Getting Green Off The Grid

Electric vehicles are starting to look really attractive after $4/gallon gasoline…

Running on Empty: Cars That Never Need Gas> In Your Community > We Can Do It > Sierra Club

But the short answer for the solar pay-back, he says, was “the instant I turned my system on.” Dickey had been paying $75 a month for electricity. He took a loan out to buy the PV system, and pays $70 a month toward that loan. “My electricity and gasoline bills are now zero, and next year when my loan is paid off, this investment will be paying me probably for the rest of my life. My PV system covers the power for my home and my car. It displaces $90 worth of electricity and over $100 worth of gasoline every month. So my estimate of how long until the system pays for itself is no time at all!”

Neat. I wonder when someone will apply this to larger concert venues.

Sola-System

We designed and built this device for anyone that needs outside amplification of music, from a Bar-B-Q with a small Mp3 player to a play in the park musician looking to amplify their guitar or turn tables.

Good for them. It’s good for their health too.

Young Environmentalists Protest Anti-Bicycle Policy At Their High School : TreeHugger

After studying up on state biking laws — and carrying copies with them — the students legally tethered their bikes in conspicuous clusters around lamp posts, trees and other poles dotting the circular drive in front of the school.” The students also delivered a letter to the principal.

I really like sites that allow you to monitor their solar usage. It helps to get a near real-time view of their solar power usage, to see how to build your own.

The State | 05/11/2008 | Chapin Middle School gets solar connection

Chapin Middle is one of the state’s 20 Green Power Solar Schools that will receive a 10-by-12-foot solar panel to help teach students about alternative sources for energy. Teachers and students — as well as anyone in the community — will be able to monitor a Web site to see how much energy the panel produces.

Yes, this is satire, but there is so much truth to it.

New Eco-Friendly Packaging Triggers Boom In Guilt-Free Littering | The Onion - America’s Finest News Source

The growing “green” trend in product packaging, which emphasizes the use of recycled, biodegradable post-consumer paper-based materials and relies less on petroleum-derived polymers like styrofoam, has unleashed a spontaneous trashing of sidewalks, roadsides, and pristine wilderness by gratified consumers. Though some environmentalists and scientists were caught off guard by the movement, experts say it is here to stay.

DIY: Solar lantern

This is a 3-part article on building a solar lantern. It’s a well-documented project, and there are a lot of pictures of the build process.

Governments can certainly do their share to cut consumption and serve as a role model and example.

This does not surprise me about Alaska.

Alaskan Capital Cuts Power Consumption By 40% : Environmental News Blog | Environmental Graffiti

Alaska’s capital city lost its main power transmission lines in a series of avalanches earlier this month, cutting it off from a relatively cheap source of power at a hydroelectric dam, and leaving it to draw from backup generators that cost nearly five times as much. Faced with the tough decision that such a large increase in utility bills can present, the city did what many have speculated the western world is incapable of: they cut back.

The problem is, people get into a mindset where they think because they bought a high-efficiency appliance, they don’t need to pay as much attention. Much like how some people think that you can eat tons of diet food and still lose weight. They want the government and manufacturers to do all the work of being green, and all they have to do is swipe the credit card to claim a greener lifestyle. As we’re seeing, it doesn’t quite work that way.

Beating the Energy Efficiency Paradox (Part I) : TreeHugger

Skeptics such as the Energy Tribune’s Robert Bryce point out that total energy use in the United States continues to rise, despite efficiency gains. Per capita, we’re using more energy even as sales of hybrid cars increase and more green buildings get erected.

It’s gardening time again!

Gogglemarks - Backyard Composter

Since it’s essentially just a drum on a fixed axle with some holes poked in it, it was fairly easy to build one myself on the cheap. I settled on a design that maximizes air and drainage, keeping the compost moist but not wet, and aerated but not dry. I did it for about forty bucks, and it didn’t really take any special tools.