tagged w/ Carbon Footprint
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If McKinsey‘s believe in it, then even if you are unsure, you’d better get the best briefing you can: these videos may raise just as many questions as answers, but they’re a good starting pointIf McKinsey‘s believe in it, then even if you are unsure, you’d better get... more
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A star is born. And, less than a second later, it dies. On a drab science park just outside the Oxfordshire village of Culham, some of the world's leading physicists stare at a monitor to review a video of their wondrous, yet fleeting, creation.
"Not too bad. That was quite a clean one," observes starmaker-in-chief Professor Steve Cowley. Just a few metres away from his control room, a "mini star" not much larger than a family car has just burned, momentarily bright, at temperatures approaching 23 million degrees centigrade inside a 70-tonne steel vessel.
Cowley sips his coffee. "OK, when do we go again?"
Last year, when asked to name the most pressing scientific challenge facing humanity, Professors Stephen Hawking and Brian Cox both gave the same answer: producing electricity from fusion energy. The prize, they said, is enormous: a near-limitless, pollution-free, cheap source of energy that would power human development for many centuries to come. Cox is so passionate about the urgent need for fusion power that he stated that it should be scientists such as Cowley who are revered in our culture – not footballers or pop stars – because they are "literally going to save the world". It is a "moral duty" to commercialise this technology as fast as possible, he said. Without it, our species will be in "very deep trouble indeed" by the end of this century.
Read the full article at the linkA star is born. And, less than a second later, it dies. On a drab science park just... more
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pdy
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6 months ago
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We’ve been looking for a green engineering video ever since our last article on the subject. This excellent briefing definitely makes up for the wait.We’ve been looking for a green engineering video ever since our last article on... more
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In a place far, far away from here (specifically, Sri Lanka), magic is happening.
A manufacturing house under the control of major British department store, Marks & Spencer (who celebrates their 127th birthday this year) is raising the… bar on eco-friendly fashion. One might say they’re changing the way we see environmentally safe clothing right under our noses (& our blouses).
[This post will be full of 12-year-old-boy-style jokes, so just get used to it.]
Created with the power of the sun, and offset with more than 6,000 trees planted, Marks & Spencer proudly presents the first carbon neutral lingerie.
Autograph Leaves is a collection of bras and panties that might be the most beautiful example of how eco-friendly doesn’t have to mean “boring.” This solar-powered manufacturing facility in Sri Lanka can boast a 30% drop in emissions by using natural energy… And for what little non-eco-friendly processes they do partake in – M&S are happy to plant trees to offset the difference. That comes out to roughly 6,000 trees planted in Sri Lanka every year. Says The Telegraph:
Sri Lanka’s forests are home to approximately 90 per cent of the country’s endemic species but are disappearing at a rate of 1.6 per cent per year.
Not only is the carbon offsetting program employed by this collection helpful on a basic level, but its also helping to preserve a very, very important ecosystem.
…in your pants.
The line includes four bras, three panties and a garter/suspender belt (which looks amazing, does it not?). Marks & Spencer current delivers to the United States and Canada for a bit more than it costs to ship within the UK. See the entire collection here.
Personally, I’d love to see Marks & Spencer team up with Airdye – an environmentally friendly fabric-dying process… With as much sheer black as I end up wearing, white bras are not always the best form of undergarment. Currently, it seems that the collection is only offered in white, but you can bet we’ll be buying in bulk once colors start showing up!
What do you think of this carbon neutral collection?
http://www.awakenedaesthetic.com/2011/04/saving-the-world-two-supported-breasts-at-a-time/In a place far, far away from here (specifically, Sri Lanka), magic is happening.
A... more
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Technology the impactor. How could it be? Carbon runs wild,in the land of the free?
Short animated vid on human impacts to planet: Technology the impactor. How could it be? Carbon runs wild,in the land of the free?
Category: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQeQeHT8P78Technology the impactor. How could it be? Carbon runs wild,in the land of the free?... more
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With over 100 million iPhones sold, Apple is a legitimate tech gorilla. But what's the environmental impact of all those apps?
This got us to thinking about Apple's massive hold on the smartphone market, and how all that dirty energy might trickle down into the carbon footprints of iPhone owners.
