Mariah Power, the manufacturer of the Windspire®, a residential and commercial wind power appliance, was recognized in “Best of What’s New” in the green tech category by Popular Science in its December 2008 issue.

Windspire turbine

The Windspire is a 30-foot tall, propeller-free, vertical-axis wind turbine designed for harnessing wind power in urban, suburban and rural locations for both residential and commercial use. Each year, Popular Science reviews thousands of new products and innovations and chooses the top 100 winners across 11 categories for inclusion in its annual “Best of What’s New” issue, the best-read issue of the year. To win, a product or technology must represent a significant step forward in its category.

This award comes on the heels of the company’s announcement of its first volume manufacturing facility in Michigan that will be up and running next year, and the first multi-unit commercial installation of six Windspires at Devon Bank the first “green bank” in the Chicago, Illinois area. (more…)

The American coffee shop chain Starbucks has been accused of wasting more than 23 million
litres of water each day because staff are told to leave taps running non-stop.

The bizarre policy, which is aimed at preventing germs developing in the taps in its
10,000 stores worldwide, has outraged environmental groups.

Every Starbucks branch has a cold tap behind the counter providing water for a sink
called a “dipper well” used for washing spoons and utensils and the staff are banned from
turning the water off under “health and safety rules”, an investigation claims. (more…)

Episode #7 – “The Primary”

February, 2008

The Big Well and the water tower are a big part of the tradition of Greensburg.
Built in 1887, it’s known as the largest hand dug well, 109 feet deep, 32 feet
in diameter. The Big Well is the town’s tourist attraction and the location of
the water tower prior to the storm which, as with everything else, took it out.
The decision was to put the new water tower back in the same location to keep
their tradition going. The old tower held 55,000 gallons, the new one will
be taller and hold 100,000 gallons. About 80 percent bigger than the old one.

Currently, one well is supplying the city and without a water tower means (more…)

Ice Storm

End of November 2007, Steve Hewitt is worried over rebuilding downtown with no money. A contractor meeting for the business incubator is held. The project will be a 9,300 square foot facility that will contain retail shops and professional services. And to initiate this going green project as quick as possible. Steve is hoping to get it out to bid, designed, and start construction in the spring, for completion in the summer. Before the storm Richard and Rhonda Engelken owned three commercial buildings, one rental house, four cars, and their own home. After the storm, all gone. Rhonda’s (more…)

As promised, for those of you who do not get the Planet Green channel:

Two episodes were shown:

The first – “The Tornado”

On May 4, 2007 the town was hit by an F5 tornado, 10 people were killed in this town
of 1500. The entire infrastructure was annihilated and most of the residents left
homeless. A town that before the tornado, faced the very real possibility of
disappearing into the pages of history, as have many small agricultural based towns
in America. So why build a town back exactly the way it was if it’s future outlook is
dismal. The community decides to make it’s mark by rebuilding as energy efficient and
as green as possible. This was to be a daunting task especially monetarily as many
of the residents were under-insured if insured at all. (more…)