Festival of Music, Dance, and...Renewable Energy!

I was lucky enough to enjoy some beautiful Carolina fall weather last weekend at one of my favorite music festivals. The Shakori Hills Festival is held twice a year in Chatham County in a rural part of the North Carolina piedmont. This farm that hosts the festival is one of the last places you might expect to see a 10 kilowatt photovoltaic system.

Music festivals certainly have a significant environmental impact, but a few years ago a group of friends were camping at the festival when they came up with a great idea for offsetting the festival’s carbon footprint. While the site is only used periodically throughout the year, the sun shines there year-round. The goal of the Solarize Shakori Project is to provide an amount of energy to the power grid throughout the year equal to the amount used by the festivals.
According to The Abundance Foundation, “Each year Shakori Hills uses about 10,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity during 2 festivals, a fiddlers convention, and other events. To offset our usage we are creating a permanent grid inter-tied solar electric system located permanently on the site.”

In October 2008 the Foundation “kicked off the project by selling photovoltaic cells and raised over $3000 during the festival. The festival attendees were so excited about participating in their own energy usage and being able to make a small donation to offset their own energy by next fall, Shakori will be carbon neutral.”

The group started by doing some research. They calculated that a “10,000 watt (10 kilowatt) photovoltaic system will produce more than 10,000 kilowatt hours/year. In this part of the country we can expect to get on average about 4 kilowatt-hours/day for every 1,000 watts of PV, so the 10 kW system could produce as much as 14,600 kilowatt-hours/year).”

They then came up with a funding plan to allow festival goers a chance to sponsor a cell. Individuals can sponsor a cell for $10 (the 10 kilowatt system will consist of 5200 cells). Corporate sponsors can purchase quarter panels, half panels, or whole panels ranging in price from $260-$1040.

I sponsored a cell last year, and was thrilled to see two panels soaking in the free energy among happy festival goers this fall! It’s amazing to see a more sustainable approach to an otherwise carbon-heavy gathering of people!

Campout! Carolina

Earth Share North Carolina is encouraging residents to show support for North Carolina’s environment by camping out the weekend of October 9th. This is the 3rd annual Campout! Carolina. Last year over 2,000 people took part in this event.

“Pitch a tent in your backyard or favorite North Carolina campsite, turn off or unplug non-essential electrical items, and enjoy an evening outdoors with family and friends.”

When you register to be counted at the event site you’ll also be entered to win 2 four day passes to the Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance or a sweet tent from REI. The event site even can even help you find a place to camp.

If you don’t have camping gear, the kind folks at REI are “offering free rental of camping gear including tents, sleeping bags and backpacks on a first-come, first-served basis. Click here to find the REI near you.”

Early October is a great time for camping, and it sounds like a great way to spend the weekend!

The "world's first zero-carbon, zero-waste" city?

I came across this one this morning. I'm looking forward to your comments.
Enjoy

A Very Earthy Phone

Image Source: NTT DOCOMO

I just can’t seem to get away from this topic, but this one looks different (literally). The folks at NTT DOCOMO have come out with a prototype phone made from…wood! Well, the case at least is “made with the surplus wood of trees culled during thinning operations to maintain healthy forests.” They point out that such a use of surplus wood “helps to preserve other wood resources while strengthening the health of overgrown forests.” It appears to be equipped with the full array of applications that we have come to expect, and it even smells good. “No artificial colors or paints are used, so the cypress retains its original natural appearance and aroma.” The phone’s press release claims that the method used to compress the wood makes it durable, insect resistant, and water resistant.

Once again, the last thing an environmental posting should do is accelerate perceived obsolescence by encouraging you to scrap your perfectly good phone. In addition to being interesting from a forestry perspective, the people at http://www.treehugger.com/ are hoping that the quality of a wooden phone “people might keep them longer than the average 18 months before upgrading again.”

According to NTT DOCOMO, “The prototype was created in collaboration with Sharp Corporation, Olympus Corporation and "more trees," a reforestation project.”

I was unable to find out when consumers will be able to get their hands on these phones. At this point the phones are scheduled to be exhibited at industry trade shows in Switzerland and Japan this fall.

Before we jump on the bioplastics bandwagon…

When I first heard about plastics made from something renewable like corn instead of petroleum, that are biodegradable…I could only say count me in! As I write this I have several pens around me made from bioplastics. I also have a bioplastic cafeteria tray, fork, bowl, and cup sitting on the shelf behind me. But last week I read about another side of these bioplastics.

