Next time you feel guilty about buying soda pop in a plastic bottle, consider that the guy next in line could be wearing a t-shirt made from recycled PET.

These days, we’re ALL in the fashion biz, at least of those of us who drink soda pop from plastic bottles. From t-shirts, to fleece jackets, to shoelaces, it turns out PET plastic makes for spinning a mighty fine recycled garment. Couple that with a manufacturing process powered by solar, wind or another renewable energy source, and a closet filled with plastic clothes could actually be among the greenest of wardrobes.

TURNING PLASTIC INTO FIBER

PET stands for “polyethylene terephthalate.” It is this particular type of plastic best-suited for recycling into fiber for clothes. Recoup.org compiled a fact sheet that explains this process in great detail. Here is the gist of it:

1) Our recycled plastic bottles go to a sorting center where PET plastics are separated from all the rest.

2) PET plastic bottles are compressed then shipped out to a reprocessing plant where they are uncompressed and sorted through once again to ensure they are PET-only

3) Submersed in water, the bottles are chopped into tiny little flakes (since the plastic caps are made of a different type of plastic, a floatation technique separates it from the PET)

4) After being drained and dried, these plastic flakes are melted and squeezed through a device that shapes the PET into long, fibrous strands

5) The plastic fibers are brought together, crimped and cut to accommodate whatever type of garment they are intended to make

“Keeping clothing out of the landfill has a two-fold benefit,” writes Earth911 contributor, Libuse Binder. In addition to the obvious one of reducing overall waste, creating clothing from recycled materials greatly reduces the amount of natural resources necessary to produce such products, including the land and water used to grow cotton, as well as pesticides and energy used in the agricultural and production process.

“Cotton, for example, has a hefty pesticide habit. According to the Sustainable Cotton Project, ‘Cotton cultivation uses approximately 11 percent of the world’s pesticides, though it is grown on just 2.4 percent of the world’s arable land.’”

So if you’re looking to green your wardrobe, check out the recycled PET clothing lines (among other sustainable materials) at Playback and Patagonia. Simple Shoes and Keds too.

Meredith Simonds Recycling clothing, Earth911, fashion, fiber, Keds, Patagonia, PET, plastic, Playback, Recoup.org, recycled, Renewable Energy, Simple Shoes, Solar, Wind

Today scientists generated the highest energy level ever recorded in the Hadron Collider.

In Geneva today, scientists created the biggest burst of energy ever recorded in the Hadron Collider, the world’s largest and highest-energy particle accelerator. This long-awaited, much-anticipated achievement is expected to pave the way toward a broader understanding of the most fundamental elements of physics and the deepest laws of nature. With an impact like that affecting all areas of our lives, perhaps this development could come to play a pivotal role in how we harness and use energy in our daily lives.

Built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research, the $10 billion Hadron Collider is a 17-mile circumference accelerator that forces together two beams of subatomic particles. Today’s experiment recorded an energy burst three times what has been previously recorded.

In addition to impressive coverage of the Hadron Collider’s history and purpose, The New York Times’ Dennis Overbye paints an especially vivid picture of this landmark event:

“Protons whipped to more than 99 percent of the speed of light and to energy levels of 3.5 trillion electron volts apiece around a 17-mile underground magnetic racetrack outside of Geneva a little after 1 p.m. local time.

“They crashed together inside apartment-building sized detectors designed to capture every evanescent flash and fragment from microscopic fireballs thought to hold insights into the beginning of the world.”

Click here to learn more, including a link to a webcast of scientists watching and reacting to the big event.

Meredith Simonds Solar energy, Geneva, Hadron Collider

All the climate change naysayers in the world could not distract me during Earth Hour - 60 minutes that millions of us spent consciously and collectively conserving energy around the world.

Aside from its purpose of promoting action on climate change (i.e., embracing alt fuels like wind and solar instead of fossil fuels) my support of Earth Hour on Saturday night included an always welcome excuse to do absolutely nothing! Yet even the potential for this personally refreshing, meditative experience wasn’t enough to  inspire climate change naysayers to unplug for a while. In fact, they were evidently inspired to do just the opposite.

I was monitoring Earth Hour mentions on Twitter in the hours leading up to my own 8:30 lights out here in L.A. While there was tremendous support of the worldwide event across the Twitterverse, in a number of searches of #earthhour, I’d say half the tweets were by those planning to go out of their way to use more electricity than they normally do – from turning on every appliance in the house to taking a full hour to blow dry their hair!

Rather than engage with people for whom reason would have fallen on deaf ears – that even if you don’t believe in climate change surely you believe in less pollution – I moved on my merry Earth Hour way.

I stumbled across a tweet inviting everyone to post before and after pics on the Earth Hour Flickr page. New to Los Angeles, I was excited to see how my view of the hillside would change come 8:30 in what I understand to be the eco-conscious Silver Lake community. But you won’t see my before and after pics on Flickr because they didn’t look any different. Certainly I couldn’t monitor every light on the hill, but not a single one noticeably extinguished itself.

Yet all of this was of little consequence to me in the grand scheme of things.

I relaxed under the moonlight for a full 60 minutes thinking about all the other homes, buildings and landmarks all over the world that were participating in Earth Hour, including:

• 33 U.S. Governor’s mansions
• Empire State Building
• Golden Gate Bridge
• Las Vegas Strip
• Buckingham Palace
• Big Ben
• Edinburgh Castle
• The Pyramids
• The Sphinx

And many more historic landmarks in countries all over the globe.

Most importantly though, I reflected on all the millions of people around the world who are of the same mindset – that by collectively cutting down on our energy consumption, our world can be a cleaner, healthier place. And what a powerful feeling it was knowing that for 60 minutes we were all consciously focused on the same green goal.

Meredith Simonds Climate Change Climate change, Earth Hour, Flickr, Solar, Twitter, Wind

In light of today's designation of North American waters as an Emission Control Area, how might alternative fuel sources electrify a cleaner cargo ship industry?

