Continuing with the green transportation theme…
Just came across a really cool website with eco-ratings for a huge number of different vehicles - its the EPA’s Green Vehicle Guide. I’m sure a LOT of people have heard about this already, so please forgive my newbie enthusiasm!
Anyway, for those of you NOT familiar with the guide, be sure to check it out - its really fun seeing how your vehicle stacks up according to their standards.
I drive a Suzuki Swift (yes, I’m THAT cool!), and was happy to see that it has a 9/10 rating for its “Greenhouse Gas Score” (10 is the best). It seems to have a terrible “Air Pollution Score” however with a 1/10 (again 10 being the highest). I work from home as well so I like to think I’m extra responsible when it comes to my personal greenhouse gas emissions (although my wife might have a thing or two to say about my methane…er..well, nevermind!)
From the looks of it my wife’s 2002 Volkwagen Golf doesn’t fare as well on the Greenhouse Emissions front (with a 6/10), but seems to one-up the Swift with a 3/10 for overall Atmospheric Pollution.
The guide only provides info for vehicles from 2000 or newer, but its a great way to plan your next vehicle purchase!
So, which vehicles are EPA allstars?
Here are a few that receive the coveted “Smartway Elite” certification:
(ATMP=atmospheric pollution; GGS=greenhouse gas score)
Toyota Prius - ATMP: 9.5; GGS: 10
Honda Civic Hybrid - ATMP: 9.5; GGS: 10
Toyota Camry Hybrid - ATMP: 9.5; GGS: 9
Ford Escape Hybrid - ATMP: 9.5: GGS: 8 (technically the Escape only gets the “SmartWay” not the SmartWay Elite” stamp of approval)
There are quite a few more - I was actually really surprised just how many there are in fact (and it certainly made me not nearly so impressed with my Swift!)
Just for comparative purposes, here are some vehicles with low scores:
GMC Savanna 1500 - ATMP: 3; GGS: 2
Chevy Silverado 15 - ATMP: 3; GGS: 3
Toyota Sequoia - ATMP: 3; GGS: 2
Ford F150 - ATMP: 3; GGS: 2
Be sure to check out the green vehicle guide and see how your vehicle scores! Aside from the rating sytem, the website has a variety of interesting and useful information!
Technorati Tags: EPA, green vehicle guide, hybrid cars, global warming, greenhouse gas emissions, toyota prius
Written by Bentley on October 31st, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Transportation.
The week’s Springwise Newsletter didn’t let me down, offering up yet another green morsel of eco-goodness!
The topic of discussion - EcoInsurance, “the UK’s first eco-friendly car insurance”.
So whats the deal?
Basically, when you sign up for a car insurance policy with this company they will offset 20% of your car’s CO2 emissions at no charge. In addition to that, any cars that emit less than 100g CO2 per km will receive a further 10% discount!
Just in case you are unfamiliar with carbon offsetting, here is a blurb from Wikipedia:
A carbon offset zeros out (offsets) all or part of the carbon dioxide emissions of a party, by reducing the emissions — or increasing the carbon dioxide absorption — of another party. This reduces net greenhouse gas emissions with the aim of combating global warming. Effectively offsetting the emissions of an activity makes that activity “carbon neutral”.
Carbon offsets can be purchased by individuals, businesses and governments from a variety of commercial and non-commercial organizations. For example, the UK government purchased offsets for the air travel required for the 31st G8 summit.
Sounds like a great idea, but are there any similar insurance programs here in North America?
According to the article, Travellers Insurance in the US is offering a 10% discount for people driving hybrid vehicles.
I haven’t heard of anything similar up here in Canada, but I’ll definitely be curious to find out!
Hopefully we’ll start to see more of this sort of thing from the insurance companies in North America!
Here is the Springwise article if you are interested: Greensurance
Technorati Tags: ecoinsurance, car insurance, carbon offsetting, global warming, C02, hybrid cars, springwise
Written by Bentley on October 31st, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Transportation.
Normally I would stay away from writing about death and gloom, however, it is Halloween and I think the business idea is great.
