Congratulations!  If you’ve made it this far, it means you survived Black Friday. Whether you waited in line for hours or skipped the event all together, chances are you still have some holiday gifts that need to be made or purchased. For many of you, today, Cyber Monday, is the day to finish up those holiday gifting loose ends.

In many ways, shopping online allows us to enjoy a more relaxed, and more environmentally-conscious, experience. You have the opportunity to shop from the companies you value the most, there are no crowds, and often several legs of shipping and transport are avoided, reducing the items eventual carbon debt. (more…)

Hope you have a great one!!!

Too Good To Be True? Not With MIT On Our Side

MIT researchers have a simple, inexpensive, highly efficient process for storing solar energy.

Daniel G. Nocera, the Henry Dreyfus Professor of Energy at MIT, developed a simple method to split water molecules and produce oxygen gas, a discovery that paves the way for large-scale use of solar power.

The researchers developed a new catalyst, consisting of cobalt metal, phosphate and an electrode. When the catalyst is placed in water and electricity runs through the electrode, oxygen gas is produced. When another catalyst is used to produce hydrogen gas, the oxygen and hydrogen can be combined inside a fuel cell, creating carbon-free electricity to power a house or an electric car, day or night.

With Daniel Nocera’s and Matthew Kanan’s catalyst, homeowners could use their solar panels during the day to power their home, while also using the energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen for storage. At night, the stored hydrogen and oxygen could be recombined using a fuel cell to generate power while the solar panels are inactive.

More engineering work needs to be done to integrate the process into existing photovoltaic systems, but Nocera said he is confident that such systems will become a reality.

Nocera hopes that within 10 years, homeowners will be able to power their homes in daylight through photovoltaic cells, while using excess solar energy to produce hydrogen and oxygen to power their own household fuel cell. Electricity-by-wire from a central source could be a thing of the past.

But like the old saying goes ….. “an internet video clip from LiveScience.com is worth a thousand words“, so……

‘Robbing Peter To Pay Paul’ Is Pointless In Recycling

It defeats the green purpose to engage in recycling a product utilizing copious amounts of fresh water, a dwindling natural resource. But you have to wash plastic to recycle it.  Processing plants use up to 100,000 gallons of water a day, mostly to wash food residue and chemicals off containers before they can be shredded into plastic flakes and returned to industry for use in hundreds of applications. (more…)

The Electric InterGrid – Why A Smart Power Grid is Essential

Source: LiveScience.com

On October 27, President Obama announced $3.4 billion in grants to help build a “smart” electric grid aimed at reducing blackouts and cutting utility bills. The grid, as envisioned, would do a better job incorporating wind and solar energy into the nation’s electricity supply.

The existing power grid is a patchwork of often antiquated systems that, under stress, can fail to deliver electricity where it’s needed. The grants will pay for better transformers at utility companies and also smart meters to help consumers manage their energy use.

“It is fair to say that the current (grid) system is certainly outdated. It’s dilapidated,” said Carol Browner, the president’s top adviser on climate change and energy issues. The new plan is expected to created tens of thousands of jobs, Reuters reports.

What’s a smart grid and why do we need it? Find out below.

The first video being:

America’s electric infrastructure is undergoing a massive make-over. It must develop Internet-style intelligence.

The second video being:

To create an Internet-style power system, every electric device has to learn when to listen and how to talk.

….  as the green world turns.

Global Green Challenge – New Vehicle Technologies For A Better, Healthier, Cleaner Environment

With the environment foremost in the minds of those that care for future generations, the Global Green Challenge is a cross continent odyssey which allows access to and comparison of the ecologically friendly vehicles of the future, what is now, and what will be offered in the market place. The Global Green Challenge has evolved into an exhibition and testing ground for the next generation of vehicle technology. From Oct. 24 – 31 the future of sustainable transport ran right through the heart of Australia’s iconic landscape, bucking headwinds and some of Australia’s toughest roads and conditions. (more…)

Color Changing Roof Tiles Absorb Heat In Winter, Reflects In Summer

What colors? Well, your basic power colors of course, black and white. Or to make your art teacher cringe – black and white makes green.

Black surfaces absorb the sun’s heat very efficiently, producing hot surfaces. In the wintertime, that can be a good thing: A dark roof heats up in the sun and helps reduce your heating bill. But in summertime, it’s definitely a bad thing: Your house gets even hotter, and your air conditioning has to work harder. In most places, the summertime penalty is greater than the wintertime gain, it turns out, so that’s why many people, including U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, strongly advocate switching to white roofs. (more…)