Posts tagged green
November 4, 2008
· Filed under alternative energy, diy · Tagged election, green, history, renewable energy, vote
I’ve pretty much kept out of the political fray here at Solarious, but on this historic election day at the end of the longest presidential campaign in American memory, one cannot help but realize the importance of participating by voting in this election. So regardless of the yucky weather (can they plan that?), get out and vote today! I’ve been so impressed to see people talking for weeks about having voted early to make sure their votes were counted. Between the official polls and the unofficial internet popular polls, we’re in a unique position to make our voices heard today in a way no prior generation has.
No single act you do this year, perhaps even this decade, will so influence your future possibilities of an off-grid life as getting your vote counted, no matter on which side of the fence you stand. After all, the next president will be in charge of steering the green market and renewable energy to their destinies. Who do you want in charge? See you at the polls!
(If you need a little help deciding, go to SmartVoter.com or VotefortheEnvironment.com and read up on the issues.)
September 13, 2008
· Filed under alternative energy, diy, garden, solar power, wind · Tagged garden, green, heat, load, physics, roof, solar, synergy, wind
When installing a photovoltaic, solar heat, or wind generation system, one concept with which you’re sure to become familiar is that of structural load. The concept of a twenty foot wind tower on your roof spinning down free energy all year is nice, but in practice, you’d more likely rip a hole in your house without some careful consideration. Therefore, sustainable roof design has adapted to include a variety of green techniques, each requiring their own load profile. When used in combination, the elements can add a visual and technological depth to a space that is almost hard to describe.
Living roofs are required by law in some European cities, so it’s strange that so few people in the US have ever even heard of them. Basically, in a city, roofs cover between 30-40% of the available land acreage. Streets cover a good percentage more. By building a living roof, you offset the loss of porous surface area by simply elevating the layer above the structure. New sustainable design firms tend toward relatively autonomous plantings so that care needs are minimized. Varieties of drought resistant grasses or low-water plants like ice plants for a more spectacular display. Traditional examples of living roofs often display a more cultivated cover. Some are actually used as rooftop garden spaces, with fully functional plant beds in frames. They slow down water across their surface area and help promote local biodiversity.
The largest challenge in making a rooftop garden (besides keeping the frame watertight so it doesn’t leak onto your roof) is one of structural load. Obviously, cubic feet of dirt are heavy – just ask anyone who’s done construction or landscape work lately. On your roof, they bear down on the surface, creating stress on the seams between fastenings and structural supports. It is important to find ways to relieve this stress either in the building phase, or, as is more common, in the design phase of a remodel. Soil scientists have designed artificial soils that weigh less than traditional soils, and other growing mediums such as local crushed brick can be used. But usually this involves restructuring the load on beams so that the roof avoids carrying actual weight.
As mentioned earlier, a living roof may not be the only alternative energy installation vying for structural load bearing on your house. If you install solar panels or a solar heat collector, the same weight issues come into play, and careful siting along strong structural axes or retrofitting are necessary. With wind, add in the force of the tower’s rotation and the wind profile of the actual tower and it’s probably better not to site a tower on your house at all unless you like weird noises and warped beams. Save that for the back yard.
If you are considering installing one technology already which calls for boosting the load structure of your roof, why not design for the (future) implementation of another complementary technology now? As hurricanes so aptly illustrate, a little extra roof support ain’t gonna hurt you. With as much roof space as we have in this country, we could probably meet half our food needs if everyone started a garden today. Victory Gardens for a new millennium. Even just switching from a traditional tar shingle roof (made from petroleum) to a gravel-based cover slows water loss considerably across your whole property. Take a look at these examples of how nice living roofs can look, and consider integrating a little (more) green into your next roofing project.