Today the International Maritime Organization (IMO) officially designated an “Emission Control Area” in 200 miles of territorial waters around the U.S. and Canada. This means stricter, long-overdue emission standards for cargo ships that run on heavy, dirty “bunker fuel” responsible for air pollution that kills an estimated 50,000 people each year. EPA officials say the key to staying within emission standards is closer regulation of fuel quality. But what about closer consideration of cleaner fuel alternatives.

“EMISSION CONTROL AREA” EXPECTATIONS

• From the start date in 2012 until 2015, fuel used by all vessels operating in designated areas [in U.S. and Canadian waters] cannot exceed 1.0 percent sulfur (10,000 ppm)
• From Jan 1st, 2015, fuel used by ships operating in these areas cannot exceed 0.1 percent sulfur (1,000 ppm)
• Beginning in 2016, NOx aftertreatment requirements become applicable

ELECTRIC CARGO SHIPS TO THE RESCUE?

Though fueling boats with electricity generated from batteries is old-hat these days, applying the same technology to enormous cargo ships is another matter. Certainly they have the room to store charged batteries, but there is no place in the middle of the ocean to recharge them as needed along the way. And equipping a ship with enough charged batteries to see a ship through an entire transatlantic journey simply isn’t a feasible, attractive option to carriers when compared with conventional liquid fuels.

So what if we could combine the best of both worlds – in the form of liquefied natural gas and a battery-like hydrogen fuel cell?

In Boats: The Other Electric Vehicle, GOOD explains how Norwegian shipping company Eidesvik is utilizing liquefied natural gas to power its “Viking Lady”:

“Rather than burning the [natural gas], the ship uses a 320-kilowatt molten carbonate hydrogen fuel cell, which is sort of like a giant, ultra-hot battery that combines hydrogen stripped from the natural gas with oxygen from the atmosphere to yield electricity and water.

“Its primary advantage over a traditional internal combustion engine is that it is potentially much more efficient—extracting as much as twice the energy from its fuel source. DNV Marine, the builder of the ship, estimates that if all the world’s ships used hydrogen- fuel-cell technology, it would reduce CO2 emissions by 500 million metric tons per year by 2030.”

WHY ALL OUR SEAS NEED STRICTER STANDARDS

Who knows if this or some other alternative energy source will fuel cargo ships in the near or distant future. What we do know is that just 15 of the world’s biggest ships may emit as much pollution as the world’s 760 million cars. So the Emission Control Area designation is a good start, at least for those of us in the U.S. and Canada.

As Treehugger’s Michael Graham Richard notes [based on colleague John Laumer's observation]:

“This probably would only shift the problem around. The most polluting cargo ships would then be sent to developing nation shipping lanes and air-pollution in the poorest countries – which already have it bad – could actually increase.”

Bottom line, Emission Control Areas need to be EVERYWHERE!

Meredith Simonds Battery Technology batteries, Canada, cargo ships, Electricity, Emission Control Area, International Maritime Organization, U.S.

From solar power, to smart water management, to green building efforts, there is reason for dreaming a California greening.

When I  moved to Los Angeles in February, what I knew of L.A. traffic,  industry and the smog that blankets the city gave me little reason to expect a California greening of my life beyond veg-friendly restaurants on every corner. Well, while sitting in one of these veg-friendly cafes today doing my daily tour through the news, three stories have me California dreamin’ that maybe, just maybe, this city can once again take a leading role in the greening of America – through solar power, water conservation, green building and beyond.

LA INITIATIVE TO ELIMINATE COAL-DEPENDENCE BY 2020

As The Huffington Post’s Jeff Biggers reminds us, “In 1947, Los Angeles was the first in the nation to create an Air Pollution Control District. Now LA has set its sights on taking the steps to lead the nation once again.”

Biggers is speaking specifically about an initiative by LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to eliminate the city’s dependence on coal by 2020. Frighteningly, coal fuels 40 percent of our electricity needs!

If it passes, the initiative would:

• Create a Renewable Energy and Efficiency Trust Fund to retrofit homes and businesses through energy efficiency program
• Jumpstart solar businesses in LA
• Provide more solar manufacturing solar equipment, installation and maintenance funds
• Create an estimated 18,000 green jobs over a decade

CALIFORNIA WATER UTILITIES EMBRACE SMART METER TECHNOLOGY

Electricity isn’t the only energy source that generates cause for concern in L.A. Due to drought conditions in California, state legislators passed a law last year requiring cities to cut water usage 20 percent over the next 10 years. To that end, Treehugger’s Jaymi Heimbuch reports that California cities are embracing smart water-management technology.

As a forthcoming California Energy Commission report is expected to reveal, more than half of the state’s water utilities have some sort of smart water meters in use.

“Smart water meters not only cut water consumption,” writes Heimbuch, “but also save time and money for utilities, because even though a utility worker may have to drive to the meter locations, they can read the signal electronically from the vehicle, rather than needing to walk from meter to meter. The meters record water consumption on an hourly basis, which means habits and problems with the system can be detected and dealt with more quickly and effectively.”

LA HOME TO MOST ENERGYSTAR BUILDINGS

Though California electricity and water reform are works in progress, today marks a notable green accomplishment to be proud. Today on Planet 100: LA is the EnergyStar. It turns out that for the second year in a row, Los Angeles earned the top spot in EnergyStar’s ranking of the city with the most and the biggest EnergyStar-rated buildings.

“For Los Angeles to be the cleanest, greenest city,” says Mayor Villaraigosa, “we need participation from every Angeleno.”

Living here immersed in L.A. culture, it’s evident this city’s residents have the knowledge, resources and influence to lead a green revolution. All that remains to be seen is if we have what it takes to make it happen – a genuine interest in personally, professionally and politiclly living and breathing in green every moment of every day of our lives.

Meredith Simonds Green Communitites California, California Energy Commission, EnergyStar, green building, Hu, Los Angeles, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, smart meter, solar power, water conservation

As debate over climate change escalates, revenues generated from solar, wind and biofuels are on the rise. Whatever we want to call it, cleaning up the earth is proving a lucrative business investment.

