Did London Go Green for the Olympics?

London was awarded the 2012 Summer Olympics partly for the promise of making the games green. From what I can tell they have accomplished most of it.

When making room for the venues, they demolished buildings, recycled most of the materials, cleaned up the soils, re-invigorated the Lea River, and many other actions. Some of the wood utilized was not painted as it will be reused after the Olympics. That is a pretty good stab at greening the games.

Items not used were picked up by the locals for upgrading of local theaters, DIYers, etc. Most of the seating will be temporary as they will be recycled back into the community.

For a good example of low carbon building, the Veladrome was built by utilizing surplus gas pipe. That is about 1/3 of the pipe used on the Beijing Birdnest.

The London Bridge has had its lighting redone using LEDs which certainly is much cheaper and much brighter illumination. The lights can rotate to three (3) different colors and I really like that.

The streetlights on ground level are also being swapped out with LED and floodlights taking their place, for an estimated 45 percent reduction in energy use.

So what do you think? Do you believe that the Games will be greener than Beijing? Do you think that they reached a sustainability?

Green …. as the green future unfolds.

Want your own Segway for under a 100 dollars?

This is an electric scooter made with a used car battery (junk yard $20) and two electric car heater fan motors (junk yard $10). Wheels, brakes and steering components were taken from kids bikes bought at Salvation Army for $5 each. Throttle response is a PWM from ebay ($50). Yep, entire project was under $100.

Then there is the drill bike!  Pretty nice looking and unique bike.

Nothing like getting around on different devices without utilizing gas.   Old electric motors can be used in so many ways. These two are just the tip of the iceberg. If you are a DIYer, you certainly can figure out how to do this. I am sure that the inventors are more than will to talk about their achievements.

So, which bike would you rather have? I know, it is hard to decide…

Bikes …. as the green future unfolds.

A Green Search Engine That Can!

Have you ever thought of using a search engine for items you need for around the house, instead of paying full price at a box store, look at this site? Imagine the savings you could get during these tough economic times.

ecofreek.com is a search engine that searches the web for free and ‘for swap/trade’ items people no longer need or want from over 45+ major sources, providing the most diverse and accurate results anywhere in the world.

Also included are items for trade like books, sports equipment, antiques, automobiles, bicycles, motorcycles, CDs/DVDs, computers, property, seeds/gardening supplies, and lots more (including pets looking for new homes).  They also encourage people to exchange and re-use items though their search engine and also ‘places to give things away’ section. Feel free to recommend them new resources as well, they have a section to link to other environmental/green sites. Search engines also help you in getting you traffic.

The have over 10,000 libraries worldwide for free and swappable items being given away by people who no longer need them. Are you game to try it out? Please let me know how you fared.

I hope you enjoy your experience at their site and they welcome any and all feedback.

Search engine … as the green future unfolds.

How Many Gadgets Do You Have?

I am sure that if you sat down and counted all of the gadgets you have in your home today, you would be amazed.  So listed below is the latest facts on how gadgets affect your lives.

1,400: The dollar amount the average American household spends on new electronics annually.

20-40: Number of gadgets the average American keeps on stand by, that suck up energy even when turned off. Televisions, computers, electric toothbrushes, phones, radios are more all use up energy and money when they aren’t even in use.

1%: The total percent of carbon dioxide emissions emitted each year from devices left on stand by.

230 million: The number of products with battery charging systems currently in use in American homes and businesses.

1.5 billion: The number of external power adapters, also known as power supplies, currently in use to power small electronic devices–that’s about five for every person. The total electricity flowing through all types of power supplies makes up about 11% of the national electric bill.

3 million: Tons of household electronics tossed by Americans in 2006.

700 million: The number of used cell phones in the US today. Each of the 140 million cell phone users discards their old phone for a new one every 14 to 18 months.

300 million: Number of obsolete computers in the U.S. today.

70%: The percentage of e-waste out of the entire toxic waste stream of landfills. In addition to valuable metals like aluminum, electronics often contain hazardous materials like lead and mercury.

50%: The percent of a computer that is recycled. The rest is dumped. Non-recyclable components of a single computer may contain almost 2 kilograms of lead.

75-80%: The percentage of old computers from the United States wind up in Asian countries such as India and China, where recycling costs are much lower.

500 million:Number of consumer electronics devices sold in the US in 2008.

530: The pounds of fossil fuels it takes to manufacture one computer and monitor. It also requires 48 pounds of chemicals and 1.5 tons of water.

81%: Percent of a desktop’s lifetime energy consumption that is used just to make it. Only a small fraction of a desktop’s total energy consumption is consumed in actually using it.

Sources: Good magazine, Energy Star, New York Times, PaceButler, Earth911, GRIDA, Computer Take Back.

So how did you do? Just remember that whatever you plug into your home, consumes energy. Think about how you can save by reducing your electronics.

Also, check out the 10 Types of Companies that Consume the Most Electricity.  Very interesting.  Although, I know of one industry that was left off the list and that is steel companies.  They also consume alot of electricity.

Gadgets …. as the green future unfolds.

The EVOLUTE™ has world leading water efficiency, using less than 1 liter of water, whereas a conventional toilet uses approximately 6-12 liters per flush.

Recently, Australian inventors Tom Trainor and Mark Hutton came up with a product that they claim uses up to 90% less water than a regular toilet. The EVOLUTE is still in the development phase, and is not expected to be available to the public until 2012.