September 12, 2008
· Filed under inspiration, solar power · Tagged clothing, green, innovation, product, research, solar
It seems inevitable that eventually clothing designers will hop on the solar train and integrate solar power into their designs. Already, Noon Solar and several other handbag manufacturers are realizing nice profits creating stylish solar designs that charge your cell phone on the go. But this invention takes the solar geek award by a landslide. The Solar Necktie, brainchild of researchers at Iowa State University’s Textiles school, is a perfect integration of office style and solar cool. It even has a place to tuck your cell phone in the back while its charging!
I have to admit, I’d have expected to see this sooner on the runways of Calvin Klein than a university. And most of the other designs left a little to be desired in the style file. (though they designed a solar jacket, too, which has potential!) New Flexible Thin Film solar technologies will be greatly expending the potential for power generation in our daily activities very soon. They can be wrapped around buildings, woven into fabrics, and used in other compounds to generate power from all sorts of things. Though this design still pays obvious homage to the solar look we are used to, soon, you may not even notice that you are using a solar appliance until you actually draw power from it. Kudos to these researchers on a nice application and guidepost for future designers.
Read all about the products here: Research Bulletin
August 30, 2008
· Filed under conservation, diy, garden, organic, vegetarian · Tagged diversity, diy, food, gardening, global, global warming, green, politics, preservation, seeds
As another hurricane bears down on the gulf coast, one has to wonder whether the glass half empty crowd which has been predicting increased damage in upcoming years due to natural disaster is correct. Nature does go in cycles, and we may end up laughing off current pessimism about the planet’s inability to regulate herself. But current data does suggest that we are facing at the least a massive migration of plants and animal species to inhabit new regions of the planet. Global environmental organizations are already seeing plant and animal species move to new elevations of previously frigid territory and dead zones showing up in previously fertile areas.
Perhaps the hardest adjustment we as humans will have to make, provided we don’t all take each other out first, is that of food supply. When the local soils no longer support the crops to which we’re accustomed, we’ll be faced with two choices: move, or learn to cultivate something new. This migratory period will be critical to the existence of all life on earth. By creating and maintaining seed banks, we are helping to sustain the biological diversity of life on earth. This is the aim of the latest biological depository established in Scandinavia, into which governments from around the world are locking seed samples in preservatory conditions in case of Doomsday.
But while the establishment of such seed banks are admirable, the greatest potential for preserving biological diversity lies with the individual. After all, your grandmother’s mint patch that grows in your backyard probably isn’t on the seed registry’s radar, and neither are your neighbor’s prize heirloom sunflowers. For any planet to sustain a wide diversity of genetic material, it is we, the people, who will have to stash away the genetic legacy of our lives thusfar as a gift to the future. So why not get started now?
Making a seed bank is ridiculously easy. You could well go from a single set of seeds to more than you could ever plant within the span of a single growing season. Of course, seeds are most fertile when fresh, but stored under the right conditions, most seeds will last for years. It is a good practice to plant from your seed bank each year, and replenish the stock with fresh seed over the growing season. This way, most of your seed stays fresh at any time.
Now, how to get started? First, buy an pack of little brown paper envelopes, or even just a package of writing envelopes. Then stash a few in your pocketbook, briefcase, or car, and start hunting! Every time you see a particularly beautiful tree in fruit, a really nice flower, or healthy looking seed grasses, take a handful of seeds, pat them dry if they are wet (say from being removed from their protective fruit coverings to prevent rot), and place them in the envelope. Be sure to label the outside of the package with what type of plant (if you don’t know, just describe it as best possible), the date on which you collected it, and ideally, where you found it. Then transfer your sealed envelopes to a cool dry storage place next time you are home, to keep the seeds from germinating and then dying from lack of soil nutrition. Then you simply hit the road again and look for more! Most people won’t mind you taking a handful of anything from their lawn, but certainly some tact and discretion are in order always.
The next step in a successful seed bank is to increase the diversity through exchange with others. In most towns there are groups of seed savers who get together periodically to have exchanges, in which you give a little to get a little of something else. This is the true gem of seed collection. You are gaining access to the best of all local areas, all of which should be relatively well suited to cultivation in your area, simply for having an eagle eye in your own neighborhood.