Click here to view a tasty infographic that will reveal the impact of your smartphone:
http://ow.ly/4HnzBWith over 100 million iPhones sold, Apple is a legitimate tech gorilla. But... more
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Gore's cleantech fund to finance Tigo Energy Inc., which develops solutions to maximize output by photovoltaic installations.
Tigo Energy Inc. has raised $10 million in its third financing round plus a $10 million credit line from Climate Solutions Fund LP, managed Generation Investment Management LLP, whose chairman is former US Vice President Al Gore. Tigo develops solutions to maximize output by photovoltaic installations.
Tigo CEO Sam Arditi and president and COO Ran Hadar founded the company in 2007. The company is headquartered in Silicon Valley and has a development center in Kfar Saba with 30 employees.
Hadar told "Globes" today that demand is rising for its products, and that proceeds from the financing round would be used to increase production capacity and the company's global sales and marketing network.
The investment from Climate Solutions Fund brings the amount of capital raised by Tigo to $40 million. The company's previous investors are Israel's Clal Energy Ltd. and Israel Cleantech Ventures Funds), Matrix Partners and OVP Venture Partners of the US, and Taiwan's Inventec Appliances Corporation.
Hadar said, "Generation Investment is one of the world's largest cleantech funds, and it recognizes the importance of the electronics of solar energy systems and the growth potential of the sector. The fresh capital will enable us to pick up the pace of our business and greatly expand our product development and production in order to expand our marketing. The investment also demonstrates the recognition of our technology and vision to be at the industry's forefront."
Tigo's product, the Maximizer boosts power output of photovoltaic systems of any size from residential to utility scale by up to 20% by reducing the effects of shade, dust, clouds and uneven temperature on system performance. Israeli engineers developed the technology.
Hadar added, "Israel has 2,000 hours of sunlight a year. Our component turns PV panels into smart panels that add 400 hours of sunlight. This is real news for the industry and it charmed the people at Generation Investment, which decided that it was worthwhile to invest in us."
Tigo has installed several Maximizer at PV systems worldwide, including at a 600-kilowatt facility in California and at a 500-kilowatt facility at Moshav Tagor in Israel. "We're getting good feedback from the people at Tagor, who say that energy exploitation rose 15%. We have a work plan for the period ahead, which includes installing our product extensively in Israel and other countries," said Hadar.
Hadar said that PV installations were being built at a rate of 10 megawatts a month, including in Europe and Asia, which boost Tigo's growth rate multifold. "Our sales grow 400% per quarter. In addition to the latest investment, we have a solid foundation for further development activity. By the end of the coming year, we'll market solar panels embedded with the Maximizer," said Hadar.
Tigo expects $30 million in sales in 2011.Gore's cleantech fund to finance Tigo Energy Inc., which develops solutions to... more
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Marijuana growers are responsible for 1 percent of all energy consumption in the U.S. according to a new report.
Evan Mills, a longtime energy analyst at Lawrence Berkeley National Labs, recently completed a study aimed at quantifying a previously undocumented component of energy demand in the United States: the marijuana industry.
http://evan-mills.com/energy-associates/Indoor_files/Indoor-cannabis-energy-use.pdfMarijuana growers are responsible for 1 percent of all energy consumption in the U.S.... more
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For Hunter Duplantier, the futuristic-looking house that went up last winter on the edge of the University of Louisiana campus in Lafayette stood out among its traditional-looking neighbors. It’s built like a loft, tall and boxy, with a flat roof and oddly placed narrow windows. But the most unusual attributes of the home were the ones he couldn’t see.
The building is the first in the southern U.S. to achieve official certification as a “passive house.” As such, it needs a mere fraction of the electricity it takes to run a conventional home of comparable size. Once it was completed last spring, Duplantier and two other architecture students enthusiastically volunteered to rent the place and monitor its performance. They moved in during finals week, embarking on an experiment in low-energy living that simultaneously harkens back to the super-insulated-house movement of the ’70s and provides a look at how we all might live in a peak-energy future.
“We were just in awe, just overwhelmed with information at first,” Duplantier says. After spending a record-breaking hot summer there, he reports, the home has “held up pretty well so far.”
