Author: Adam Clare

World Cup Scores!

The World Cup has scored a green goal! Sorry, I couldn’t resist such cheesy writing. Seriously though, the World Cup organizers in Germany have surpassed their own goal of making the event have a small ecological footprint as possible. One thing they wanted to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that normally would have been released for such a large event by encouraging bike riding and riding public transit. They did more too!

“There are water-free urinals, overflow limiters on the wash-basins and electricity-saving measures, which are all things that save resources but go virtually unnoticed. The fans also don’t get to see the solar panels on the stadiums, which is a shame.”

The 5 Second Rule

The infamous 5-second rule is true. You know, it’s the rule when you drop food on the ground and it’s still good for 5-seconds so you can still eat it. Basically, a lot of surfaces are actually cleaner than we think so they don’t contain a lot of bacteria. I’ve also heard that it some bacteria (and some other gross things) need more time to cling to food than just 5-seconds.

“”Jillian swabbed the floors around the University in the lab, hall, dormitory, and cafeteria to see how many organisms we could isolate,” Agle tells WebMD. “We examined the swabs, and there were very few microorganisms. That surprised me. I told her to do it again.”

The results were the same. Agle has since earned her doctoral degree and is a scientist in new product development for Rich Foods in Buffalo, N.Y. “I think the floors were so clean, from a microbiological point of view, because floors are dry, and most pathogens — like salmonella, listeria, or E. coli — can’t survive without moisture.” “

Student Swap

A new website has been launched by two mothers as a reaction to increasing tuition fees in the UK that allows parents to swap children. Student Swaps is exactly as it sounds. The idea is that for two families to save money they can have one child trade bedrooms with another – for free.

“The principle behind Student Swaps is to enable students to literally swap family homes. The website will hold a database of students who would like to swap and link them with suitable matches. So those from one town/city could swap with those from a different town/city. ”

This a great idea! It will allow for students and their families to save money and broaden their horizons.

Urban Etiquette Handbook

Being proper in an urban setting is not that hard, but it’s always fun to have a guide to see if you are doing it “right.” The New York Metro has released an Urban Etiquette Handbook. What better city than New York to write a guide like this considering they are the most polite?

The basics of the list:
(1) No raking women with your eyes; glance quickly and respectfully.
(2) Offer to share a taxi rather than fight over it.
(3) Babies in strollers get right-of-way—until they abuse it.
(4) Still no ogling girls—c’mon!
(5) And skateboarding, are you kidding me?
(6) Not everybody loves your dog as much as you do.
(7) No bicycling on the sidewalk unless under the age of 6.
(8) Pedestrians can die of secondhand smoke, too”

Renewable Energy Gaining Capital

The renewable energy sector is attracting a lot of investment recently, which is great to hear. This is good news because the forces of capitalism are working in favour of our environment. Here’s some great examples of all this renewed interest in renewable energy.

Great new technological development in solar power:

“CA-based Nanosolar had raised $100 million to finance a new solar-cell factory based on an inexpensive process, similar to that used to print newspapers, and that it will make enough cells to produce 430 megawatts of power annually, is just one sign that new types of solar power are emerging as a viable alternative energy source.”

Wind power is generating interest:

“The report says wind power is the world’s fastest-growing energy source with an average annual growth rate of 29 percent over the last ten years. In contrast, over the same time period, coal use has grown by 2.5 percent per year, nuclear power by 1.8 percent, natural gas by 2.5 percent, and oil by 1.7 percent. ”

There is more evidence that switching from non-renwable energy to renewable energy will help create jobs:

Tackling the green challenge can create Welsh jobs

2006 is looking to be a great year for improved energy technologies.