April 16, 2010 by jameslucas.

By Sunshine Chen

Usually, public transport and car pooling is considered a green mode of transport, compared to private vehicles, although for some people a better definition of green transport is one that does not involve non-renewable energy.

Indeed the scope of green transport cannot be limited to electric vehicles and hybrid cars alone. It may also include walking, cycling and other forms of human-powered transport, green vehicles, solar energy transportation, wind energy transportation, water energy transportation, electric transportation, and other forms of renewable energy transportation or alternative energy transportation.

A transportation reform group called the Transportation Alternatives has inspired a green transportation hierarchy which rewards the low cost, space efficiency and zero environmental impact of cyclists and pedestrians. Trucks get priority over personal cars due to scarce curb side parking and for eliminating double-parking problems. The green transportation hierarchy include congestion pricing, the pricing of all on-street parking in Manhattan south of 96th Street, tolls on bridges and tunnels, and parking policies that prioritize commercial needs over personal cars.

The year 2008 had been a good year for green energy transportation. It was in this year when lots of competitors came up with cars that competed with the hallmark hybrid vehicle Toyota Prius. Among these cars include the Ford Fusion, the Mini-e, the Audi A1, and the Honda Insight which had all left a good impression on auto owners who also liked living green. The green car that got the most raves, however, was the Chevy Volt. The Chevy Volt was built by General Motors with the goal of building an electric platform that can be deployed first in the Volt, and then later on to cheaper cars. Many have commented on the irony of having a company that killed the electric car which is now building one to survive.

Key characteristics for a green car can also include being small and efficient. For compact green cars, Nissan’s Nuvu and the robot-assisted Pivo 2 had been launched. Meanwhile Chrysler developed the GEM Peapod while Mitsubishi came up with I-Miev.

Other green cars that aimed to battle global warming that were launched in 2008 include Mazda’s Kiyora, a car that cleans water, BMW’s hydrogen-powered car that cleaned the air as it goes through the city, and the Eco-Elise from Lotus, an energy-efficient vehicle that was created with green materials.

Hungary also introduced their own efficient car -the Antro, which has 150 miles per gallon mileage. Volkswagen, on the other hand launched a 235 mpg concept with the VW 1L. French Microjoule is also hoping to produce an 8923 mile-per-gallon vehicle in the near future.

There are many other means of green transport out in the market. Here are some basic green car tips to remember:

1. Before getting in your car, consider whether you could reach your destination by other means. Walking regularly can reduce your risk of heart problems and other illnesses.
2. Identify your most common destinations, and investigate whether you could get there by bus, train, bike, or walking.
3. Travel to work or school by public transport, walking, or cycling once a week.
4. Investigate the possibility of car sharing. By sharing with one other person, you could half your costs of driving.
5. When driving, get rid of any additional and unnecessary weight, like roof bars or bike racks.
6. Use air conditioning carefully, as this increases fuel consumption by 15%.
7. Change into a higher gear as soon as possible.
8. Accelerate and brake as slowly and smoothly as possible.
9. Drive at slower speeds - driving at 70 mph uses 30% more fuel than driving at 40-55 mph.
10. Have your car serviced regularly - an incorrectly adjusted carburetor can waste up to 25% of fuel. Incorrect tire pressure can increase fuel consumption too.
11. Switch off your engine at short stops (more than one minute).

Sunshine Chen is a seasoned writer, having travelled around the world, largely putting all her experiences and the sights and sounds she has come across to paper. She now writes extensively about topics related to green news, mostly on renewable energy, but also on a variety of related topics as well. When not travelling around the world, she is based in Central Hong Kong, taking in the myriad colours, flavours, and scents of the melting pot that Hong Kong is known for.

Article Source: Sunshine Chen

Green Transportation: How it Helps the Planet Against Climate Change

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April 14, 2010 by jameslucas.