The 1,200-square-foot home is one of a growing number of passive houses being built around the country in sizes and architectural styles as varied as the climates where they’re situated. A Maryland developer is putting up a 4,400 square-foot McMansion designed to perform like a passive house but look like an American foursquare, those faux farmhouses popularized a century ago thanks to mail-order construction kits sold in the Sears catalogue. In New York City, meanwhile, another architect has embarked on the first-ever passive retrofit of a genuine century-old townhouse.
“It was a challenge,” says Jeremy Shannon, the vice president of Prospect Architecture, P.C., who convinced a couple of Brooklyn homeowners to go passive instead of doing a run-of-the-mill retrofit of their Park Slope brownstone. “We both agreed,” he says of the owners, who want to remain anonymous, “This is going to be a real extreme challenge. Let’s see if we can do it.’”
A Passive Home Primer
Conventional buildings lose inside heat and air-conditioned air via ill-fitting windows and doors and allow outdoor temperatures to seep inside through leaky walls, ceilings and floors. That ratchets up a home’s carbon footprint—and the household energy bills. Builders typically use insulation and tighter-fitting windows to cut down on such air leakage, and increasingly employ one or more of the much ballyhooed stars of today’s rapidly growing U.S. green building marketplace: solar panels, geothermal heating systems, windmills and other so-called “green bling” that reduce a house’s carbon footprint by generating homemade renewable energy.
A passive house offers a different approach—and philosophy—about how to achieve the same low-carbon lifestyle. Instead of reducing emissions by generating alternative power, these buildings simply don’t require much electricity. They are so airtight that it takes little more than the inhabitants’ body heat to warm them up in cold climates, while in hot ones like Louisiana, the emphasis is on not letting the sticky outside air permeate the building’s “envelope,” industry parlance for the four walls, roof and ceiling.
Considering that nearly half of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions come from our homes (48%, to be exact, according the U.S. Energy Information Administration), and that roughly half of the nation’s electricity comes from dirty coal-fired power plants, the passive house building system is a major step forward in the fight against global warming. A certified passive house uses about 90% less energy for heating and cooling than the average home, reducing total energy consumption to between 60% and 70% less than a conventional home, according to the Passive House Institute U.S., an Illinois-based nonprofit group that promotes the building system and certifies U.S. buildings.
“It’s the most aggressive standard in the world for energy efficiency,” says California builder Rick Milburn, contrasting it with U.S. initiatives such as the federal Energy Star program, which requires buildings to perform just 15% more efficiently than conventional homes built to the 2004 International Residential Code.
“It’s a serious commitment,” agrees University of Louisiana Professor Corey Saft, who built the house where Duplantier lives. “You have to be really clear that it’s what you want.” The commitment begins before the foundation is poured, which, for starters, must be sealed off and insulated from the ground below.
Saft says he spent about 30% more on insulation than he would have in a standard construction project but saved on the passive home’s heating and cooling system, which is smaller and less costly than ones used in conventional homes. These houses are so tightly wrapped that they conserve indoor temperatures much better, which means equipment doesn’t have to work as hard to maintain a constant, comfortable environment.
Instead of the standard central air or furnace, the key component of a passive house is its heat-recovery system. As the name implies, heat from the home’s outgoing polluted air is captured via a heat exchanger inside the home’s ventilation units; incoming air is warmed by this exchanger as it enters. The home’s heat is preserved, while still allowing a constant circulation of fresh outdoor air for improved indoor air quality. In parts of the U.S. where cooling and dehumidifying are as much of a challenge as heating, Energy Recovery Ventilators, or ERVs, are being used. Unlike straight heat-exchangers, ERVs also transfer water vapor, which prevents the air from drying out in winter months, and removes indoor humidity during summer months. ERVs allow for one-third of the building’s air to be replaced with fresh air every hour.
Passive house proponents rave not only about the energy savings but also about the fresh air and quietude. “As soon as the windows went in, the house became warm and quiet and peaceful,” says Catherine O’Neill, whose new home in Sonoma, California, built by Milburn, became the first in that state to earn passive house certification earlier this year. She says what really impressed her was that the entire mechanical system fits into a space that she thought would be her linen closet.
