Last week I was watching BBC News and I came across an amazing story about a city in Germany that saves energy and money in a clever way: using cell phones.
In the city of Doerentrup all of the outside street lights turn off at 9pm as a way to cut down energy costs. So what if you want to go outside to take your dog for a walk or to run to the local supermarket?
A German engineer came up with way for residents to use their cell phones to turn on the street lights for 15 minute intervals. Here’s what they have to do:
Register for free online.
Dial the number for the neighborhood lights.
Punch in the code for the street that you want lit up.
It’s really that easy! And it has done wonders for the energy consumption of the city of Doerentrup.
Atlantic City may be famous for casino gambling, but it’s soon going to be known for something else green…and I dont’ mean money.
With over 13,321 solar panels capable of generating 2.36 megawatts of electricity, the Atlantic City Convention Center will be the largest single-roof photovoltaic system in the entire U.S.
The panels will be operated by Pepco Energy Services for a 20-year deal, and each year the panels will prevent 2,349 tons of carbon dioxide from polluting the air.
I’ve lived in Baltimore for about 3 years now, and it’s a pretty decent city. It’s definitely not one of the greenest cities in America, like Portland, but it’s slowly making positive changes to push forward with Obama’s soon-to-be “green revolution.”
Now, instead of sewage polluting the beautiful Port of Baltimore, it will be used for something else:electricity.
The mayor, Sheila Dixon, just cut the ribbon on the Back River Sewage Plant, which is a co-generation plant that takes methane gas from underground pipes, eliminates all of the bad elements in it and then uses the energy to run an internal combustion engine.
Did you know that West Virginia provides enough coal to burn energy for over half of the United States?
Did you also know that in order to provide this energy the process of mountaintop coal removal has destroyed ecological habitats and family-owned land, and has contaminated local drinking water?
I watched this documentary, Burning the Future: Coal in America, on the Sundance Channel, and it definitely gave me a new perspective on West Virginians and the use of coal.
Who would have ever thought that recycled snow could be used to help power an airport’s cooling system?
Well, the great minds in Japan have.
Japan gets about 20-30 feet of extra snow every year, so the people at New Chitose Airport came up with the brilliant idea to store the extra snow under heat-insulating materials. These materials would keep the melted snow cold so the water could be used in warmer months to chill the cooling system.
This will prevent 2,100 tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year.
The airport plans to implement this idea fully by 2010.
I recently stumbled upon a fascinating video on YouTube that describes the threatening impact of climate change on the environment.
It also shows how we got into our recent oil crisis, but also gives us hope that we can choose the right Presidential candidate who will “break us out of our deadly oil habit.”
Could you imagine going to your favorite Ben & Jerry’s ice cream shop and seeing your favorite flavors in an eco-friendly freezer?
Well, in certain areas of Washington D.C., Vermont and Boston you can see flavors like Cherry Garcia, Chunky Monkey, Phish Food and Half Baked in a new hydrocarbon freezer!
These freezers don’t release any Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which are harmful gases that contribute to global warming.
What do I have to say about this?
“You scream, I scream, we all scream for hydrocarbon frozen ice cream!”
According to an article in The Earth Times, Queen Elizabeth II has recently bought the world’s largest windmill for an undisclosed amount (which I’m guessing is ridiculously expensive).
This windmill is going to be built by Clipper Windpower, a wind turbine manufacturer based out of Carpinteria, California.
The best thing about the windmill: it will reduce over 724,000 tons of carbon dioxide in its lifetime. That’s because it’s going to be the length of two soccer fields and will be 574 feet high.
This is a great move for the Queen, who is proving that money isn’t the only green thing that royalty is concerned with.
So what if you want to go outside to take your dog for a walk or to run to the local supermarket?