By James H. Hunt

Green living and being more energy efficient is something that everyone has to think about nowadays. Not only is the good of the environment at the forefront of everyone’s minds but the pinch of the recession means that saving money is something that even more people are thinking about that ever. Here are a few easy tips to help you make a start on making everyday life that little bit greener:

1. Unplug, Turn Off & Shutdown: Even when your computer, TV and other appliances are on standby, they’re using electricity! Try to make sure you shutdown, switch off at the mains or unplug electrical items in the home wherever possible. This will also reduce your carbon footprint as it’s estimated that equipment left on standby in the UK produces 3.1 million tonnes of CO2 a year!
2. Give Your Shower a Facelift: Getting a newer and better shower head could save up to 5 litres of water a minute! A new more efficient shower head can use up to a third less water per minute than older models.
3. Eat Locally & Seasonally: So much produce in your local supermarket has been shipped from faraway lands! Shipped by boat, truck, plane or train just think about the amount of greenhouse gases that have been emitted to get that bunch of bananas there!
4. Improve Heat Retention in Your Home: Probably the two most common green home improvements: installing double glazing and loft insulation. Although not as easy as the above tips, these two combined can massively increase heat retention in the home and therefore decrease energy bills therefore reducing your carbon footprint. It’s definitely something we should all think about getting done.
5. Lower the Thermostat: We all know just how cold it can get here in the UK, especially after the winter just gone but turning your thermostat down by just one degree can reduce energy usage by up to 10%.
6. Look After Your Car & Don’t Overfill the Tank or the Boot: If your tire pressures are right and your car is looked after, it WILL run more efficiently. Leaving loads of stuff in the boot and filling the tank to the brim also add extra weight which means more fuel is used. Try to put less petrol in more often and keep the clutter to a minimum and you’ll help save money and the environment.

Increase the energy efficiency of your home with double glazing from Safestyle UK.

Article Source: James H. Hunt

6 Top Tips to Make Life a Little Bit Greener

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October 30, 2007 by jameslucas.

Do You Live In A Green Environment or is Your Environment Transparent?
People today are becoming more concern about the environment and go green environmental services than the last century. Over the century, our environment has gone from green to transparent. Transparent meaning chemical use more and more taking the natural product and turning it to transparent with so many chemicals a person reading the label would hardly find the natural product.

Green Unrest
There was this moment, when I felt overwhelmed all of a sudden, by the immensity of the problem, the amount of information coming at me, and a myriad of feelings, and thoughts. It’s hitting me. Again, This feeling of being overwhelmed by the mass of information coming at me with Green facts and comments on not so green facts. It seems that everyone’s got things to say, to report, an initiative they are working on, participating in, a cool article they found, that somebody else wrote.

Why Not Go Green?
This article will help you with saving money year after year on you energy bill. Go green!

Green Tips
The media are full of tips, on how to become a greener person. Do green tips work? Are people actually using them?

The 11th Hour Time Capsule
Experts from our film record a message for people to watch 100 years from now. More at www.11thhouraction.com.

Tim Carmichael’s Time Capsule
Message to 2100: These videos are answers in response to a question about what you would like to say to people living 100 years from now. Tim Carmichael is Senior Director of Policy. He previously served as President and CEO of CCA for 8 years. Before serving as president, Tim was the policy director, representing the Coalition at conferences, symposiums and in negotiations with the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the California Air Resources Board, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Tim has worked for the Coalition since November 1995. Tim has a wide range of environmental and transportation policy experience. From 1992-1995, he worked for an environmental consulting firm, educating the public on a variety of environmental issues including recycling, water pollution, advanced transportation systems and air pollution reduction strategies. Tim has also worked on public and school education programs that included: educating the media on urban run-off pollution; the link between air quality and our transportation systems; and the air quality and economic benefits of Zero-Emission Vehicles. From 1989-1992, Tim worked in the aerospace industry.

Thom Hartmann’s Time Capsule
Message to 2100: These videos are answers in response to a question about what you would like to say to people living 100 years from now. Thom Hartmann is an award winning, bestselling author, international lecturer, teacher, radio talk show host, and psychotherapist. He’s the creator of the Hunter in a Farmer’s World metaphor to describe the experience of children and adults with ADHD, and the first to propose that ADHD is a neurological difference, which may have adaptive value. His books have been written about in Time magazine, he’s been on the front page of The Wall Street Journal, and been a guest on numerous radio and TV Shows, including NPR’s All Things Considered, CNN and BBC. His book The Prophet’s Way led to an invitation to a private audience with Pope John Paul II in 1998. His book The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight led to a September, 1999 invitation to spend a week with His Holiness The Dalai Lama at his home in Dharamsala, India. A former journalist, editor and executive director of a residential treatment facility for severely disturbed and abused children, he lives in Vermont with his wife Louise.