Though the debate over climate change escalated last year, and has raged in recent months, 2009 still proved a healthy time for clean energy. In fact, during a year when most industries suffered setbacks, the Clean Energy Trends 2010 report reveals that revenues from solar, wind and biofuels hit record highs last year. So it seems we need not agree on climate change to recognize the environmental and economic benefits of investing in clean energy alternatives.

Compared to 2008, worldwide revenue from solar, wind and biofuels grew by 11.4 percent to $139.1 billion. The breakdown looks like this:

• $30.7 billion in revenue from the solar PV industry
• $63.5 billion in revenue from the wind industry
• $44.9 billion in revenue from ethanol and biodiesel industry

The U.S. saw some particularly notable clean energy developments last year. Though investments in overall energy projects fell in 2009, clean energy represented a record 12.5 percent of total U.S. venture capital investment!

At the same time, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce launched an aggressive campaign last year warning Congress and Americans that taking action associated with climate change would mean death to our economy. In fact, they spent $65 million on communicating that message.

Even though the Chamber has 3 million members, a third of its funding comes from just 19 of them, suggesting that perhaps the Chamber’s position does not represent that of the vast majority of American businesses. In fact, some businesses have left the Chamber for this very reason.

Instead, green-geared businesses are forming professional organizations of their own, such as the American Business for Clean Energy (ABCE), which has more than 2,500 members.  Though just a fraction of the 3 million Chamber members, the ABCE’s membership list is an impressive one, representing respected American business owners intent on cleaning up our world, yes for the good of planet but also, of course, for the good of the bottom line.

The Clean Energy Trends 2010 report projects that by 2019, solar, wind and biofuels will represent $325.9 billion in global revenue – an impressive, welcome figure whether it’s in the name of “climate change” or simply a common sense commitment to protecting our land, sea and air from unnecessary pollutants.

Meredith Simonds Climate Change ABCE, biodiesel, Biofuels, Clean Energy Trends 2010, Climate change, ethanol, Solar, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Wind

Through the development of new capture technology, we may see a viable solution to cleaning up the masses of plastic debris in our oceans, while creating usable fuel in the process.

For years, we’ve watched in awe as the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” has grown to what is now estimated to be twice the size of the continental U.S.! Of course, it begs the question: Why don’t we get out there and clean it up? Well, although much of the debris is trash large enough to be collected by conventional means, among the most dangerous waste is plastic that ocean currents have broken down into small pellets for which there is no practical collection system. As reported by Discovery News‘ Alyssa Danigelis, Project Kaisei aims to change all that, sponsored in part by recycling companies that envision turning this patch of plastic into an unconventional form of alternative fuel.

RESEARCHING NEW CAPTURE TECHNOLOGY FOR OCEAN DEBRIS

Project Kaisei teams marine scientists, environmentalists, entrepreneurs and recycling companies with researchers from Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Together they are intent on finding a practical means of removing ocean debris from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch that is otherwise ingested by marine animals and, in turn, ingested by us via the marine animals we eat.

“We’re working on capture technology,” says Project Kaisei co-founder Mary Crowley, “all in our effort to figure out the most energy efficient way to collect the debris in the ocean,” which includes a new barrel-capture technology.

RECYCLING OCEAN PLASTIC INTO FUEL

If the Project Kaisei team is successful in its efforts to streamline the logistics for capturing and recycling debris from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, debris in our oceans worldwide could prove a valuable fuel source. In fact, though the Northern Pacific patch garners the most attention due to its impressive size, there are 5 such gyres in the world’s oceans — in the North Pacific, South Pacific, North Atlantic, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

According to its website, the mission of Project Kaisei is well underway:

“In the summer of 2010, Project Kaisei will launch its second Expedition to the North Pacific Gyre, where it will send multiple vessels to continue marine debris research, and in particular, to test an array of marine debris collection systems. Debris collected will be used to further study the feasibility of converting this to fuel or other usable material.”

Though eliminating these plastic swirling masses from our oceans should be a priority no matter what, chances are good it will only get done if it can be parlayed into a money-making endeavor such as this one. Recycling companies aren’t funding the Kaisei Project out of the green-goodness of their hearts, but the green-goodness of their bottom line. But if it gets the trash out of the water and produces new fuel in the process, that’s just fine.

Meredith Simonds Recycling alternative fuel, debris, Discovery News, Great Pacific Garbage Patch, gyre, Kaisei Project, ocean, plastic, recycle, Scripps

With five battery breakthroughs on the horizon, we are getting closer to commercially competitive electric cars and hybrids.

We’ve been following the evolution of battery technology for a couple of years now, confident that one day soon “smart” batteries will revolutionize the electric car industry. Today a post on Treehugger provides a comprehensive breakdown of five battery breakthrough that signal an electric car revolution could be right around the corner.

As Treehugger’s Michael Graham Richard reminds us, competitively commercializing electrics cars (and hybrids gas-electric hybrids) depends on the development of technology that will allow for batteries to:

• Store more power
• Cost less to manufacture
• Recharge faster

FIVE BATTERY BREAKTHROUGHS

“If only one of these technologies can be commercialized during the next few years,” writes Richard, “(and then further improved through incremental refinements), we’ll see electric cars become a lot more competitive when it comes to price and range.”

1. Silicon nanotubes that can hold 10 times more storage than conventional lithium batteries
2. Lithium sulfur cathodes that can increase energy density by 80 percent
3. Batteries made of ordinary paper, ink and nanotubes that can last through 40,000 charge-discharge cycles
4. Zinc-air batteries that can hold 300 percent more energy
5. Lithium-air batteries with 10 times conventional storage capacity

“Other challenges will be left,” adds Richard, “and it won’t solve everything. But it certainly would be better than what we have now.”

Click here for details on these battery breakthroughs and what they may mean for the electric car industry.

Meredith Simonds Battery Technology battery, breakthrough, Electric Vehicles, lithium, Michael Graham Richard, nanotube, power, smart batteries, technology, Treehugger

At a time when global warming skepticism is high, Congressman Brian Baird says our messaging is to blame and we need programs like ARPA-E to get out us out of this mess.