As with all great ventures, the best time to get started is before everyone else catches on. That way, when seeds become more scarce, you’ll already be a practiced veteran of the seed trade. This is truly a return to the simpler life our parents parents experienced, and is a selfless act of philanthropy you can complete without spending a dime.
August 29, 2008
· Filed under analysis, corporate facts, eco · Tagged advertising, big oil, energyville, game, green, internet, politics
Ever heard of the game Energyville? It’s an online game where you name a town, and then, Sims’ style, decide how you’re going to power it using the available technologies. Each has their own pros and cons, and costs different amounts of money, environmental damage and national security. Then the game takes you through the years, showing you how the choices you make affect the city. On the surface, it sounds like a good concept. But play it once or twice, and you might start to wonder just why it is that biofuels always “get more expensive due to lack of corn supplies” in every scenario presented, though petroleum, natural gas, and shale oil seem to get better with age. Or how even if you have your town fully powered with alternative energy, the game won’t let you advance to the next level without adding some petrol to the mix. I played the game several times, and Beautopia never lived up to its name, no matter how valiantly I erected wind towers and solar panel racks. Well, it did LOOK pretty, but my score couldn’t compete with the oil guzzlers and nuclear supporters out there.
Still, even with a marked slant evident in the policital events presented, the game is an interesting look at how we do need to think about the future when making energy choices of today. If someone would come back with a more REAL version of this game, instead of Chevron, which is the presenter of Energyville, there could be a lot to learn from it. If you want to check out the game, it’s at:
www.willyoujoinus.com/energyville
In a greater sense, this game underlines what seems true in most of life. Most things seem okay on the surface, pretty kind and helpful even, but a little digging (not much in this case) reveals that “free” offers contain strings, “impartial” observers are paid for their opinions, and even organizations set up to help others usually have their own agendas that can affect their actual aid. Green living is a noble goal, and of course I encourage you to follow the natural path. Just be aware of the greenwash, as they call it, because for every understanding and caring soul who enters the green “industry”, there also enters a conglomerate like Safeway or KMart, hoping to make a buck. Learning to take only what you need from these giants is a lifelong game in and of itself.
June 20, 2008
· Filed under alternative energy, conservation, diy, garden, green, review · Tagged alternative energy, book, diy, farm, garden, green, home, husbandry, hydro, off-grid, organic, recipes, self sufficient, solar, wind
The Self-Sufficiency Handbook: A Complete Guide to Greener Living by Alan and Gill Bridgewater
The title of this book is perfect. There are no crazy survival tips here, although I wouldn’t mind having this book along in a pinch. It’s a guide for getting your existing house off the grid, and also for evaluating properties in terms of their sustainability potential. The writers live in the UK, after years stateside, so the companies and tips are both oriented toward those countries. But there is a nice discussion of navigating local laws no matter where you decide to drop your hoe and start gardening.
After a nice discussion of housing, which includes talks about insulation, orientation, ambient heating/cooling, alternative energy sources, and materials, they move on to daily living practicalities. First, getting light. That done, next you need food. This is where the book really shines. There is an in-depth lesson on growing an organic garden, including successful composting and which crops should be planted where and when, what needs rotation (and a sample rotation schedule that will leave you with fresh foods year-round) and what can stay put, and the care profiles for a large variety of different garden plants. They are careful to share wisdom on how much land you need to make your off-grid dreams happen, and also on how to choose property that will lead you to success.
Animal husbandry is covered in detail species by species, along with construction considerations, possible worries and probable successes of owning each type. The sections are not overly in-depth – I thought they were perfect for the off-grid enthusiast with lots of commitment but no experience with husbandry. Of course, one can never emphasize enough the time it will take to properly care for animal on your own property. They cover it nicely, if briefly, by saying this: if you own animals, you will have to feed them EVERY DAY, holiday or not. Yes, that’s EVERY day. Having kept horses growing up, I can relate to the urgency with which they repeat this statement throughout the book. Take heart.