Theo Colborn’s Time Capsule
Message to 2100: These videos are answers in response to a question about what you would like to say to people living 100 years from now. Theo Colborn, an environmental health analyst, is a Professor of Zoology at the University of Florida, Gainesvillle, and President of TEDX, The Endocrine Disruption Exchange, Paonia, Colorado. Her 1988 research on the state of the environment of the Great Lakes revealed that persistent, man-made chemicals were being transferred from top predator females to their offspring and undermining the construction and programming of their youngsters’ organs before they were born. In light of this evidence, in 1991 she convened 21 international scientists from 17 different disciplines to share their research relevant to trans-generational health impacts. During that meeting, the term endocrine disruption was coined; and a book followed in 1992; Chemically Induced Alterations in Sexual and Functional Development: The Wildlife/Human Connection, a collection of technical manuscripts provided by those who attended the session. The information from this volume and numerous subsequent scientific publications on the result of low-dose and/or ambient exposure effects of endocrine disruptors was popularized in her 1996 book, Our Stolen Future, co-authored with Dianne Dumanoski and J. Peterson Myers now published in eighteen languages. Dr. Colborn’s work has prompted the enactment of new laws around the world and redirected the research of academicians, governments, and the private sector. Dr. Colborn has served on numerous advisory panels, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Science Advisory Board, the Ecosystem Health Committee of the International Joint Commission of the United States and Canada, the Science Management Committee of the Toxic Substances Research Initiative of Canada, the U.S. EPA Endocrine Disruptor Screening and Testing Advisory Committee, and the EPA Endocrine Disruption Methods and Validation Subcommittee. She has published and lectured extensively on the consequences of prenatal exposure to synthetic chemicals by the developing embryo and fetus in wildlife, laboratory animals, and humans. In 1985, Dr. Colborn received a Fellowship from the Office of Technology Assessment, U.S. Congress. From there she joined the Conservation Foundation in 1987 to provide scientific guidance for the 1990 book, Great Lakes, Great Legacy?, in collaboration with the Institute for Research and Public Policy, Ottawa, Canada at the request of the Canada/US International Joint Commission. She held a Chair for three years, starting in 1990, with the W. Alton Jones Foundation, and given a three-year Pew Fellows Award in 1993. Over the years she established and directed the Wildlife and Contaminants Program at World Wildlife Fund US. Among her awards are the: Chatham College Rachel Carson Award, Norwegian International Rachel Carson Prize, United Nations Environment Program Women Leadership for the Environment Award, International Blue Planet Prize, Society of Toxicology and Environmental Chemistry Rachel Carson Award, Center for Science in the Public Interest Rachel Carson Award, Beyond Pesticides Dragonfly Award, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Council for Science and the Environment. Dr. Colborn earned a PhD at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Zoology (distributed minors in epidemiology, toxicology, and water chemistry); an MA in Science at Western State College of Colorado (fresh-water ecology); and a BS in Pharmacy from Rutgers University, College of Pharmacy. In her retirement she has set up a non-profit, TEDX, to carry on the work of providing objective, technical information about endocrine disruption and related low-exposure hazards for academicians, policy makers, government employees, community-based and health support groups, public health authorities, physicians, the media, and individuals.

