Living Green

Americans Are Becoming More Environmentally Aware & Conscious Of Their Behaviors

Lynnette — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 18:35:19 +0000

A new national survey of more than 1,000 Americans found that ‘being green’ is becoming more mainstream and has less of a stigma tied to it than it once did.

According to the survey, getting caught littering is more embarrassing to Americans than getting caught cheating on taxes.

Other behaviors that people admit to being socially aware that they’re doing include:

not recycling plastic bottles
driving a vehicles that gets only a few miles per gallon
letting the water run while brushing teeth

It’s clear that it is no longer just a highly motivated ‘few’ who are conscious about their own environmentally friendly actions these days.

Green Gifts: 7 Last-Minute Christmas Present Ideas

Zachary — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 21:19:19 +0000

If you’re like me and totally haven’t been thinking about Christmas this year, perhaps you’re still in need of some Christmas gifts.

Hopefully, I can help you out with this list of last-minute Christmas gift ideas (green ones, of course).

There are all kinds of awesome things to get the greener-minded folks on your Christmas list. The cool thing about giving a green gift to someone who cares about the environment, is that the types of things you may give that person are the types of presents that have that “wow factor”.

They’re the types of presents that the giftee probably wouldn’t ever think to buy for themselves, but totally love when they receive them.

So without further adieu, here’s the list…

Solar in UK Schools

Zachary — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 22:32:06 +0000

This is a really fun new development in the UK. Climate activist group 10:10 is behind it, but really, it’s all about local communities.

The short story: 10:10 has created a website, Solar Schools, where people can easily donate as little as £5 to put solar panels on a local school’s roof.

The organization creates a webpage for each school involved that shows who has donated (unless you want to remain anonymous) and how much, by replacing some of the solar cells with donor photos, names, and statements from them (when you hover over their tile).

Businesses can also get a link to their website on their panel. Here’s a screenshot of the New Christ Church Primary School page as an example (but more fun to just go poke around there)

Facebook Social Energy Efficiency App Coming

Zachary — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 13:09:49 +0000

Energy efficiency holds HUGE potential when it comes to being better stewards of the environment and stopping climate change (well, human-caused, extremely rapid and destructive climate change, that is).

It could also help us save money.

Reportedly, the U.S. could save $700 billions dollars with some energy efficiency improvements.

How much time do we spend thinking about energy and these potential savings, though? The average American spends about 6 minutes per year doing so, according to studies. Yes, 6 minutes per year! (That’s a lot, right?)

3 Tips for Enjoying Your Next Bike Ride

Zachary — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 20:06:10 +0000

Bicycling is actually really hard not to enjoy, and it comes with a ton of benefits, which is why it’s one of the most popular recreational activities in the U.S. (and why some folks bike into their 100s).

But a lot of people still have trouble believing they can bicycle for transportation purposes, or have fears about doing so. The percentage of utilitarian bikers is clearly growing across the U.S., though. Perhaps you’re thinking about joining the green transport trend?

If so, or even if you’re already a bicyclist, here are a few tips to enjoying your next bike ride:

Nature in a Rail Car…Literally

Zachary — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 20:11:46 +0000

As part of this month’s Art on Track festival in Chicago, some greenies with an artistic twinge (or artists with a green twinge) turned the inside of a rail car into a nature wonderland.

The rail car “circled Chicago’s elevated downtown loop for five hours with several additional cars decorated with numerous other art installations,” This Is Colossal writes.

Art on Track was apparently the “world’s largest mobile art exhibition” and I imagine this is the biggest such “nature on a train” exhibit as well.

With grass covering the floor and seats, transit riders’ ride was a little softer than normal. Local, indigenous plants in pots also adorned the seats, window sills, and floor.

Who created the nature car?

7 MORE Cool Solar Power Technologies

Zachary — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 18:18:34 +0000

Following up on my post last week on 7 cool solar power technologies, here are 7 more cool solar power technologies.

1. Solar-powered Cars: I’m not sure if you’ll ever be able to buy a solar-powered car, but some researchers at Japan’s Tokai University and Panasonic, among others, are trying to make it possible, and there are some pretty wicked solar-powered car races out there, like the World Solar Challenge in Australia (the 2011 race is coming up next month — October 16-23).

2. Solar-powered Boats: If there are solar-powered cars, you know there have to be solar-powered boats, too. The largest solar-powered boat in the world is TÛRANOR PlanetSolar (pictured above) designed by Craig Loomes of LOMOcean Design (Auckland, NZ). WWF also has a solar-powered boat it uses for activism and renewable energy education. Check out the video below for more (best if you understand Spanish):

3. Solar-powered Planes: And… if there are solar cars and boats, there are also solar-powered planes. Seriously. The Swiss solar-powered Solar Impulse made its first 24-hour flight last year and made its first international flight this year. But Boeing and the DoD have much bigger goals. They’re working on a solar-powered plane called the Solar Eagle that they think will be able to fly around the world for years without stopping!

7 Cool Solar Power Technologies

Zachary — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 18:22:07 +0000

Solar power is cool, and is very widely supported by the public — who doesn’t support getting our electricity from the sun? But as solar has developed over the years, more and more interesting solar power technologies have popped up. Here are 7 that I think you’ll find pretty interesting.

1. Solar shingles. Want to 1-up your neighbor who just bought a solar power system? Go with some solar shingles! They aren’t available yet, actually, but mass production is scheduled to begin in 2012. Keep your eye out for those.

2. Solar backpacks and briefcases. These have been around for awhile now and there are a number of companies out there offering them. I’ve seen them for sale on Voltaic Systems, Eclipse Solar Gear, UncommonGoods. Looks like a good way to keep your phone, camera, iPod, or other small electronics charged using clean energy, especially if your a camper. Also a good Christmas, birthday, or back-to-school gift.

3. Solar keyboard. Logitech just released a solar-powered wireless keyboard for mac users. One more reason I wish I had a Mac.(The price tag on this keyboard is currently $59.99.

World Solar Challenge

Zachary — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 18:46:55 +0000

There are a ton of cool solar technologies out there or in development these days — solar bikinis, solar-powered 3D printers and cutters, peel & stick solar panels, solar paint, and solar shingles, for example. But, while cool solar technologies are fun, it’s hard to beat a solar vehicle race!

The World Solar Challenge is just that. It challenges people to build the fastest car they can that runs exclusively on solar power… and then drive it across Australia. (That would be 1,864 miles across the desert, from Darwin to Adelaide.)

“To design and build a car capable of crossing Australia on the silent power of nature comprehends the most innovative research and development trends in alternative transport technologies,” the website for the event states.

“The World Solar Challenge is one the most prestigious events of its kind and attracts the world’s best Technical Universities and Colleges.”

In fact, many of the technologies used for this event will end up making their way into normal cars of tomorrow.

Solar Powered 3D Printer and Sun Cutter

Zachary — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 14:01:50 +0000

These are wicked cool. I don’t know their large-scale usefulness yet, and maybe they’ll never be that useful on a large scale, but they are two of the coolest inventions I’ve seen in a long time — a 3D solar printer and a low-tech light cutter.

The inventor demos both of them in the Sinai Desert of Egypt in the videos below.

Solar Sinter — 3D Solar-Powered Printer

Industrial designer and inventor Markus Kayser recently created a solar-powered 3D printer, using cutting edge 3D printing knowledge and a little bit of creativity, that can create objects from one of the most abundant resources in the world, sand, using what is, by far, the largest energy source on earth, the sun.

“In a world increasingly concerned with questions of energy production and raw material shortages, this project explores the potential of desert manufacturing, where energy and material occur in abundance,” Kayser writes.