On a visit to Newcastle, the Liberal Democrat leader said that disused shipyards should be upgraded to allow them to produce the new equipment.

Under a Lib Dem plan, all port authorities on the North Sea and Irish Sea would be able to bid for a share of a £400m pot to convert shipyards into wind turbine plants.

Clegg said: “We need to make sure we come out of this recession with a rebalanced and green economy.

“New offshore turbines, with blades the size of the London Eye, need to be built and launched from modern docks, so we need to upgrade our shipyards to take advantage of this massive opportunity.

“Just imagine the docks and shipyards along the coastline of Britain coming to life and leading the world in this new technology.

Keep reading at The Guardian.

If anyone knows that there’s value in trash, it’s Waste Management — the big waste hauler collects 66 million tons of it every year. So the company has teamed up with a small venture-backed company that has developed a system that can break down some of that trash fast and turn it into natural gas, electricity, compost or all of the above, making some of that trash even more valuable.

Waste Management announced today it has invested in Harvest Power and will develop projects with the company. Harvest builds giant digesters — think of them as cow stomachs — that speed up the composting process. By creating conditions that the bugs that break down organic matter thrive in — a little warmth, a little moisture — and mixing it up to keep the process going, Havest can speed the natural composting process to six to eight weeks from double that. The output? No hamburgers, milk or leather, but otherwise the same as what you’d get from a cow: natural gas and good fertilizer.

Keep reading at Forbes.

Students at University of Memphis have been collecting used denim for insulation in housing for Habitat for Humanity. So hang on to your old clothes so you can make somebody else’s house a little warmer.

Read more.

“It’s a project called ‘Cotton: From Blue to Green,’” explained Angie Dunlap, advisor for the student group. “The denim actually gets recycled into insulation that’s donated for housing for rebuilding communities.”

Many of those communities were hit by Hurricane Katrina, and many of the homes will be built by Habitat for Humanity, explained Brad Robb, vice president of communications for the Cotton Board.

“[The recycled cotton] is environmentally friendly,” said Robb, whose organization works with the program. “Not only is it just as good as regular insulation, you don’t have to use gloves. It’s not itchy, so that’s a plus.”

He said recycled cotton adds up to a lot of insulation.

“[It takes] roughly about 500 average size jeans for an average size house, around 1600 feet,” Robb explained.

Read the list of five things you can do here.

Don’t throw it away! We have a tendency not to think about items we throw away. They disappear from our sight, so they are out of our minds. But all those things that the garbage truck hauls away every week do have to go somewhere, and that place is a landfill. Landfills are a major cause of greenhouse gasses and ozone depletion. So next time you get ready to throw something away, ask yourself if you could possibly use the item in another way or donate it.

Here’s a humorous one — use your plastic shopping bags to make an instant tie-down rope for your car. Now, do not use it with extra heavy items, but it is durable enough to keep things in place. How?

Take 2 bags and take one handle of the first bag and put it through a handle of the second bag. Loop the first bag over the handle of the second bag and pull it through it’s own handle. This makes a strong tie.

Next, gather the rest of one bag and loop it into a knot just below the other, unused handle.

Continue to loop bags and tie them up until you have the length that you need. Do this to make two ropes, and then twist the two “ropes” together. If it needs to be stronger, then make it three ropes.

Tie a knot at each end of your doubled or tripled rope. Use it to secure your items on the go!

4. Print Double-Sided

Computer paper has two sides; how many are you printing on? If you have a laser printer at home, you can change the setting to double-sided printing and copying. Otherwise, consider printing documents one page at a time and printing the second page on the back of the first. It may take you more time, but you’ll also have less paper to buy.
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7. Make Paper Bag Book Covers

With more cities placing restrictions on the use of plastic bags, paper bags may be your packaging of choice. Well, these bags have many reuse options to keep them out of the trash, including covering your hardcover books. This also protects your books from damage and food stains. Plus, once you’re done with the cover you can still recycle the bag with the rest of your paper.

The idea has serious potential for gyms nationwide, to provide both cost savings and environmental benefits. At the Green Microgym, the Team Dynamo and Spin Bikes can generate 0.750 kWh a piece. And Mr. Boesel is currently cooking up new gizmos to harness the power of elliptical trainers.

Some may feel that it is outlandish for a 2,800 square-foot gym to be fueled by manpower. Mr. Boesel doesn’t think so. He states, “It’s just going to move the human powered renewable energy technology to the next level. We’re going for 100 percent. I think at the beginning, we may be 20 to 25 percent.”

The gym is not the first worldwide to have dabbled in human power. In Hong Kong, there is a gym with gadgets connected to the weight machines, where athletes power up the gym with every lift. The Hong Kong gym’s patrons produce enough power to fill its batteries and keep the lights burning bright. Other companies are also seeking to exploit human based kinetic energy, such as M2E Power, which is debuting a human based iPod/cell phone recharger next year.