In an interview that I blogged about a couple of days ago, Grist’s David Roberts talked with Washington Rep. Brian Baird (D) – a Congressman who is also a clinical psychologist – about the role behavioral psychology plays in compelling Americans to green our lives. My initial interest was in Baird’s assessment of the psychological impact of home energy tracking systems. However, the Congressman also suggested that psychology has played a role in the growing skepticism regarding climate change – not because it doesn’t exist, but because we have largely limited the messaging to “global warming.”

CHANGING THE CONVERSATION

“For three or four years,” says Baird, “I’ve been urging everyone in the global climate debate to quit just talking about climate and start talking about ocean acidification. It’s more irrefutable and ultimately as dangerous as temperature increase. You can demonstrate it on a lab bench. You can speak to sport fishermen and explain that salmonids eat terapods. Terapods perish in acidic water. The water is getting more acidic. Wanna fish? You have to stop ocean acidification.

“But everybody’s been focused on global warming, which is a bad choice of phrase anyway. It’s really global overheating. Warming is a nice thing. Overheating is a bad thing. Acid is a bad thing. People get that.

“So our messaging has been bad, our strategy has been bad, and our economic arguments have largely been ineffective. One wonders why we haven’t been winning on this.”

Yet despite his disappointment and frustration at our missteps regarding the climate change debate, Baird says this:

“The only saving grace is programs like ARPA-E may actually produce that game-changing technology that gets us out of this in spite of our worst intentions.

INVESTING IN ARPA-E

ARPA-E is a the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, a division of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Established under the 2007 America Competes ACT, ARPA-E received $400 million through the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

Unlike the DOE‘s focus on conventional energy resesarch, ARPA-E focuses exclusively on “high risk, high payoff concepts – technologies promising genuine transformation in the ways we generate, store and utilize energy.”

Specifically, ARPA-E’s mission is to:

1. Fund projects that will develop transformational technologies that reduce America’s dependence on foreign energy imports
2. Reduce U.S. energy related emissions (including greenhouse gasses)
3. Improve energy efficiency across all sectors of the U.S. economy
4. Ensure that the U.S. maintains its leadership in developing and deploying advanced energy technologies.

I took a look at the list of ARPA-E’s funded projects and indeed, they certainly sound anything but conventional. Here’s just sampling, ranging from renewable power, to carbon capture, to biomass energy:

• Direct Wafer: Enabling Terawatt Photovoltaics
• Pilot Scale Testing of Carbon Negative, Product Flexible Syngas Chemical Looping
• Catalytic Biocrude Production in a Novel Short-Contact Time Reactor

Beyond the list of dozens of currently funded projects, ARPA-E is soliciting applications from researchers who would like funding opportunities to head-up a wish list of other endeavors.

Though it remains to be seen whether ARPA-E discovers “game-changing” technology we need to help solve our climate crisis, I find myself oddly confident they’ve got a good shot. But is that genuine confidence in my government? Or is it just the psychological impact of me learning about a program that has an impressive mission and energy research projects assigned complicated, high-tech names?

Meredith Simonds Climate Change Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, ARPA-E, ARRA, Brian Baird, Climate change, David Roberts, Department of Energy, DOE, Grist

Waste Management announces plans for the first plasma gasification facility in the U.S., utilizing high-heat plasma technology to turn waste into fuel and energy.

In another move positioning it as a U.S. industry leader in converting landfill waste into energy, Waste Management is breaking ground on a “plasma gasification” facility. Located in Oregon, this renewable energy technology will utilize high temperatures in enclosed gas chambers to turn municipal trash into usable fuel and energy. This endeavor comes two years after Waste Management became the first in its industry to partner with landfill owners to develop landfill gas-to-energy (LFGTE) projects.

“This project strengthens our focus on renewable energy and new technologies that use waste as a resources,” says Dean Kattler, area vice president for Waste Management Pacific Northwest.

“Our goal is to extract as much value as possible from waste and this project will help us recover valuable resources to generate clean fuels, renewable energy and other beneficial products.”

TWO-PHASE PLASMA GASIFICATION EXPLAINED

Phase 1: A gasification chamber heats landfill waste at 1,500 degree Fahrenheit.

Phase 2: A second gasification chamber superheats the waste at 10,000 to 20,000 degree Fahrenheit. It is this phase that utilizes the electricity-conducting gas, plasma, which rearranges the molecular structure of waste.

It is the molecularly-rearranged waste produced in Phase 2 — “syngas” – that can be converted into ethanol, diesel, hydrogen and methanol. Or it can be used in place of natural gas to generate heat or electricity.

PLASMA GASIFICATION AROUND THE WORLD

Waste Management is not the only company investing in the application of plasma gasification to convert waste into fuel.

Just last month, British Airways announced its plans to use waste-based jet fuel as a means of generating 10 percent of its fuel from renewable resources by 2014. To that end, Solena Group is building a plant for British Airways that utilizes plasma gasification technology to turn garbage into jet fuel.

In fact, according to Columbia University, plasma gasification facilities exist all over the world, including Taiwan, Japan, Canada, and England. That said, with plans to break ground in early summer the Waste Management facility does appear to be the first in the U.S., though others are reportedly planned for Florida, Georgia and California.

Meredith Simonds Landfills, Recycling British Airways, Columbia University, landfill waste, municipal trash, plasma gasification, Renewable Energy, Solena Group, Waste Management

If you want to keep up with the Joneses when it comes to to saving energy - and you don't mind sacrificing more of your privacy - the Google PowerMeter is for you.

When I blogged about Google’s clean energy initiatives a couple of weeks ago, I expressed concern over privacy issues as they relate to the Google PowerMeter. Yes, it seems a good way of promoting conservation efforts – tracking your family’s home energy use through your iGoogle page – but it’s also one more way we’re divulging personal information about ourselves online. Today Treehugger also suggested privacy concerns regarding the Google PowerMeter, though for different reasons than mine.

As I wrote in The Greening of Google (i.e., the World):

“I cannot shake my mother’s warning that Google knows too much already, as she loves to cite a TV special in which one critic noted we tell Google’s search box things we wouldn’t tell our best friend. With systems like the PowerMeter, for example, do we want Google knowing every detail of how we’re using energy too?”