Ray Anderson’s Time Capsule
Message to 2100: These videos are answers in response to a question about what you would like to say to people living 100 years from now. Since the days after his graduation from the Georgia Institute of Technology as an industrial engineer, Ray Anderson has applied his entrepreneurial spirit to building one of the world’s largest interior furnishings companies. After founding Interface in 1973, Ray and his company revolutionized the commercial floorcovering industry by producing America’s first free-lay carpet tiles. Now, Ray has embarked on a mission to be the first company that, by its deeds, shows the entire industrial world what sustainability is in all its dimensions: People, process, product, place and profits — by 2020 — and in doing so, to become restorative through the power of influence. He’s leading a worldwide effort to pioneer the processes of sustainable development. Ray learned the carpet and textile businesses through 14-plus years in various positions at Deering-Milliken and Callaway Mills, and in 1973, set about founding a company to adapt European technology to produce free-lay carpet tiles in America. He developed a partnership with Britain’s Carpets International Plc. that year and set up operations in LaGrange, Georgia. Ten years later, Interface took over Carpets International. Today, Interface is the world leader in the design, production and sales of modular carpet, and a leading producer of broadloom carpet and commercial fabrics. The entrepreneurial drive and competitive spirit that in 1973 drove Ray to found Interface was the same catalyst for an environmental awakening that has once again transformed an industry. Today, Interface stands at the forefront of a new industrial revolution. The company has reduced its environmental footprint significantly, redesigning processes and products, pioneering new technologies and reducing or eliminating waste and harmful emissions while increasing the use of renewable materials and sources of energy. From corporate offices in Atlanta, Ray serves as Founder and Chairman of a globally positioned company whose core business is still modular soft-surfaced floorcoverings. Interface has diversified and globalized its businesses, with sales in more than 100 countries and manufacturing facilities on four continents. In addition to carpet tiles and broadloom carpet marketed under several brands, Interface also manufactures commercial panel and upholstery fabrics. While Interface is noted in its industry for its commitment to high quality design and innovation, the company is recognized as a leader in the green business movement. Inspired chiefly by Paul Hawken’s treatise, The Ecology of Commerce, Ray heightened the company’s awareness and led changes in technology in an effort to move toward being environmentally sustainable. Admittedly, Interface is not there yet; however, the company is developing processes and technologies to get it there. What this means, primarily, is learning to harness solar, wind, biomass and other forms of green energy and providing raw material needs by harvesting and recycling carpet and other petrochemical products, while eliminating waste and harmful emissions from its operations. Ray believes that if Interface, a petro-intensive company, can get it right, it will never have to take another drop of oil from the earth. The philosophy guiding Ray’s passion for this cause is simply that it is not only the right thing to do, but the smart thing, too. Because the commitment Interface has made is so unique, the community has embraced the company and lauded its efforts. Today, Ray is recognized as one of the world’s most environmentally progressive leaders on sustainable commerce, having served as co-chairman of the President’s Council on Sustainable Development during the Clinton administration; being recognized by Mikhail Gorbachev with a Millennium Award from Global Green in September 1996; receiving in 1996 the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of Year for the Southeast Region and in 1997 as the Georgia Conservancy’s Conservationist of the Year. Ray’s honors also include the prestigious George and Cynthia Mitchell International Prize for Sustainable Development, presented in 2001; the SAM-SPG Sustainability Leadership Award of 2001; the U.S. Green Building Council’s Inaugural Leadership Award, 2002; and the National Wildlife Federation Conservation Achievement Award for Corporate Leadership, 2002. Ray was named a Senior Fellow and Leading Voice for Green and Sustainable Design by the Design Futures Council in 2003, and also received the IIDA Star Award. In 2004, he was honored with the National Ethics Advocate Award from The Southern Institute for Business and Professional Ethics. In 2005 he received the Harvard Business School Atlanta Alumni Club’s Community Leadership Award, as well as a Corporate Ally Award from Possible Woman Enterprises. Ray serves on the boards of The Natural Step, USA; The Georgia Conservancy; Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper; Ida Cason Callaway Foundation; Rocky Mountain Institute; the University of Texas Center for Sustainable Development, and is an honorary advisor to the President of Peking University. He holds honorary doctorates from Northland College (public service), LaGrange College (business), N.C. State University (humane letters) and University of Southern Maine (humane letters).

Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran’s Time Capsule
Message to 2100. These videos are answers in response to a question about what you would like to say to people living 100 years from now. Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran is an award-winning correspondent for The Economist. He joined the magazine’s staff as the London-based Latin America Correspondent in 1992. He opened its first office in that region in Mexico City, and served as bureau chief until 1997. As the newspaper’s Global Environment and Energy Correspondent, he covered the politics, economics, business and technology involved in those topics from 1998 to 2006. His portfolio now includes global health, pharmaceuticals and innovation. Vijay is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and serves on the selection committee for CFR’s annual Arthur Ross Book Award. He teaches at NYU’s Stern Business School, and is a regular commentator onMarketplace radio, in the Wall Street Journal and at other media outlets. He is also the author of a book on the future of energy, POWER TO THE PEOPLE . Harvard’s John Holdren, reviewing the book in Scientific American, called it by far the most helpful, entertaining, up-to-date and accessible treatment of the energy-economy-environment problematique available. Vijay’s next book, ZOOM: The Race to Fuel the Car of the Future, co-authored withEconomist colleague Iain Carson, will be published in autumn 2007. Vijay’s book and magazine articles have received various prizes in America and abroad. He holds a degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was born in Madras, India, and grew up in Cheshire, Connecticut. He now lives in New York.

Tezezemoc’s Time Capsule
Message to 2100. These videos are answers in response to a question about what you would like to say to people living 100 years from now. Former elected representative of the South Central Farmers and spokesperson for the now destroyed South Central Farm. Formally located at 41st and Alameda in South Los Angeles, the South Central Farm was considered the largest urban community farm in the United States. Mayor Bradley originally mitigated the land to the community after the 1992 Rodney King riots. During a period of 14 years the surrounding communities benefited by having access to fresh and healthy produce not available in local or major produce markets. Additionally, the farm provided access to many Meso-American traditional plants that are used for medicinal purposes as well as safe space for children and community events. Some 350 families cultivated the land until Sheriff Deputies evicted the farmers and their supporters and a local developer leveled the land with bulldozers in the Fall of 2006.

Peter Warshall’s Time Capsule
Message to 2100. These videos are answers in response to a question about what you would like to say to people living 100 years from now. Trained as both a biologist and anthropologist, Peter has taken a big-picture view of the complexity of societal/cultural change. While others may work as scientists or activists or artists, Peter has tried Territories Natural history, flora and fauna, watershed ecology. Balancing conservation of natural resources with economic development, especially for water, rangelands, forests, and wildlife. Harmonizing placed-based (local) governance with places-based and global governance and economic networks. Extensive work in environmental impact analysis, conflict resolution, and consensus building with native American, Third World, and corporate communities to bridge these realms as scientist/activist/essayist. He works on all socioeconomic levels and with highly diverse peoples and ecosystems, believing that important beneficial change can come from many unexpected and untapped human sources. He enjoys public service and served in elected office for eight years. Peter has consulted with corporations on improving their environmental practices and long-term visions of what kind of world they want to create. He has a special sympathy toward producers of commodities (loggers, farmers, ranchers, fishermen, miners) as they are the link between the materials flows of our economy and the natural world. His teachers have included endangered squirrels, oil-slicked cormorants, rhesus monkeys and gorillas. He believes music and poetics are central needs of human happiness.

Nancy Jack Todd’s Time Capsule
Message to 2100. These videos are answers in response to a question about what you would like to say to people living 100 years from now. Nancy Jack Todd is Vice President of Ocean Arks International and editor of its journal Annals of Earth; co-founder with John Todd of the New Alchemy Institute, which has been at the forefront of work in appropriate-scaletechnology; author and co-author of many works, including Bio-shelters, Ocean Arks and City Farming. Not only is Nancy Todd well acquainted with the technologies that would lead to a sustainable society in the new millennium, but she is versed in the cultural thinking that underlies and encourages the change in lifestyle necessary to apply those technologies. Trained as a dancer, she is also a perceptive writer and editor. She contributed all the introductory essays to People, Land, and Community: Collected E. F. Schumacher Society Lectures (Yale University Press). She and John Todd have received the Bioneers Award, the Charles and Ann Morrow Lindbergh Award the Daimler/Chrysler award for design, the United Nations (FUNEP) Award, and the Swiss Threshold Award for contributions to human knowledge.

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