I first learned that not all bioplastics are biodegradable. But they are still made from renewable resources and that’s an improvement at least. Isn’t it??? Maybe not. Studies conducted by Dr. Tillman Gengross at Dartmouth College have pointed out some of the less green features of bioplastics. His studies have shown that in terms of bioplastics production it’s “almost a wash” with conventional plastics production. “In fact, the energy consumption is significantly higher.”
Accroding to Dr. Gengross:

• Turning oil into a plastic requires considerably less energy than turning corn sugar into plastics.
• Generating glucose (most commonly from corn) requires a significant amount of energy and usually the use of fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation, etc.
• Land used for producing this glucose is not sequestering the carbon dioxide in the way it would if left in a natural state.
• Corn grown for bioplastics is competing with corn grown for eating or feeding to livestock.
  
  That’s not all… “if these materials end up in landfills they will degrade in landfills at a rather slow rate. But because of the anaerobic environment in landfills, the carbon that is released is not released in the form of carbon dioxide, it is mostly released in the form of methane. And methane is a very potent greenhouse gas. It’s about twenty times more potent than carbon dioxide.”
  
  Dr. Gengross says he isn't promoting either side but would prefer to see us taking a more critical look “not this fuzzy ‘it’s green because it comes from a renewable plant’ approach.”
  
  

Before you rush out to buy that new green phone…

After reading last week’s post I felt like it was contributing to the notion of perceived obsolescence. Remember that perceived obsolescence is the idea that advertisers (or blog postings) make you feel like you need to replace a product to get the latest and greatest version, even if your current product is still working great. Clothing styles are a great example. Cell phones are perhaps my favorite example of perceived obsolescence. If you’re current phone is still in working condition, running out to buy a new one, even a “green” one will have a greater negative ecological impact than hanging on to your current phone. The E-waste associated with disposing of your old phone is a topic too large for this posting. On the production side of replacing your phone (even with a green phone) energy, greenhouse gas emissions, packaging, etc. have to be considered. My intention here is to point out some potentially greener options for you if your phone truly does become obsolete. Next week I’ll take a closer look at the bioplastics that are making many of our new products. Are they as green as we think?

A Green Cell Phone?

Image Source: treehugger.com

Sprint is now offering a phone that is 80% recyclable.

So What???

• “Electronic waste is a fast growing category of municipal solid waste?


• “Nearly 3 million tons of consumer electronic waste was generated in 2003 alone, according to the most recent U.S. EPA estimates?”


• "It's estimated that there are over 130 million cell phones retired in the U.S.? “

Source: http://www.greenerchoices.org/electronicsrecycling/el_ewaste.cfm

“The eco-friendly, socially conscious, always networking phone.” is now available from Sprint.
The Reclaim is made of 80% recyclable materials. 40% of the Reclaim’s casing consists of bio-plastic materials made from corn. It comes with a decent array of applications and features and sells for about $50 after rebates with the usual strings attached. $2 of that price is donated to the Nature Conservancy’s adopt an acre program. The site also mentions “one-click access to eco-friendly applications and information”, and 100% recyclable packaging. Check it out at http://green.sprint.com/reclaim.php

The Cow Genome and Global Warming???

I’m sure many of you heard that last week scientists announced they had sequenced the cow genome. How does this relate to the environment? Genetically modified burgers? Increased milk production? What about global warming? What about farts? Could our newfound knowledge of the genome lead to engineering cows that emit less gas? It is well established that methane is a greenhouse gas and it’s also one of the gasses in cow flatulence. While we are still uncertain how significant of a greenhouse contributor the cows are, the idea of decreasing methane output is certainly interesting.

Earth Hour

Turn your lights off this Saturday from 8:30-9:30 PM to take part in Earth Hour. "Earth Hour, the public awareness raising campaign on climate change is showing signs of being the greatest voluntary action the world has ever witnessed." - http://www.earthhour.org/home/

This event really seems to be gaining some momentum in its second year. Check out their site for ideas, suggestions, and to see who is participating - you might be surprised.

Sudents Use Cell Phones to Measure Carbon Output

Finally a good use for cell phones at school! This is an interesting education approach I heard on the radio yesterday. For a change of pace, this is an audio posting. Click on the LISTEN HERE link below to listen.

