Month: July 2008

Al Gore Wants to Shoot for the Environmental Moon

- Adam Clare

Alright, so the title maybe a little misleading, but Al Gore is at it again. He’s calling upon the USA to put as much effort and energy into creating a green economy as it did to get men on the moon.

Just as John F. Kennedy set his sights on the moon, Al Gore is challenging the nation to produce every kilowatt of electricity through wind, sun and other Earth-friendly energy sources within 10 years, an audacious goal he hopes the next president will embrace.
…
“I have never seen an opportunity for the country like the one that’s emerging now,” Gore told The Associated Press in an interview previewing a speech on global warming he was to deliver Thursday in Washington.

Gore said he fully understands the magnitude of the challenge.

The Alliance for Climate Protection, a bipartisan group that he chairs, estimates the cost of transforming the nation to so-called clean electricity sources at $1.5 trillion to $3 trillion over 30 years in public and private money. But he says it would cost about as much to build ozone-killing coal plants to satisfy current demand.

“This is an investment that will pay itself back many times over,” Gore said. “It’s an expensive investment but not compared to the rising cost of continuing to invest in fossil fuels.”

Fun-O-Meter

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

This is the fun-o-meter and it looks like a blast! For only $0.50 you get a suggestion of something fun to do. Perfect.
ideas

Just think about it. Fifty cents gets you:

-1 fun idea. If you’re been reading the site, you know the type of stuff, Zoomdoggle is loaded with them. #318 reads: Write “B” and “R” on opposite ends the back side of a One Dollar Bill. Stick your boner anywhere you like. But the fun doesn’t stop there.

-A map, in case fun idea requires travel.

-You also get 1 toy. You know the type. Standard vending machine stuff.

-And 1 quarter back… I kind of got ripped off on the toys, and only wanted to charge 25 cents anyway, but the machine is configured for 50 cents, so I put a quarter in each egg. Free money. That’s fun!

-Plus a lucky penny you can leave heads up for someone else to find. How cool is that?

Gray Water Getting More Interest

- Adam Clare

Gray water is such a simple idea, but it is expensive to implement the infrastructure on a mass scale – particularly in the suburbs. There is however, more interest in the idea thanks to an increased knowledge about how important water is. Californians are now looking more at gray water – and in the USA California tends to set trends for the rest of the states.

The systems — which use water from sinks, tubs and washing machines to irrigate home landscaping — are touted as a way to keep lawns green and flowers blooming without abusing a scarce resource or inflating water bills.
Greywater Guerrillas launched its first jerry-rigged experiments with gray water in 1999, when the original guerrillas were trying to reduce the water bill for their house of six roommates. The systems and devices have become much more sophisticated since then, said Laura Allen, an educator with Greywater Guerrillas.
Gray water systems channel the used household water (though not from toilets) to irrigation ducts 9 inches below the surface of a home’s lawn or garden.
Advocates say it’s a practical use of water that otherwise would go into the sewer system, and therefore an expedient means of conservation. And conservation is important as water becomes an increasingly valued resource, proponents say.
“Our water bill is going to be like our oil bill in the future,” said John Russell, a landscape designer who heads WaterSprout, an Oakland company that specializes in residential and commercial irrigation, including gray water systems.

Bras Could Power Electronics

- Adam Clare 2 Comments

I find this to be rather entertaining, apparently bras could be manufactured that produce electricity from bouncing breasts. If one was to combine this electricity producing bra with the eco-friendly bra the world would witness the greatest piece of underwear ever made.

Then one day recently, I had an idea. As I rode a bus to the office, my messenger bag slung uncomfortably across my chest, I thought, “Why not put the girls to work?” Human-powered devices are showing up everywhere, from Rotterdam’s sustainable dance floor to human-powered gyms in Hong Kong. The timing seemed perfect – perhaps even overdue – for a bra that could harness the untapped power of breast motion.

The idea of an energy-generating bra isn’t as crazy as it might sound. The underwear company Triumph International Japan recently unveiled a solar-powered bra that supposedly will generate enough energy to power an iPod. But I live in foggy San Francisco and prefer not to walk around in my underwear in public. Could someone design an iPod-powering bra for me?

Social Networking for Carpools

- Adam Clare

Listen to NPR’s report on using social networking for carpooling:

The high price of gasoline is fueling a new fleet of social network startups in ridesharing. They’re trying to leverage social networks and the ease of technology to make it easier for people to carpool. Among them is GoLoco.org, started by the woman who founded Zipcar. But some analysts say it will take more than $4-a-gallon gas to get social network carpools firing on all cylinders.

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