Beyond divulging to Google our home energy use, Treehugger’s Jaymi Heimbuch wonders about the option of sharing your energy use patterns with other Google PowerMeter users. The idea is that our competitive spirit will inspire us to work even harder to conserve energy so we can “keep up the Joneses,” so to speak. But as Jaymi warns:

“Sharing information like power use has its risks – people can easily see your patterns and when you’re on vacation if you choose to show your electricity usage habits. So while on the one hand, sharing information can spur you and others to conserve more, it can also be a potential risk. Just something to consider as you get excited about being part of the competition.”

KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES

In a fascinating interview with Grist’s David Roberts, Rep. Brian Baird (D) of Washington makes a compelling case for using behavioral psychology (e.g., our competitive spirit) to spur real change in our patterns of energy use.

In This is Not Government Mind Control, Baird – a clinical psychologist – defends the exploration of behavior psychology as a means of affecting change among American – an approach that has been largely frowned upon by many of his colleagues in Congress.

“This is not government mind control,” says Baird. “This is understanding how human beings interact with technologies, to help them save money. How do we give them information in a way that’s most useful for them?”

Baird cites Opower as an example, which offers a home energy tracking system similar to Google’s. “They have taken [behavioral psychology] … and made a business model out of this; they give people meaningful information as part of their energy bill. They’ve shown a 3 percent reduction in energy consumption, just by telling people how their energy consumption compares to other people in similar houses.”

Will we embrace the trade-off? Sacrificing more of our privacy for the reduced energy consumption implied with the Google PowerMeter? In an age of reality show competitions, social media mania, and green-geared initiatives around every turn, I suspect the answer is yes.

Meredith Simonds Conservation behavioral psychology, Brian Baird, David Roberts, google, Grist, Jaymi Heimbuch, PowerMeter, Treehugger

From creating green American jobs to protecting clean energy intellectual property, the U.S. 2010 Trade Policy Agenda has potential to help us go a long green way.

In a piece for The Huffington Post, Jake Colvin of the National Foreign Trade Council says the White House green trade agenda is an opportunity for global leadership. Indeed, if the Obama administration makes good on three of the key elements of the 2010 trade agenda, it will signal that the White House is genuinely committed to green initiatives – from wind to solar – that not only benefit the world, but start by helping us most right here at home.

INSIDE OBAMA’S 2010 GREEN TRADE AGENDA

1. Creating green jobs for Americans. Though the administration has repeatedly emphasized the importance of creating green jobs here at home, it’s time to aggressively pursue the realization of that promise. Yes, we have the White House pushing programs like Homestar, which will generate green construction jobs as homeowners seek to take advantage of cash rebates for green upgrades. However, we are disproportionately creating green jobs overseas as the vast majority of our wind and solar technology is manufactured in China.

2. Lowering or eliminating barriers to environmentally-friendly goods and services relevant to climate change, including wind technology. Just yesterday the Associated Press reported on the efforts of bipartisan Governors’ Wind Energy Coalition, a concerted effort by 29 U.S. governors urging Congress and the White House to improve conditions for the development of wind power technology across the country.

3. Promoting American ideas and protecting our intellectual property. Again, China provides a perfect example of the importance of this goal. According to a new report commissioned by the National Foreign Trade Council, China is “encouraging domestic companies to learn from, copy, and ultimately supplant foreign producers of ‘green tech’ renewable-energy technology as it presses forward with its campaign to shift rapidly to noncarbon sources of energy.”

Perhaps these goals combined with action behind $90 billion in stimulus funds set aside for clean energy investments and the proposed climate change legislation Congress will be voting on soon, will result in a dramatic greening of America bright enough to be seen around the world.

Click here to read the 2010 Trade Policy Agenda in its entirety.

Meredith Simonds Climate Change 2010 Trade Policy Agenda, America, China, clean energy, Climate change, Governers Wind Energy Coalition, Jake Colvin, National Foreign Trade Council, Obama, Solar, The Huffington Post, White House, Wind

New research reveals efficient way of using solar power to turn carbon dioxide into fuel-producing carbon monoxide.

Instead of allowing it to escape into the atmosphere or trying to sequester it somewhere, what if we could use CO2 – a climate-changing by-product of fossil fuels – to create a new fuel generated by solar power, a renewable energy source? Scientists from the University of Michigan and the University of Oxford say they have discovered an efficient way of using light to turn carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide for new fuel production.

Though deadly in large quantities, carbon monoxide properly managed can generate electricity, hydrogen and, through the right conversion process, liquid fuel.

What’s especially interesting about the direction of this research is how scientists hope to ultimately generate the necessary solar power.

“I don’t know of any organism that uses light energy to activate carbon dioxide and reduce it to carbon monoxide,” says University of Michigan biological chemist Steve Ragsdale, “but I can imagine either finding an organism that can do it, or genetically engineering one to channel light energy to coax it to do that.”

This team of scientists is building on the previous work of chemists from the University of California. In “Device Uses Solar Energy to Convert Carbon Dioxide Into Fuel,” Science Daily highlighted their research back in 2007, providing this detailed explanation of how their process worked:

“The device designed … to split carbon dioxide utilizes a semiconductor and two thin layers of catalysts.  It splits carbon dioxide to generate carbon monoxide and oxygen in a three-step process.

“The first step is the capture of solar energy photons by the semiconductor.

“The second step is the conversion of optical energy into electrical energy by the semiconductor.

“The third step is the deployment of electrical energy to the catalysts.  The catalysts convert carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide on one side of the device and to oxygen on the other side.”

Unfortunately, the process was one that required so much energy it proved inefficient – a problem presumably solved by the new research conducted by University of Michigan and University of Oxford scientists. As noted by Treehugger, this new team of scientists “used an enzyme-modified titanium oxide and a photosensitizer to make the conversion to carbon monoxide.” Further explanation of their work is published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society – Efficient and Clean Photoreduction of CO2 to CO by Enzyme-Modified TiO2 Nanoparticles Using Visible Light.