"Go Green, a program in San Francisco schools, gives high school students cell phones that can help them monitor how much carbon they're using. Many say it gives them incentive to walk more and drive less. " - NPR's All Things Considered

LISTEN HERE

A Search Engine that could Save 750 Megawatt-Hours a Year

Before you google the next thing you want to learn about, check out earthle. http://www.earthle.com/ is basically a low-energy version of google. You get google results, but consume less energy. Big deal? Well, according to the site...
"Take at look at Google, who gets about 200 million queries a day. Let's assume each query is displayed for about 10 seconds; that means Google is running for about 550,000 hours every day on some desktop. Assuming that users run Google in full screen mode, the shift to a black background will save a total of 15 (74-59) watts. That turns into a global savings of 8.3 Megawatt-hours per day, or about 3000 Megawatt-hours a year."
Small changes add up!

A Big Box with No Bags

Well no disposable ones anyway…

After much hype (including customers camping in front of the doors for 2 days), IKEA will open its first store in the Carolinas today. Some might expect a negative posting about this much anticipated grand opening of a big-box store, but instead I’ll focus on the positive. I ran across one of their ads while sorting through the junk mail (a topic for another day). No, it wasn’t the $399 sofa that caught my attention, it was the blue box on the back page labeled “fill, empty, repeat.” It seems that IKEA stores don’t provide disposable bags to customers.

The ad continues:
“Together, we make a big difference. In 2007, IKEA encouraged customers to use BIG BLUE BAGS in place of throwaway bags and soon, IKEA customers were using 92% fewer. Today, you won’t find throwaway bags at IKEA stores. That’s 70 million bags kept out of trees, landfills and oceans each year, what a difference. So get a BIG BLUE BAG or two – they’re waterproof, nearly indestructible, and can be used over and over for laundry, groceries and shopping at IKEA stores.”

It seems most retailers are offering reusable bags these days. I’m sure some folks could raise good points about the negative impacts of this retail giant, but no disposable bags…not just offering reusable bags, but altogether eliminating disposable bags… That’s a step in the right direction. Maybe other retailers will follow.

A Greener Valentine

A day that is supposed to have a big impact on the heart also has a big impact on the planet. BIGresearch estimates that consumers will spend just under $15 billion on Valentine’s Day purchases this year (down more than 15% from last year). Such large-scale consumption also comes at the expense of the planet. So before you empty your wallet, consider a couple of observations regarding two of Cupid’s best sellers.

Greeting Cards - According to Hallmark, 188 million Valentine’s Day cards are purchased each year. That’s a lot of trees! Not to mention where they likely end up after sitting around the house for a few days.

Flowers - Without even examining the growing practices (pesticides, fair labor), don’t forget about emissions. Your flowers have likely traveled a long way. The Census Bureau states that U.S. imports of cut flowers from Columbia exceeded $300 million in 2007.

I’m not even beginning to scratch the heart-shaped surface. Just think about the packaging surrounding all of these gifts. I haven’t taken the time to research the decomposition process of those shiny balloons that are so popular this time of year.

A Better Way - Should we boycott the holiday of love? I personally wouldn’t recommend it. Perhaps a better way to celebrate is the answer.

The folks at Green Living Tips have compiled a list of suggestions to help you make informed decisions as you shop. Their suggestions include purchasing natural perfumes and fragrances, and finding ecologically and socially responsible sources of gemstones.

The Nature Conservancy has made eco-conscious gift-giving just a click away! Their Green Gift Guide makes it easy to pass on consumption and honor your valentine by adopting an acre in Australia, or adopting coral reefs in Palau. You can also use this site to send a paperless e-card. If you are still looking for something more traditional, the Green Gift Guide also suggests ordering organic flowers or chocolates from http://www.organicbouquet.com/,

With a little knowledge and some informed decisions we can celebrate Valentine’s Day in a more sustainable way.

Got another idea? Share it by posting a comment.

Has the Super Bowl Gone Green?

Has the Super Bowl gone green, or is this just another example of greenwashing consumers?

The usual Championship T-shirt saw an improvement this year. Reebok has made this year’s shirt “Eco-Friendly”, by using 100% organic cotton.

Reactions to the shirt have been mixed.

• Some have criticized the NFL for jumping on the “green bandwagon” as a marketing gimmick, citing the league’s enormous carbon footprint and other eco-shortcomings.
  
• Others point out that the NFL did purchase some renewable energy for the big game, has pledged to reuse/recycle some of the Super Bowl banners, and is taking part in some reforestation projects. In fact, the NFL developed an entire program to “to minimize the impact of Super Bowl activities on the local and global environment.”

Food for thought: Do intentions and other perhaps seemingly hypocritical eco-imperfections really matter if the actions are a step in a greener direction?