Katrin Klingenberg, executive director of the Passive House Institute U.S., who built the first U.S. passive house in 2003 and has lived in it ever since, says her electric bills come to just $25 a month in the summer and $60 to $94 a month in the winter at her 1,000-square-foot home in Urbana, Illinois.
cont.For Hunter Duplantier, the futuristic-looking house that went up last winter on the... more
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It's not often (ever?) that a convention center is anything worth being excited about, but Ireland's new Convention Centre Dublin uses ingenius engineering and an omniscient mother brain to monitor and adjust itself. The result? Zero carbon footprint.
Every aspect of the CCD's design has been finely tuned to prevent waste—despite possessing enough space for a performance hall, giant auditorium, and enough floorspace for 8,000 attendees. Engineers began with 6,000 tons of low carbon concrete. A good start. From there, things take a turn for the higher-tech: sophisticated heating and cooling systems that that use minimal amounts of juice, all linked up to a central computer that monitors environmental conditions in real time and adjusts electricity consumption accordingly.
When the building is stuffed with guests, it even traps their radiating heat and water vapor to be stored for later use. The CCD even produces its own giant stores of ice to tap for a quick cool-off, no air conditioning required. And it doesn't hurt that the place is pretty damn pretty, to boot.It's not often (ever?) that a convention center is anything worth being excited... more
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Climate Cult Indoctrinating Our Kids With Depraved Death Wish
An entire generation is being brainwashed by eco-fascists who think like serial killers
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Friday, October 1, 2010
10:10 Global’s revolting and macabre climate change infomercial, for which the organization has already been forced to apologize for and remove, in which children who refuse to lower their carbon emissions are brutally liquidated in a bloody gorefest, unveils one of the primary goals behind the global warming cult movement – to encourage children to kill themselves in the name of saving the planet.
Click to see ....WARNING! GRAPHIC CLIMATE NAZI VIDEO: If You Don’t Believe Global Warming Hoax, You Should Die!!!...http://ctpatriot1970.wordpress.com/2010/10/04/warning-graphic-climate-nazi-video/Climate Cult Indoctrinating Our Kids With Depraved Death Wish
An entire generation... more
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By the fruit, the tree is known!
Obama is the most “irresponsible” and “hypocrite” POTUS ever! Somebody, please crown him!By the fruit, the tree is known!
Obama is the most “irresponsible” and... more
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Well you can give it a go using the Department of Energy and Climate Change's very own 2050 Pathways Calculator at the link below.
It also helps people understand the trade offs that need to be made in order to make significant improvements.
Have a go and post how you get on below
http://2050-calculator-tool.decc.gov.uk/Well you can give it a go using the Department of Energy and Climate Change's... more
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pdy
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1 year ago
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When we decided in 2007 to voluntarily become carbon neutral(http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/06/carbon-neutrality-by-end-of-2007.html), our intent was to take responsibility for our carbon emissions and promote sustainable environmental solutions. We approach this goal in three ways. First, we minimize our energy consumption; in fact, we’ve built some of the world’s most energy efficient data centers(http://www.google.com/corporate/green/datacenters/index.html). Second, we seek to power our facilities with renewable energy, like we did in Mountain View, CA with one of the largest corporate solar installations(http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/corporate-solar-is-coming.html). Finally, we purchase carbon offsets(http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/carbon-offsets-at-google.html) for the emissions we cannot directly eliminate.
We just completed a substantial 20-year green Power Purchase Agreement that allows us to take responsibility for our footprint and foster true growth in the renewable energy sector. On July 30 we will begin purchasing the clean energy from 114 megawatts of wind generation at the NextEra Energy Resources Story County II facility in Iowa at a predetermined rate for 20 years. Incorporating such a large amount of wind power into our portfolio is tricky (read more about how the deal is structured(http://www.google.com/intl/en/corporate/green/114megawatt.html)), but this power is enough to supply several data centers.
By contracting to purchase so much energy for so long, we’re giving the developer of the wind farm financial certainty to build additional clean energy projects. The inability of renewable energy developers to obtain financing has been a significant inhibitor to the expansion of renewable energy. We’ve been excited about this deal because taking 114 megawatts of wind power off the market for so long means producers have the incentive and means to build more renewable energy capacity for other customers.