Death is a tough subject and many of us squirm away and choose not to think about it or even talk about it. I am in that category and try to avoid thinking about the topic as much as possible. However, I can appreciate a great eco-business opportunity and can look past the gloom. (For those who want to skip this post, I totally understand)
I came across Eco Coffins Ltd. when I was searching for the latest eco news. I found an article at the Cambridge News Online website, Brightening up that final journey.
Co-founders Sophie and Ben Dansie have teamed up with Rev Peter Owen Jones, pastor and presenter of the BBC’s show, The Battle for Britain’s Soul. The team at Eco Coffin wanted to provide people with an alternative to the normal coffins people are typically buried in. There idea - create a biodegradable coffin decorated with poppies and a blue sky on the lid.
The coffins are made in East Anglia from 90 per cent reinforced, recycled honeycombed paper and is very strong and is exceptionally light. Eco Coffins are not expensive, when compared with traditional coffins. Eco Coffins’ basic “natural range” costs £280 plus delivery anywhere in the UK, comes in white or wood effect and includes a white cotton shroud in place of the plastic lining in most contemporary coffins. The “creative range” has five designs featuring either ivy leaves, or the poppies and sky combination, or a seascape for £600.
“And for £800, you can have it customised just how you like - one family chose a montage of photos of a dear departed granny from the ages of eight to 88. For that price, a couple of designers will spend three days on a unique design, printed in biodegradable ink, naturally.”
According to the article there are 600,000 funerals a year in the UK and 80 per cent of people depart life in wood-veneer chipboard coffins, with plastic lining and plastic brass-effect handles. That is a lot of non-biodegradable material going into the ground!
The company is currently a small-based company that serves its local area and community. They have their sights on growing the business further. Perhaps you will start seeing other companies across North America offering similar products and services.
Eco Coffins website
Cambridge News Online
Technorati Tags: eco coffins, eco business, UK funerals, green funerals, green business, eco entrepreneurship
Written by steve on October 31st, 2006 with 2 comments.
Read more articles on Green Business.
Talk show host, comedian and car enthusiast, Jay Leno has teamed up with GM to create a new concept vehicle called the EcoJet. The new concept car is a turbine-powered monster that runs on biodiesel fuel. The car has the ability to put out 650 horsepower and is powered by a Honeywell LT-101 turbine engine. This car looks amazing and I am sure it will attract lot’s of attention in the upcoming months. I can see GM creating a full production model based on the EcoJet’s esthetics. Perhaps the new Corvette may see some of the EcoJet’s stylish features?
GM’s Vice President of Global Design, ED Welburn, was quoted saying, “”EcoJet’s esthetics were driven by aeronautical and jet-age influences. It’s a purpose-driven design that conveys power, capability and even danger, with a hint of Cadillac’s sophisticated design vocabulary.”
Leno’s goal for this project was to inspire America’s youth to follow their dreams and realize that anything is possible. A lot of people thought high performance could not be achieved with biodiesel and 7 months later the EcoJet was born.
Jay Leno, “We live in an era where liking cars and liking the environment don’t really seem to fit– especially high performance cars.”
To read more about the super cool EcoJet go to GM’s website.
Technorati Tags: bio-diesel, biodiesel, Jay Leno EcoJet, GM, biodiesel turbine engine, EcoJet, electric cars
Written by steve on October 31st, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Interesting & Notable and Transportation.
Are you going to be in San Francisco between November 10-12?
If you have the chance, drop by the Green Festival. If Bentley and I could find the time we would be there in a second! We will try to make the next festival in Chicago, in April 2007.
From the Green Festival website:
Green Festivals are a celebration of what’s working in our communities, – for people, for businesses and for the environment.
Green Festivals are a project of two national nonprofit organizations, Global Exchange and Co-op America, and they bring together local and national socially responsible businesses, environmental, social justice, and community organizations, with 20 to 25,000 concerned individuals for two day events aimed at forging a just, sustainable, and inclusive economy – a green economy.