Meredith Simonds Renewable Energy carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, CO, CO2, fuel, photosensitizer, Renewable Energy, scientists, solar power, Steve Ragsdale, titanium oxide, University of Michigan, University of Oxford

New experiments by a team of MIT researchers reveal a new way of producing electricity through nanotube thermopower waves - technology that could store 100 times more energy than conventional batteries.

Though they’ve been studied for over a hundred years, only recent research suggests the full potential of “combustion waves” that may signal a new way of producing electricity. As reported by Treehugger, new experiments by a team of MIT researchers have discovered that “chemically-driven carbon-nanotube-guided thermopower waves” may create a new source of alternative energy technology that could store 100 times more energy than conventional lithium/ion batteries.

This discovery “opens up a new area of energy research, which is rare,” says Michael Strano, MIT’s Charles and Hilda Roddey Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering.

In what they call a “previously unknown phenomenon,” a news release from MIT breaks down the process in relatively simple terms, which I have broken down into a series of steps below:

1) Electrically and thermally conductive nanotubes are coated with a layer of a reactive fuel that can produce heat by decomposing.

2) This reaction fuel is ignited at one end of the nanotube using either a laser beam or a high-voltage spark.

3) The result of igniting the reaction fuel is the creation of a fast-moving thermal wave traveling along the length of the carbon nanotube like a flame speeding along the length of a lit fuse.

4) Heat from the fuel goes into the nanotube, where the heat travels thousands of times faster than in the fuel itself.

5) As the heat feeds back to the fuel coating, a thermal wave is created that is guided along the nanotube.

6) With a temperature of 3,000 kelvins, this ring of heat speeds along the tube 10,000 times faster than the normal spread of this chemical reaction.

7) The heating produced by that combustion, it turns out, also pushes electrons along the tube, creating a substantial electrical current.

Practical uses may be limited to “micro” devices or what Strano intriguingly describes as “environmental sensors that could be scattered like dust in the air,” however, it is far too soon to rule out larger applications as well.

Strano is the lead author of a paper published in Nature Materials that details the experiments, though online access to the full text of the paper is limited. However, you do have full access to a video of the process posted on Treehugger that, in just one minute and seven seconds, showcases a pretty impressive presentation of these “chemically-driven carbon-nanotube-guided thermopower waves” in action.

Image source: MIT

Meredith Simonds Battery Technology, Renewable Energy alternative energy, Carbon, Electricity, energy, Michael Strano, MIT, nanotube, researchers, thermopower waves

Based on new research from two teams of scientists, the hype of a hydrogen economy could be realized through solar and wind.

Theoretically, a hydrogen economy is ideal – the simplest element in the universe fueling our lives through clean energy. The problem, of course, lies in its creation. Hydrogen isn’t just lying in wait for us to capture. Hydrogen must be created and our current means of doing so is through the use of fossil fuels. In other words, we are using dirty energy to produce clean energy. This irony is the inspiration behind the work of two research teams convinced that solar and wind can turn the hype of a hydrogen economy into a reality.

FLYING HIGH FOR HYDROGEN

A Korean research team says a 6.5 million-square-foot parafoil (i.e., kite) – flown a mile high over the ocean, and tied to a catamaran equipped with a hydroelectric turbine – can produce enough electricity to separate hydrogen from seawater.

As reported by Wired, the research team notes in the March issue of the journal Energy:

“If such ships are deployed at 20-km (12.4-mile) intervals over two temperate zones, one in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in the Northern Hemisphere and the other everywhere in the Southern Hemisphere, the total power produced will be many times that needed by the world.”

Again, in theory this sounds ideal, but as of now that’s all it is – theory. Currently the largest parafoil manufactured is just 6,835-square-feet. The parafoil the research team envisions would need to be of a size 954 times bigger!

HYDROGEN IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Though not a new concept, using the sun to separate hydrogen from water has historically proven too inefficient to serve as a viable contributor to a hydrogen economy … until now.

Treehugger reports on a breakthrough among a team of scientists led by Dr. Thomas Nann at the University of East Anglia:

“The concept of water + sunlight = hydrogen is not new. But turning 60% of the energy in light into hydrogen power is. The trick lies in the nanophotocathode used by Nann’s team.

“A gold electrode coated with nanoclusters of indium phosphide absorb incoming photons of light (that is the wavy line marked ‘hv’ in the image). The nanoclusters then pass electrons liberated by the sun’s energy into an iron-sulfur complex which acts like a match-maker between the negatively charged electron and a hydrogen proton in the surrounding water molecules. Gaseous hydrogen results.”

At a time when the U.S. is intent on gaining ground in the renewable energy race, it would be interesting to know how much of the $90 billion set aside for clean energy investments is going toward hydrogen research, which would fall under the $26.6 billion earmarked for “renewable generation.”

Meredith Simonds Hydrogen Economy clean energy, Hydrogen Economy, kite, parafoil, Solar, Treehugger, Wind, Wired

In response to China's urging that the U.S. clean up our climate act, consider 1) our investment of billions in clean energy technology, 2) a new climate bill in the works and 3) incentives for greening American homes.

Last year at the Copenhagen climate conference, the U.S. made a promise that China today urged us to make good on – not only that we cut down on our own greenhouse gas emissions, but that we make investments in developing countries to help them do the same. The U.S. and China are among other developed nations who made similar commitments, including Brazil, South Africa, India and the European Union.

Granted, the U.S. has a long way to go in the pursuit of our green-geared ambitions – and we may disagree on the best direction to take,  from wind, to solar, to nuclear – but we do seem to be on the right track.

WE’RE INVESTING BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN CLEAN ENERGY

The U.S. has $90 billion in federal stimulus funding set aside for clean energy investments. This includes $100 million announced last week for funding the innovation of green technology, particularly for 1) energy storage, 2) electropower technology and 3) thermodevices.

