You may recall our post about John Wilson’s solar home. Well I recently watched another video of John’s, this time it features an interview with his friend Leonard Allen (president of Solera Sustainable Energies). You may find the video itself a little dry since it’s mostly just dialogue, but if you have some interest in alternative home power systems you will more than likely find it quite interesting.
Also, I HIGHLY recomment you check out John’s ‘Off The Grid’ page (on his Natural Life Network site) for a detailed article about Leonard’s house.
(Image courtesy of John Wilson)What’s especially cool about this home is the fact that the Allen family enjoys a ‘normal’ lifestyle - they have a dishwasher, clothes washer and dryer, computers (with high-speed internet), large screen TV, stereo etc. Add to this the fact that the home is quite large.
It’s certainly a great indication of the potential of alternative energy systems (especially when you consider the technological advances that continue to be made in this field).
Technorati Tags: solar, solar panels, solar power, sustainable, off the grid, homestead, green living, green power, alternative energy
Written by Bentley on December 20th, 2006 with no comments.
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Caught an interesting article this morning about the impact that global warming seems to be having on ski resorts around the world, and the steps some of them are taking so as to reduce their environmental impact.
I’m not a downhill skier myself (went once when I was a kid and DID enjoy it immensely though!), but given the fact that it is a pretty popular sport and one that likely sucks up a lot of power and fuel, I’m certainly glad to hear of some improvements.
Here is an exerpt:
However, with climate change becoming regarded as a direct economic threat to the industry, there is a growing movement among skiing resorts to provide sustainable solutions to the problem. Aspen in Colorado, US, normally seen as a playground for the rich and powerful, may seem an unlikely hotbed of environmentally aware activity, but the resort’s managers believe they have no choice. “In a moderate case scenario, which includes emissions reduction by 2050 skiing in Aspen will be severely hampered, perhaps even gone,” says Pat O’Donnell, chief executive of the Aspen Skiing Company. “I won’t even discuss what happens under a ‘business as usual strategy’.”
Among the green projects Aspen is therefore undertaking, the resort’s snow cats are now fuelled with biodiesel, its “Cirque” lift operates entirely on wind power and its highland patrol headquarters has a 2.3 kilowatt solar power system. Aspen was the first resort to join the Chicago Climate Exchange policy, binding itself to reducing carbon dioxide emissions. It was also the first resort to offset 100 per cent of its electricity use by purchasing renewable energy certificates from wind farms.
It’s unfortunate that it often comes down to seeing evidence first-hand before people actually start taking action - but I guess that’s just the nature of most humans!
Check out the original article here: Going green on the white stuff
Technorati Tags: ski, downhill, ski lift, skiing, wind power, turbine, solar, global warming, renewable energy, green energy, aspen
Written by Bentley on December 20th, 2006 with no comments.
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