Green Festivals are a walk through a sustainable community. It starts with the personal – how people can make their lives work better. Individuals, business and community leaders also come together to discuss social and environmental issues of personal, local, national, and global concern. Businesses and organizations showcase their programs and products that serve the community. Neighbor-to-neighbor connections are formed, and skills are shared to empower people to create a livable community. Of course, it wouldn’t be a festival without music, art, culture and delicious food – all from local based organizations and businesses.
To read more about Green Festivals go here.
Written by steve on October 30th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Eco Events and Interesting & Notable.
Just read an article in The Seattle Times that I certainly found interesting! Those of you who have been following the blog probably have a sense for how much of a composting fanatic I am by now, so it probably comes as no surprise that that this sort of story would catch my attention!
Earlier this year South Africa’s oldest hotel, the Mount Nelson, started a vermicomposting pilot program in an effort to divert some of its organic waste from the landfill. It’s estimated that they currently employ about 1 million composting worms to help them process large quantities of food waste daily.
It’s widely suggested in worm composting circles that 1 lb of worms is made up of approximately 1000 individuals - in other words, the hotel estimates that they currently have about 1000 lbs of worms! Pretty impressive numbers!
Under favourable conditions it is also suggested that composting worms can eat their own weight (or more) in waste every day, so you can get some sense for the processing potential of a large-scale system (I’m already pretty blown away with the processing speed of my home-scale system).
Apparently the system is able to handle 1/3 of their total organic waste stream, but they’re confident that by next year they’ll be able to divert up to 70%.
Not only do systems like this produce large quantities of incredibly rich compost, but they also help to reduce global methane emissions. Remember that organic wastes sent to the landfill tend to undergo anaerobic degradative processes (as opposed to aerobic composting), which lead to methane production. Methane is many times more potent as a global warming gas than carbon dioxide.
I would love to see this sort of initiative taken by a LOT more businesses! With the right systems in place, I can only imagine how much organic waste could be diverted from the landfills!
Here is the article in case you are interested: Hotel worms its way out of pile of waste
And here is the hotel’s website: Mount Nelson Hotel (sadly, I couldn’t find any info about their worm composting project)
Technorati Tags: compost, composting, worm composting, vermicomposting, hotels, waste-management, organic waste, Mount Nelson hotel, worms
Written by Bentley on October 30th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Waste Management and Eco Travel.
George Monbiot strikes again - and this time his target is the world’s biodiesel industry.
You may recall that I wrote a post not too long ago about an article he wrote in the New Scientist (see Home-Scale Renewables - A Flawed Idea?).
In a recent article in The Olive Press, Monbiot refers to biodiesel as “the most carbon-intensive fuel on earth”. Needless to say, there are plenty of people either up in arms, or with their fingers in their ears when it comes to his views.
As is typically the case with authors supporting this school of thought (see Biofuel Monocultures - Does The ‘Revolution’ Add Up?), Monbiot’s issue is not so much with biodiesel itself - in fact he seems to support the idea of using waste oil for diesel production - its more to do with the practice of setting aside land for the purpose of growing oil-producing plants.
Of particular concern is the palm oil industry in the tropics - apparently this is the cheapest way to produce biodiesel, and potentially the most destructive as well.
Here is a blurb:
In September, Friends of the Earth published a report about the impacts of palm oil production. “Between 1985 and 2000,” it found, “the development of oil-palm plantations was responsible for an estimated 87 per cent of deforestation in Malaysia. In Sumatra and Borneo, some 4 million hectares of forest has been converted to palm farms. Now a further 6 million hectares is scheduled for clearance in Malaysia, and 16.5m in Indonesia.
Almost all the remaining forest is at risk. Even the famous Tanjung Puting National Park in Kalimantan is being ripped apart by oil planters. The orang-utan is likely to become extinct in the wild. Sumatran rhinos, tigers, gibbons, tapirs, proboscis monkeys and thousands of other species could go the same way. Thousands of indigenous people have been evicted from their lands, and some 500 Indonesians have been tortured when they tried to resist. The forest fires which every so often smother the region in smog are mostly started by the palm growers. The entire region is being turned into a gigantic vegetable oil field.
Whatever your views on the matter, as I’ve stated before, I think its important to weigh all the evidence before barging forward in the name of ‘green’!