WE’RE WORKING ON A COMPREHENSIVE CLIMATE BILL

Just yesterday President Obama met with 14 U.S. Senators to press them on a commitment to passing a comprehensive climate and energy bill this year. Senators John Kerry, Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman were all in attendance, authors of the KGL proposed climate bill that would require the U.S. to cut our emissions 17 percent by 2020 and presumably provide a “fair share” of aid to help developing countries clean up their own climate act.

WE’RE INCREASINGLY TAKING RESPONSIBILITY AT HOME

From the Homestar program that reimburses homeowners for green investments, to home efficiency rating systems that highlight the long-term savings inherent in energy-efficient houses, it’s clear that greening our homes is the way to go for both the environmental and financial incentives.

WHAT WE’RE NOT DOING IS BEATING CHINA

Though by their own admission China says they have a long way to go in cleaning up their own climate act, they’re still beating the U.S. in the renewable energy race. In fact, China leads the world in both solar and wind technology manufacturing, for which we are a contributing factor.

Maybe we should take China’s advice and invest more funds in supporting clean energy technology in developing nations (and in our own country) instead of paying China to manufacture the wind turbines and solar panels we could be making here at home!

Meredith Simonds Climate Change China, clean energy, climate bill, Climate change, Graham, Homestar, Kerry, Lieberman, nuclear, Obama, Renewable Energy, Solar, technology, U.S., Wind

Through a new pocket-sized laboratory at Harvard University, researchers can discover new biofuels resources faster, cheaper and more energy-efficiently.

Instead of spending years researching new biofuels resources, Treehugger is reporting that a new “pocket-sized” laboratory at Harvard University can now achieve better results in a matter of months. And it’s not just faster than your big, bulky, “run-of-the-mill” laboratories, but it’s cheaper and more energy-efficient too. In what is remarkably described as a mini-lab smaller than an iPod Nano, a new “microfluidic sorting device” is poised to revolutionize the  biofuels industry  as a means of supplementing wind, solar and other renewable energy sources.

Here’s how this mini laboratory works:

1) As drops of microscopic fluid pass through the system, a laser “reads” the fluorescence level inside an individual cell contained within the drop.

2) The higher the fluorescence level, the higher the cell’s activity and, in turn, the more optimal it is for biofuels.

3) Drops with the higher levels of fluorescence are passed into a “keeper” tube while others are sent through a second tube into the “discard” pile, so to speak.

Not only is all of this happening within a lab that is smaller than an iPod Nano, but it is happening at a rate 1,000 times faster than regular robotic sorting systems currently used in biofuels research.

Though located at Harvard University, this new microfluidic sorting device is a team effort that also includes MIT, the Universite de Strasbourg, YNano LLc, the National Science Foundation, the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, and the Agence National de la Recherche.

For a deeper understanding, check out Treehugger’s post, which includes a video demo of the new mini lab. Though a pretty primitive graphic demonstration, the video does its job of making the general gist of the technology crystal clear.

Meredith Simonds Biofuels Biofuels, energy, Harvard University, iPod Nano, laboratory, microfluidic sorting device, microscopic, mini lab, Treehugger

The Earth Advantage Institute's new Energy Performance Score provides a more comprehensive means of helping buyers and sellers rate a home's energy efficiency.

Whether you’re buying a home or looking to sell, the new Energy Performance Score (EPS) will give you an advantage, just as the creator’s name implies. The Earth Advantage Institute (EAI) is a non-profit organization in Oregon that created the EPS system as a means of grading the energy efficiency of homes. It’s a way for buyers to choose a home that will save them the most energy (i.e., money), and a way for sellers to increase the efficiency (i.e., value) of their homes through clean energy renovations. Perhaps the EPS system will serve as an effective supplement to the Obama administration’s aggressive encouragement of clean energy home upgrades.

In his article, “Energy Performance Labeling as a Green Home Market Driver,” EAI’s Program Manager David Heslam notes:

“The US has put aside $5 billion in the stimulus package for weatherization with the intent to upgrade at best a million homes (at an estimated $5,000 per job). But this raises a serious question about the scale of our commitment. One million homes is one percent of the estimated number of residences in the U.S.

“If we are really serious about energy savings, what about the other 100 million American homes that representing 20% of our annual energy consumption?”

EAI believes the answer to this question lies in the creation of a comprehensive rating system that not only takes into account energy savings, but also carbon emissions.

To that end, the EAI’s Energy Performance Score rates homes on 32 data points covering a wide range of home energy elements, including efficiency as it relates to:

• Air leakage
• Ceiling and attic insulation
• Wall insulation
• Floor insulation
• Windows insulation value and tightness
• Heating and cooling
• Ducts seals and insulation
• Water heating
• Lights and appliances

The Energy Performance Score system has attracted nationwide attention, with all of the following considering the recommendations outlined in the pilot program’s 2009 report — the City of Chicago, the City of Houston, the Clinton Climate Initiative, the U.S. Department of Energy, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

In fact, EAI welcomes any state or municipality to test the pilot program. For more in-depth information about getting your community on board, check out the EPS pilot resource page. Beyond that, the EPS initiative serves as a welcome reminder that – no matter what sort of rating system you use – the best way to sell a home these days is to paint it green.

Meredith Simonds Conservation David Heslam, EAI, Earth Advantage Institute, energy efficiency, Energy Performance Score, EPS, home

What does the KGL proposed climate bill entail? What does Senator Graham mean by "cap-and-trade is dead"? And what sense can be made of the subsequent media coverage and commentary?

Considering the media scrutiny of the Kerry-Graham-Lieberman (KGL) proposed climate legislation in recent days, you would think the three U.S. senators would make a concerted effort to outline details of the bill on their websites, in their own words. However, not only is the bill for cleaner energy legislation not prominently addressed on their home pages, but after quite a bit of digging, not anywhere on their sites did I find a single mention of it. Perhaps this is by design for political reasons of which I am ignorant, but as a result my only source of reference is a patchwork of media explanations and commentary.