The last section of the book can best be described as a tutorial section of recipes for survival. Not pemmican or Gorp-style recipes, but rather old-fashioned recipes for things like candles, making soap, making chutneys and jams, and brewing beer and making wine. Their recipes are pretty short and look easy to handle. In fact, the whole book was particularly well planned to fit each concept on two facing pages, so you’re never left looking for information in a thick chapter of words. I’m sure this limits the amount of information that can be presented a little, but I didn’t notice.
If you’re even considering moving off-grid, or even just converting a section of your yard to an edible garden, you should pick up this book. It’s fairly new, but with its special emphasis on looking at your actions in terms of an overall lifestyle, I think it will one day be considered a standard text in self-sufficiency. Which, as gas rises toward the $5 mark, is something we could all afford to learn more about.
May 12, 2008
· Filed under green, inspiration · Tagged bath, green, inspiration, internet, market, natural, products, soap
Part of falling away from the grid involves rethinking your purchasing power. Instead of supporting Walmart, which imports a staggering 30% of all goods that enter through US ports, aim to create local relationships and to buy products that eliminate or minimize the “distance to table” effect which governs not only food but all your purchases. With the amazing power of the internet, “local” can be anywhere in the world: support an individual or team of craftsmen rather than mega corporations.
Ever since I ran into the founder of ILoveMiceElf.com, heard her speak about her organic hands-on approach to crafting bath products, and then ordered some of her creamy soaps, I’ve been in soap heaven. Most bath products are so heavily perfumed and are filled with glycerins and alcohols and ingredients I can’t pronounce. The natural products at this website, however, are hand-crafted using only natural materials that are so good you could almost eat them. Which you shouldn’t do: I have to tell you this because you may actually be tempted by some of their flavors. The cinnamon oatmeal soap is the best I’ve ever tried, anywhere. Very creamy, great scent, and exfoliating oatmeal throughout.
According to Ms. Green, the master craftswoman, she sought to create products using only natural ingredients that won’t cause allergic reactions and would appeal to even the most hard-core natural products users. And this devotion shows in each batch. Try it to believe.
May 10, 2008
· Filed under alternative energy, corporate facts, green, wind · Tagged alternative energy, case study, first, green, power, renewable, utilities, wind
It’s official: at least one city in the United States has finally ponied up for a wind powered station that will meet the entire city’s needs. Meet Rock Port, Missouri, poised to take that trophy home for America. Fortunately situated near a bluff and with a windy enough climate to sustain a projected 16 gigawatt hours of electricity per year, Missourans are about to get a healthy does of green in their power mix. Annual consumption has historically only been around 13 gigwatt hours, so that power company will also be able to sell power across the grid to other places, as well as to supply electrical power when winds are down. With this year’s tornado season as evidence, I don’t think that will be happening too often!
For more information, look up Loess Hill Wind Farm, the company pairing with the government to provide this service.
April 21, 2008
· Filed under alternative energy, inspiration, solar power · Tagged alternative energy, green, infrared, innovation, integration, light, plastic, power, research, solar, solar power
National Geographic article on Solar plastics
Sargent Group – Inventors of Solar Plastic
Ted Sargent’s Home Page (the inventor, a globally recognized young innovator)
So this article is from 2005, not exactly hot-off-the-presses. But it’s an interesting look at a new technology: solar cells that absorb both the visible and infrared spectrums of light and process them into usable energy. Not only that, they’re based in a spray solution for ease of application across a variety of surfaces. A spray-on plastic coating that could charge your car while driving or your cell-phone while walking are great ideas, with a billion more applications to be dreamed up along the way. I’m now going to search for more information on this technology, and will report whatever I find to you as it comes in.