I still think the biodiesel from algae idea sounds great, but from the sounds of things that technology is still pretty new - so we’ll just have to wait and see.
Anyway, be sure to check out George Monbiot’s article: The great biodiesel con
Technorati Tags: biodiesel, biofuel, palm oil, george monbiot, green fuel, friends of the earth
Written by Bentley on October 30th, 2006 with 1 comment.
Read more articles on Green Energy.
I was searching around this morning and came across this press release for Organix Inc. Both Bentley and I are passionate about gardening and are always on the lookout for new and interesting products to help our gardens grow.
It seems like Organix Inc. has found a way to convert dairy solids from an anaerobic digester and converts it into a peat moss substitute. The system they created, The FibeRite system will allow dairies to better manage their waste and at the same time earn money by converting their waste into peat moss type product, RePeat.
Organix is responsible for processing nearly 1,000 tons daily of organic wastes throughout the northwest, including dairies and municipalities. Their most well known client, Threemile Canyon Farms in Boardman, Oregon, operates a dairy complex that milks 23,000 cows. The dairy is located on the farm’s 93,000 acres of farmland and nature preserve.
I love reading about companies like Organix. This story provides inspiration for other to look for opportunities to turn waste to profit. Dairy waste is a growing concern for large-scale operations and it seems Organix has found a method to help the environment, help dairy farmers earn a secondary source of income (from their waste) and a new high-value product for gardeners and nurseries . This seems to be a win-win solution!
I am going to add Organix to my list of companies to watch.
To read the press release click here.
To visit Organix Inc. click here.
Technorati Tags: dairy farm waste, new gardening products, Organix, FibeRite system, biogas, peat moss, renewable product, anaerobic digester, sustainability
Written by steve on October 30th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Gardening and Green Business.
Update on my post, Celebs Endorse Eco 4 The World.
Clive Wright, from Eco 4 the World was kind enough to shed more light on the TV series and the website.
The current website is under development and will be launching publicly in early 2007. For those who were worried they missed the TV series, don’t worry…the series is not on air yet. I will keep an eye out for any updates to the site and will post when and where you can view the TV series.
Clive Wright’s Comments:
“Thank you for your comments. Eco 4 the World is a half-hour TV series, developed by Big Durian Productions in partnership with UNEP. It features positive environmental behaviour in an entertaining and engaging way. We aim to inspire viewers to follow in the footsteps of the people they will see.
Because the show is not yet on air, we are not releasing episodes online. However, if you go to Google Video and search for “Eco 4 the World”, you will be able to see some clips.”
Thanks Clive for letting us know more about your project. We appreciate the insight and look forward to seeing the TV series!
Visit Eco4theWorld to learn more.
Written by steve on October 30th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Interesting & Notable and Uncategorized.
The Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation in Evanston Illinois plans to become the first LEED certified ‘green’ synagogue in the US. The new temple will cost $6.5 million and will adhere to the U.S. Green Building Council’s strict “Gold Status” standards. Construction should be complete by the end of 2007.
Here’s a blurb from the article in the Chicago Tribune:
Saposnik said the new synagogue will feature energy-efficient boilers, heavy insulation, fluorescent lights inside the synagogue and solar ones in the parking lot–all designed to reduce energy consumption by about a third from the usual standards.
Sensors will automatically shut off lights if they detect no movement in a room. Large windows will maximize natural light, and a white roof will deflect sunlight to reduce dependency on air conditioning in the summer, Saposnik said.
The landscaping won’t require permanent irrigation, and about 80 percent of the building material will come from recycled sources, including old bricks from the demolished synagogue. Architects plan to use reclaimed cypress wood to build the facade.
Its great to see this kind of responsible action taken in the religious community. Hopefully other congregations will soon follow their leed (haha - get it? ‘LEED’?)! I’m hilarious!
Here is the original article in the Tribune: Temple plans eco-friendly makeover
Technorati Tags: leed, green building, green contruction, congregation, church, temple, synagogue, sustainability
Written by Bentley on October 29th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Green Construction.