FROM THE WASHINGTON POST

Let’s start with The Washington Post article in which Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) was quoted as saying “Cap-and-trade is dead.” Instead of applying a blanket cap on emissions that all industries would be subject to, the KGL climate bill would apply different controls to different sectors. As the Post outlines:

• Power plants would face an overall cap on emissions that would become more stringent over time
• Motor fuel may be subject to a carbon tax
• Industrial facilities would be exempted from a cap on emissions for several years before it is phased in
• Domestic oil and gas drilling offshore and would be expanded
• Federal assistance would be provided for constructing nuclear power plants and carbon sequestration and storage projects at coal-fired utilities

The Post article goes on to explain the possible “cap-and-dividend” option:

“The change in policy, which might even include giving money raised through carbon pollution allowances directly back to consumers, a scheme known as ‘cap-and-dividend,’ could appeal to some wavering senators.”

FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES

In response to “cap-and-trade is dead” quote,  The New York Times offers more of Graham’s thoughts to help put the quote in context:

“This started with the planet is heating up and Iowa is going to become beachfront property,” [Graham] said.

“Now people go around not saying that much. I think they’ve oversold the consequences to climate change, to global warming. And the momentum around this large cap-and-trade bill to save the planet has been replaced by a business model: How do we create jobs and stay ahead of the Chinese and clean up the air?”

FROM THE HUFFINGTON POST

For The Huffington Post‘s Dan Rosenblum, the proposed carbon tax on motor fuels is of greatest concern, noting:

“[The Senators] appear to recognize that carbon taxes make sense and can fly politically. The bad news is that the type of carbon tax that is likely to be proposed for the transportation sector bears little or no resemblance to a well-designed carbon tax, incorporates some of the worst elements of cap-and-trade and would be ineffectual and counterproductive. It almost makes cap-and-trade look good.”

FROM GRIST

Grist’s David Roberts marvels at the “Stupid things senators are saying about the [KGL] proposal,” which he calls “a torrent of confusion, nonsense, and outright falsehoods,” going on to note:

“It’s become pretty clear that most conservative and ‘centrist’ senators don’t have even a rudimentary understanding of carbon pricing. They think the KGL plan is better, but at no point does any of them offer any coherent policy rationale for that preference.”

FROM POLITICS DAILY

Finally, Politics Daily reports on John McCain’s characterization of the bill as as “joke,” specifically in reference to the funding of more nuclear power plants: “It’s a joke when there’s no site recycling and there’s no storage. Nuclear power is not viable without recycling and without storage. Period.”

FROM LITTLE OLE’ ME

In weeding through all this media coverage of the KGL climate proposal I am compelled to offer my own commentary on two points:

1) Graham’s reference to the bill as a means of “staying ahead of the Chinese.” We can’t very well “stay ahead” of a country that is already ahead of us when it comes to clean energy development. Yes, it’s a race we seem intent on winning, but one in which we seem to be sabotaging ourselves.

2) McCain’s concern over no proposal within the bill for how to recycle and/or store nuclear waste. Might I suggest the Bill Gates-endorsed TerraPower, a “traveling wave nuclear reactor design” that utilizes nuclear waste as fuel for producing clean energy.

What to expect? Only one thing for certain – the KGL climate bill will need 60 yes votes to pass the Senate.

Meredith Simonds Climate Change bill, climate, Graham, Grist, Kerry, Lieberman, McCain, media, Politics Daily, proposal, The Huffington Post, The New York Times, The Washington Post

Instead of chopping down trees to cook with, Haitians need only biomass waste to heat Lucia biochar stoves.

When natural disasters strike, it only exacerbates pre-existing environmental problems. Case-in-point: Haiti’s 7.0 magnitude earthquake in January that has called greater attention to this impoverished country’s most devastating threat to conservation efforts – deforestation. So in the rebuilding efforts, it would seem a prime time to introduce clean energy alternatives to chopping down trees for cook stoves – biochar.

Biochar is the end-product created through the burning of biomass under oxygen-free conditions. Instead of relying on the logging of forests for fuel, the biochar creation process known as pyrolysis can utilize twigs, and plant and animal waste.

World Stoves CEO Nathaniel Mulcahy sees biochar as the ideal solution for Haiti where they currently burn the equivalent of 30 million trees a year. In fact,this practice is the primary reason 98 percent of Haiti’s tree cover is gone, with just 100,000 acres of forest left!

BIOCHAR TO HAITI’S RESCUE?

In partnership with the NGO International Lifeline Fund and a private Haitian company, World Stoves has a production center in Port-Au-Prince with the goal of:

“Producing approximately 2,000 ‘Lucia’ emergency stoves for institutional and household use during its first month of operation alone. These super-efficient woodless stoves, which are … fueled entirely with agricultural waste such as twigs, groundnut shells, rice husk and dung.

“At a cost that can be brought down to as little as about $6 per unit, the Lucia emergency stove will enable a woman to cook for a 5-person household using an average of just 300 grams (about a handful) of fuel per meal.

“Furthermore, as a result of the pryolytic cooking process it employs, the Lucia stove creates biochar – a substance that functions as a highly effective fertilizer and that can be sold on the market, thereby turning the stove into an income generator for each of its users.”

BIOCHAR RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT IN THE U.S.

World Stove is not alone in its development of biochar technology. There are numerous companies, organizations and individuals engaged in biochar projects, including the United States government.

Scientists with the federal Department of Agriculture are studying biochar with other researchers from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Washington State University.

And according to the Associated Press:

“The USDA estimates biochar has the potential to replace about 25 percent of the annual oil consumption in this country. They say it especially seems promising as a soil amendment and to lock up greenhouse gases.”

LUCIA STOVE SEEMS A VIABLE SOLUTION

Biochar is not without its critics, though the main objection seems to be the growing and harvesting of trees specifically for biochar production, which would seem to defeat the purpose, of course. However, World Stoves is positioning its product as a means of utilizing biomass waste, not new wood grown specifically for that purpose.

At a time when the Women’s Refugee Commission is reporting that “Haitian women are resorting to burning trash, furniture or scraps of organic materials scrounged from the rubble—just to be able to cook for their families,” the Lucia stove certainly seems a viable solution.

Meredith Simonds Environment biochar, biochar stove, biomass, deforestation, earthquake, Haiti, Lucia, pyrolysis, waste, wood, World Stoves