Even now, I’m envisioning spray-painting a backyard deck/patio with a plastic coating that weather proofs it, and makes it more attractive, all while powering solar evening lamps or CMOS security sensors around a property’s perimeter, perhaps also powering a sensor-activated automatic watering system for garden plantings. Or, on a less serious tack, maybe creating a line of ultra-mod swimwear that uses solar plastics and a closed system of lighting to create light-up fashions? How cool would that look underwater? What do you see in your solar dreams?
April 21, 2008
· Filed under conservation, eco, experiment, green · Tagged bicycle, biofuel, car, commitment, conservation, experiment, green, travel, walking
Back to the great experiment that is my green life-in-training. It’s been a while since the last report, but fear not, I HAVE been taking action. About a month ago, I decided that long distance trips across the country were unacceptably increasing my carbon load on the earth. True, I still drove much less than the average American, and I shared a ride every trip across the country that I made. But, when 45% of your emissions are coming from one place… well, that just looks yucky on the pie chart! So I made a commitment. Sell the car…. Done.
What was I thinking? No, really, it’s not that bad. During the daily routine, I only drove a few miles a day anyway, and now that’s a little further free walking exercise to be gotten. No, I don’t mind that at all, especially given LA traffic, which doesn’t quite compete with the intensity of that in my native DC, but certainly makes up for it in volume across great distances. Yes, LA traffic is frustrating, and I am happy to kiss it goodbye. Even though it means making a few adjustments in lifestyle (no more meeting people across town unless you’ve got a GOOD reason for paying bus fare and figuring out a route), it’s a better way to get to know your local community, as you WILL interact more with passersby and merchants.
However, the real test of this commitment is the replacement of my regular car travel plans over long distances. How to get across the Southwest without a car or a monster budget? In a spirit of conservation and adventure, I recently took my first trip… on the Greyhound bus. I must say, it was less stressful than driving, with driving’s relentless watching the road while steering, or not quite trusting other drivers and watching the road anyway. Never a good sleep in a car, unless you’re REALLY zonked. So, back to the Greyhound. It was painless, relatively on time, much more eco-friendly, and I met a few interesting people along the way.
If you’re contemplating taking the bus when you next travel, may I offer a few pointers? Arrive early. Seriously. And when you arrive, ask where your gate is and go ahead and put your bags in line. It seems to be standard practice that you don’t have to remain with them beyond that point. So settle in and watch a movie on the big(ger) screen while you wait. And bring your own food, unless you like two dollar snickers bars in the vending machines and similarly priced sodas. I’m pretty sure that they’ve never heard of the word organic either. Experienced Greyhounders relate that they routinely oversell the buses (remember that tip about putting your bags in line?), so if you want to have any choice about what variety of seatmate you want, better get your spot and hold on tight. It will help you out a lot if you travel light enough to avoid checking baggage. That also removes you from having to open up your bags for people at every stop. When I went hiking last month, the travel compartments above were large enough to accommodate an artfully packed trecking backpack and tent – it’s kind of get-it-as-you-come on available space. After all that, well, sit back and relax! The bus stops at cities along they way, often for long enough to get your standard fast-food fare along the highway, make cell phone calls or whatever else you can fit in a quarter hour. Best of all, if you travel with a friend, one of you can ride for a 50% discount companion fare, reducing costs further.
So far, life without a car has been pretty good. I HAVE missed a few appointments and retooled my day a few times, but all-in-all, it hasn’t required too much more time or thought. And I’ve met several local business owners whose businesses I might not otherwise even have seen whizzing by in a car. If this is to be a long-term arrangement, I think that I’ll get a bicycle again (last one was stolen, another LA hazard!) or maybe even a little moped that can be converted to use less gas. Has anyone else made the jump to sell their car? I’m curious to know how it went/ is going? I salute you for traveling the road to green-dom (literally!) one step at a time.