We depend upon large quantities of electricity to power Google services and want to make large actions to support renewable energy. As we continue operating with the most energy efficient data centers and working to be carbon neutral(http://www.google.com/corporate/green/footprint.html), we’re happy to also be directly purchasing energy from renewable resources.When we decided in 2007 to voluntarily become carbon... more
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Los Angeles Times told us that Al Gore - who remains at large - has bought a new villa for $8,875,000 in Montecito, just on the Eastern side from Santa Barbara, California.
(Well, I am more familiar with the Western side, around Goleta.)
Click either picture to zoom in. See more better pictures here. A cool visual tour in Flash (incl. interior and music). At the link:
Because it was the 7th most expensive Montecito real estate sale of 2009 and the price exactly agrees (much like other details), it was not hard for your humble correspondent to find the address:
The Top 10 Most Expensive Real Estate Sales in Montecito, CA in 2009
If you possess some excessive gasoline and you don't know what to do with this potential CO2 source, you may find the right answer in front of Gore's villa - assuming that the new owner shows up to sufficiently raise your adrenaline level. The address is
1504 East Mountain Drive, Montecito, CA, 93108 (Google Maps)
The ocean-view villa located next to the famous San Ysidro Ranch (map) on 1.5 acres and built in 2002 has a swimming pool, spa and fountains, a real estate source familiar with the deal confirms. The Italian-style house also has six fireplaces, five bedrooms, nine bathrooms, a guest house including a large entertainment/game room, full length loggia, and a wine cellar.
I am sure that e.g. the six fireplaces are running in reverse, consuming CO2 and creating wood. :-)
See also Al Gore's mansion in Nashville, TN which eats 20 times more electricity than the average household.
More photos and videos at the link:Los Angeles Times told us that Al Gore - who remains at large - has bought a new villa... more
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With the 2010 Soccer World Cup just days away and with the world's eye focused on South Africa, we decided to take an exciting departure for our publication to examine the environmental impacts of the tournament.
Despite FIFA's goal of being "climate-neutral" and their efforts to create Green Goal Programme, without counting the impact of international travel, the overall carbon impact of the 2010 tournament is estimated to be eight times that of the 2006 World Cup in Germany and more than twice that of the Beijing Olympics.
Read our full story: http://gmo-journal.com/index.php/2010/06/04/greening-the-2010-soccer-world-cup-reducing-the-carbon-footprint/With the 2010 Soccer World Cup just days away and with the world's eye focused on... more
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According to some ecologists, there is a growing belief that conservation is not just good for the planet but many also benefit and bring pleasure to humans by doing good things.
Undoubtedly, saving the planet from environmental catastrophe is very important, but one reason many people are not doing their part could be because – much like going through the process of having a teenage girl try to explain the greatness of Twilight to you — while chomping on her gum and texting three of her friends all at once, about how ZOMG! Brad didn’t even look at her when he walked by in the cafeteria today because he’s moved on to some new hussy, who’s “older” and “more mature”, whatever that means — it just doesn’t sound like that much fun.
Activists have frequently told us that things like driving cars, eating red meat and jetting off overseas on holidays should be cut down or eliminated because of their hefty carbon footprints. The only problem being, in a recent survey of 5,000 North American men’s bucket lists, the top three things men want to do most before dying is: drive cars, eat red meat and jet off overseas.
But influential cabin in the woods-based writer Nate Gary has some refreshing news: conservation is not just good for the planet, it can feel immensely pleasurable too.According to some ecologists, there is a growing belief that conservation is not just... more
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Weemz
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1 year ago
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Despite increased awareness about carbon emissions and the ability to quantify it, there is still a gap between pledges of a low-carbon lifestyle and true behavioral change.
The reason, say carbon consultants, psychologists and policy analysts, is that carbon emissions aren't tangible. People can’t see the CO2 emissions from their cars and homes and airplane travel, and most can’t visualize their impact.
Companies and ecopreneurs alike are now testing strategies to change that ...
http://solveclimate.com/blog/20100429/visualizing-co2-making-emissions-tangible-change-behaviorDespite increased awareness about carbon emissions and the ability to quantify it,... more
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