's what Violent Femmes drummer Guy Hoffman has to say: "I checked out Wheatware 5A drumsticks. Love those 5A's. That cored out handle, love it. I think they're incredible. The cored out handle makes obvious the difference in weight between that of the handle and that of the shoulder to the tip of the stick. I like the result in that the stick carries more weight toward the tip. Remarkably, they are biodegradable."

Wheatware™ guitar picks won "Best in Show" in the accessory category at the NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) Show in Austin, Texas on July 29th, and the drum sticks won "Trendsetter Award" at the NAMM show in Nashville, summer 2008. The company donated 272 pairs of Wheatware Compostable drumsticks, 3,240 Wheatware Compostable guitar picks, and 4,100 Wheatware Compostable clothes hangers to Live Earth musicians last year.

Affordably priced, Wheatware Bio-Compostable drumsticks are available in two sizes: 5A and 5B. Wheatware Compostable guitar picks come in three varieties: wedged-light, medium, and heavy. Other Wheatware products include Bio-Compostable hangers, multi-use dishes, drink coasters and golf supplies, as well as reusable Wheatware™ Biomass-75 chopsticks, wasabi dishes and disposable flatware. For more information on Wheatware music products, or any of the products distributed by Wheatware.com, check out:

Adapted from Josh's next book The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget: Save Money. Save Time. Save the Planet.

Today, you can enjoy the freedom of being in the driver’s seat while eliminating all of the expense of owning — or leasing — and maintaining a car by joining a car-share service. Zipcar is leading the way. Available in more than 40 U.S. cities, Zipcar lets members locate cars conveniently parked at designated spots around the city and reserve them for an hourly fee (typically between $10.50 and $16.50). Members arrive at the parking spot, swipe their membership card over the windshield sensor to unlock the door, hop in, and go. There’s no need to pay for gasoline or insurance; Zipcar has got you covered. You won’t sacrifice your ride either; Zipcar lets you choose from models like the BMW 325, Mini Cooper, Honda Fit, Volkswagen Jetta, Toyota Prius, Honda Civic Hybrid, Volvo S40, Mazda 3, and Subaru Outback. According to the company’s surveys, over time Zipcar members reduce their car usage by as much as 50 percent. They always have access to cars, but also become more inclined to walk, bike, take public transit, or hop in a taxi (it’s okay, you won’t go to hell for taking a taxi). As for the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and traffic congestion, Zipcar estimates that each of its cars removes the equivalent of about 15 privately owned vehicles from the road.

Other car-sharing services are popping up across the country. Check out CommunityCar.com when you’re in Madison, Wisconsin; HourCar.org when visiting Minneapolis, Minnesota; and PhillyCarShare.org when hanging in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Car-sharing is proving so popular with people who appreciate the convenience of having a car constantly accessible — without having to ask Mom or Dad for permission to use it — that Enterprise Rent-A-Car, the largest rental car company in the world, has started WeCar, a car-share service currently available in St. Louis, Missouri. Not to be outdone, Hertz recently announced its own car-share program called Connect by Hertz. Car-sharing not only reduces vehicle carbon emissions, but also overall consumption. And since cars typically weigh thousands of pounds and require loads of natural resources to manufacture, eliminating the demand for so many cars without sacrificing your ride puts you in the environmental driver’s seat.

Jeff Garlin’s new book “My Footprint: Carrying the Weight of the World” hit the shelves Feb. 23. Best known for his role the in the HBO hit Curb Your Enthusiasm in which he plays a character who is often referred to as “fat f**k” by his on-screen wife, Garlin chronicles his journey to reduce his waistline and his carbon footprint.

“My Footprint” starts with Garlin explaining his reason for the lifestyle make-over and quickly transitions to a daily journal which reveals the difficulty he encountered while implementing the plan.

The first day, Garlin is overcome by the “magical deliciousness” of Lucky Charms and commits to starting following day, noting that he will recycle the box. A few days in, he still struggles with the start – this time cookie dough is his nemesis. He eats an entire roll of sugar cookie dough from the fridge and is forced to run out to the grocery store to replace the sweet treat. When he returns home he drops the grocery bag in a recycling bin.

The comedian writes, “A quick aside here: yes, I hope to lighten my carbon footprint, because I know it is a big one, but I’ve always been obsessed with recycling. I’ll even take things home from work or social events just to make sure they get recycled properly. The thought of some piece of plastic sitting for hundreds of years in a dump somewhere makes me nuts.”

Jeff Garlin, who weighed 320 pounds at his peak, is now down to 260 pounds and hopes to drop another 20-40 pounds.

“The thing that I really want to get across, if there is any message, that it’s not a diet, it’s not a, you wake up and do this, it’s over time it happens,” said Garlin. “And it happened to me over time.”