SalvaEco

by Worldchanging New York local blogger Amy Shaw: This summer the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum is featuring an ambitious and refreshingly different kind of design exhibition: Design for the Other 90%. The show features ingenious yet low-cost functional objects that, according to the museum, highlight “the growing trend among designers to develop solutions that address basic needs for the vast majority of the world’s population not traditionally serviced by professional designers.” Well arranged in the museum’s magnificent garden, Design for the Other 90% treats the viewer to one good idea after another, in the form of solar-powered portable LED lights, devices that store rainwater for irrigation, and insecticide-treated bed nets to prevent malaria (shown at the bottom). Many of these products are already in use in dozens of countries around the world, including the United States. I found a few products especially useful, economical, and well built. The LifeStraw, shown here, is a portable water-purification tool that one drinks through to turn any still water into drinkable water. The Q Drum, designed to make it easier for people in drought-prone areas to carry water over distances, is a wide donut-shaped container with a rope strung through so that the… (more)

(Posted by WorldChanging Team in Sustainable Design at 1:04 PM)

by Worldchanging Seattle local blogger Deepak Singh: Imagine a home that combines sustainability with no utility bills.  The city of Issaquah plans to build a community of such “zero energy” by 2009. The current plan calls for ten homes to form King County’s first community of solar powered abodes that would, in theory, produce as much energy as they consume. It is safe to say that homes in the U.S.—and anywhere else for that matter— consume a lot of energy. According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), residences contribute to 21% of all carbon dioxide emissions, a number significantly higher than some might expect. As many are already aware, there are severeal ways to reduce energy consumption in homes, not least by turning off unused appliances as covered in this post on shutting down computers. Even with the kind of design planned for the Issaquah community, reaching an “energy neutral” state will take significant discipline from the home owners. Regardless, this is another step in the continuing effort to develop sustainable living standards and to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. The homes are  part of a DOE program encouraging zero-energy home construction. The project called “Building America” has… (more)

(Posted by WorldChanging Team in Energy at 12:58 PM)

A user pointed out this popular media account of a recent Science journal article that finds “the world is now on track to experience more catastrophic damages from climate change than in the worst-case scenario forecast by international experts”. The research found that between 2000 and 2004 global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels increased by three times greater than in the 1990s. The person that forwarded this to me pointed out that “we are beyond A1F1 which with carbon feedbacks [search] means we on track for over +8 degrees C in warming… Over 5.5 degrees C, at this rate of global change, would by best guess be limit of survival for humanity… Coupled with the recent news on the Antarctic Ocean means that IPCC 4 is hopelessly out dated now.” The accumulation of recent science beyond the pondering, politicalized IPCC process would seem to indicate that we have entered a period of abrupt, perhaps run-away climate change that will have severe consequences for the Earth’s future habitability. Most scientists are too cautious to make such predictions — indeed the traditional scientific method seems ill-prepared to counter a once off planetary emergency that threatens the survival of existence. It is well past time for drastic measures if we are to have any chance of fighting global heating and winning. I am dismayed by the helter-skelter of schemes and projects that seek to profit from the situation without offering a vision of what must be done to survive.

Filed under: MPG, BMW, Chrysler, DaimlerChrysler, Ford, GM, Mazda, Mercedes Benz, Porsche, Toyota, Volkswagen, Legislation and Policy

In an effort to sway consumer’s minds when it comes to the types of vehicles they purchase and the regulations concerning fuel mileage of those vehicles, a consortium of automakers is running radio and print advertising in some states. The group, Auto Alliance, consists of General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co., DaimlerChrysler AG, Toyota, BMW, Volkswagen, Mazda, Mitsubishi and Porsche, and is known officially as The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. Their mission: “The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers represents the common interests of its members and provides a forum to enable them to advance public policies that meet consumer and societal needs for clean, safe, efficient, and affordable personal transportation. ”

Although claiming that “we need a balanced approach that avoids harm to Americans dependent on larger cars and light trucks,” according to Gloria Bergquist, the group is not really taking a balanced approach in the states the ads will be heard and shown in. According to this article, “the alliance said it would spend “way north” of $1 million on the ads to be run in Arkansas, Delaware, Idaho, Louisiana, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — all states with high percentages of truck and SUV owners.”

The ads are said to be targeted towards truck owners and mothers who drive larger vehicles and are concerned with safety. The idea is that fuel mileage regulations would make it more difficult for consumers to purchase heavy duty, work capable pickups and for mothers to find safe vehicles.

Click here for ad one (.mp3). Click here for ad two (.mp3).

Grassroots efforts are also said to be in effect to contact retirees from the large automakers with similar information. At this time, automakers are under regulations that were created in 1975 to regulate fuel economy. So, all of you consumers out there, what do you think?

[Source: Detroit News]

 

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

---

BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Filed under: Legislation and Policy

As this is AutoBlogGreen, being green is our reason for both writing and reading this blog. This book, published in 2006 and reviewed in Yes! Magazine by Guy Dauncey, talks about the current – not future – challenge we face: How do we adjust our energy use without creating so much greenhouse gas that we tip the atmosphere into an uncomfortable, non sustainable mode. It takes as a given that we will soon hit Peak Oil sometime between now and 2030. How do we respond as individuals and as nations? After all, I don’t want to conserve petroleum only to have another a-hole elsewhere in the world burn it instead.

Heinberg investigates ways of getting nations to adjust their relative consumption to the total current annual oil production. Productions drops 3%, consumption for each nation drops the same amount each year. Dauncey, however, notes that Heinberg’s protocol distributes oil consumption but it does not address global warming specifically. He only addresses the contribution, for instance, of petroleum and omits coal and gas contribution to global warming. It is total world production of CO2, of course, that will control global warming and the size of its impact on our lives.