Not a bad idea, eh? I think these guys will be very successful!

…. as the green future unfolds.

I was working at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas when the first shuttle lifted off.

NASA

Now, 30 years later, the shuttle has come to its end of life in the NASA Space Program. It does not seem like its been 3 decades , 135 flights and of course, many deliveries to the International Space Station.

The spaceship and the two other surviving shuttles will become museum pieces, like the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo capsules and the Wright brothers’ flying machine before them. NASA astronauts, a dwindling breed, will have to hitch rides to the space station aboard Russian Soyuz capsules for at least three to five years.

National Geographic

Shuttles launched the Hubble Space Telescope and fixed its blurry vision; built the space station, the world’s largest orbiting structure; and opened the final frontier to women, minorities, schoolteachers, even a prince. The first American to orbit the Earth, John Glenn, became the oldest person ever in space, thanks to the shuttle. He was 77 at the time; he turned 90 this week.

Atlantis will go on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex in 2013. Space shuttle Discovery is headed for a Smithsonian Institution hangar in Virginia. And Endeavour is bound for the California Science Center in Los Angeles.

NASA has new marching orders for space exploration and I look forward to seeing their progress. In the meantime, BRAVO for the work accomplished thus far!

…. as the green future unfolds.

NASA / Kathryn Hansen.

During the spring and summer melt, the sea ice atop the Arctic Ocean (shown here in this photo from July 12, 2011) begins to melt; the liquid water collects in depressions on the surface, pressing down on them and making them deeper until they become melt ponds. These freshwater ponds stay separated from the salty sea below and around it until cracks in the ice let the two mix.

Scientists who are part of NASA’s ICESCAPE mission (Impacts of Climate on Ecosystems and Chemistry of the Arctic Pacific Environment) are studying these melt ponds and the surrounding water and ice to see how changes in the Arctic impact the ocean’s chemical and biological makeup.

That is a really cool landscape, don”t you agree?

… as the green future unfolds.

An international team of scientists has come up with a method to make wool carpets from all-natural materials that can be re-processed after a life cycle.

Erutan

Most carpets are biodegradable but they are glued together using latex. When carpets are thrown away, they end up in an oven to burn for extra energy in other industries or they go to the local dump.

There is a new project that is being funded by the Dutch Government called Erutan or “nature” spelled backwards. Their slogan is “It’s a natural solution – sheep eat grass, from the sheep, we get wool, and from the wool we make a carpet with natural ingredients.” The researchers decided to replace all synthetic substances and chemicals with organic materials, enzymes and polymers. The adhesive is based on natural compounds such as lignin or tannic acid.

It is a joint venture of three Dutch companies – James, Best Wool Carpets, and Bond Textile Research, working in cooperation with three technology developers – Research Institute TNO in the Netherlands, Technical University of Graz in Austria (TUG) and Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in Spain (UPC).

They have managed to create an all natural carpet that looks and feels like any carpet that is on the current market. There is no latex involved so when the carpet reaches it end of life, it can be re-cycled to a type of fertilizer for agricultural uses.
The team are hoping their carpets will revolutionize the industry.

But the scientists did not want to stop at changing basic ingredients – they decided to make all other processes associated with manufacturing eco-friendly as well.

For instance, the researchers from Technical University of Graz in Austria came up with a way to wash dirty, greasy raw wool from New Zealand sheep without any detergents, salt or any other chemicals.

They clean it with enzymes. With enzymes in washing powders everything has gotten faster, you use less water, it’s much better for the environment and those enzymes come from nature.

As for color, they are using natural ingredients versus the synthetic dyes that are currently used.

As for availability, it is not clear. Will keep you posted.

…. as the green future unfolds.

Trade plus Aid Biogas Digester Project

This is another program that is helping South Africa. There has been a grant for 22 towns to get this biogas digester. As you will see, the towns that have gotten their new biogas digesters installed are very happy campers!

… as the green future unfolds.

Decentralized Energy is the Best Way to Generate Clean and Green Energy!

Quasar-Wooster-Ohio

In Kenya, Lake Victoria is choking with water hyacinth. The people have been critical of the government for not clearing the weed out of the Lake. The local people currently use it to make furniture and baskets.

In walks a green technology…. a portable unit that can generate biogas and liquid fertilizer from the water hyacinth. It is called an anaerobic digester. .An anaerobic digester is a system that takes an organic waste stream and through the process of anaerobic digestion (meaning without oxygen), microorganisms break-down the waste stream which generates biogas in the process. However, they tested this unit at the Nairobi Dam, Naivasha and Victoria Lakes and were successful in breaking down the water hyacinth.

How is it done? They innoculate the digesters contents with a bacteria obtained from animal intestines. In a continuous digester, organic material is constantly or regularly fed into the digester. The material moves through the digester either mechanically or by the force of the new feed pushing out digested material. Unlike batch-type digesters, continuous digesters produce biogas without the interruption of loading material and unloading effluent. There are three types of continuous digesters: vertical tank systems, horizontal tank or plug-flow systems, and multiple tank systems. The contents are emptied and can produce enough fertilizer for up to 4 towns. What a neat way to get and keep agriculture going in these towns.

It has been asked that if the digester can take care of the hyacinth, won’t they run out? The answer is no as the weed is very abundant throughout East Africa. It is a weed and we all know how weeds grow when close to water.

… as the green future unfolds.