Here is an interesting factoid: 1 barrel of oil (42 gallons) when burned produces about 170 pounds (77 kg) of CO2. If those particular barrels are all gasoline and you use 20 of them a year (840 gallons), your car will create nearly 3400 pounds of CO2. Which leads me to ask every day: “Is this (auto) trip really necessary?”

 

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

---

BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Filed under: Hydrogen, Legislation and Policy

The European Parliament has voted to approve a declaration laying out comprehensive targets to improve energy efficiency, increase the use of renewable energy and to set up a pan-European hydrogen economy. The plan calls for a twenty percent jump in energy efficiency and thirty percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions.

The plan also envisions large expansions in hydrogen production and distribution by 2025. The declaration does not address either nuclear power or carbon sequestration. If hydrogen is to be produced from natural gas reformation than sequestration will be a necessary component of the process. Of course in the next seventeen years some of the hydrogen production techniques that are currently be worked on may come to fruition and methane may not be part of the equation at all.

[Source: Bellona]

 

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

---

BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Filed under: Etc., Flex-Fuel

Car shopping is sometimes a bit of a nightmare – and not only because of salesman. Some people do their homework and get most of the information ready beforehand, but many just arrive at the dealer lot and choose without paying much attention. And when deciding about fuel economy, it can be really difficult to take in consideration a comparison between EPA ratings.

In order to help customers to know if a vehicle is efficient, or a least less bad for the environment, AutoWest and Power Auto Group (members of AutoNation) are introducing a new system in order to label cars called the E-Vehicles program. This system will mark cars with a green, leaf-shaped E-Vehicle logo (the additional sticker) if that produce at least 28 miles-per-gallon or delivers 10 percent better fuel efficiency than the average for their vehicle class.

A similar system, called F-Vehicles, will label with a yellow, leaf-shaped logo cars and trucks that make use of flex fuel or ethanol-based technology. Both systems were developed by AutoNation together with Edmunds.com.

Among the most in-demand models are the Toyota Prius, the Honda Civic Hybrid, the midsize Chevy Malibu and the Mercedes-Benz Diesel. Best-in-class E-Vehicles include the Toyota Tacoma pick-up, the Ford Escape Hybrid SUV and the Dodge Grand Caravan minivan

[Source: AutoNation]

.

 

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

---

BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Several months ago, I requested to host the Carnival of the Green for this Memorial Day weekend. I meant to get a post up earlier in the week, but, obviously, I’ve been rather tied up… But the Carnival will be here on Monday for a special holiday edition. Please pass along your posts to me.

Despite my lack of posting here, I have been thinking a lot about sustainablog — as I’ve said over and over, it’s my baby. Unfortunately, I simply haven’t been able to give my baby the attention it deserves.

So, once the Carnival post is up on Monday, sustainablog will officially be on indefinite hiatus. I’m following the model set by good blog buddy Al Tepper (aka City Hippy). I hate to have the blog just sitting here gathering dust, so I’d rather close it for now while I can’t give it (and sustainablog readers) the attention it (they) deserves. I hope to restart it at some point, but know I can’t promise that — Green Options is taking up the lion’s share of my time, and I am still writing at Treehugger (though on a lighter schedule than before).

It’s been almost four years since I put up that first post of a few lines, and I’ve been incredibly grateful for the attention it’s received since then. I hope you’ll come by Green Options and/or Treehugger to say “Hi!”

Best,

Jeff

Former Japanese whaler Tomohisa Nagaoka on his whale-watching vessel. (Click to enlarge.)

Posted by Page (in Amsterdam)

“[T]his town, Muroto, was thriving because of whaling and was known as a whale town since 400 years ago. I want to let young people know the culture cultivated by whales in this town should be valued. My dream is to return their favor. I would like to do something like that.”

So says Tomohisa Nagaoka at the end of a fascinating interview he gave to our Whale Love Wagon friends, Yuki and Ivan, back in March 2007. Nagaoka is a former whaler who became one of Japan’s first leader of tourist whale-watching expeditions about 20 years ago.

In the interview, he talks about how countries competed in a “Whaling Olympics”, to see who could kill the most whales. There weren’t quotas for individual countries; rather, the world quota set by the IWC in 1948 was 16,000 Blue Whale Units (which equals 2 fin whales, 6 sei whales, etc.), so blue whales were preferentially hunted over other whales, quickly driving them toward near-extinction.

The other day, the AFP published a longer interview with Nagaoka, where he talks more about whaling, both its past and its future, and what he thinks it means to the Japanese.

Continue reading Respecting the past, saving the future…

Filed under: Emerging Technologies, Hybrid, Toyota

Yeah, you’ve seen plenty of companies add plug-in capability to the Toyota Prius. Generally speaking, the battery pack is enlarged to allow for greater range when operating in electric only mode and a charging system is added which allows the vehicle to be charged by plugging into a standard outlet. Of course, this is all harder than it sounds! The standard Prius is only capable of charging its batteries using the on-board internal combustion engine or under regenerative braking and is equipped with nickel metal hydride batteries. The standard batteries are usually swapped for a new pack of lithium ion batteries, which carry a greater energy density than the older nickel based batteries.

Lithium Technology Corporation has gone one step further and used a new type of lithium battery that they have developed. The composition of the batteries is different and they are known as lithium iron phosphate cells, and are considered to be safer than the more common types of lithium ion batteries. These batteries are not completely new, but have never been made in sizes this large before. With these new batteries, LTC was able to demonstrate 125 miles per gallon equilavent with their converted Prius. No price was mentioned in the article, but I expect that the batteries added a substantial amount of money to the cost of the car.

[Source: Gizmag]

 

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

---

BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.