Two Bay Area Companies Donate Solar Power to Local Food Bank-

Two companies in California’s Bay Area have made a collective donation to Second Harvest Food Bank. The cash offering will fund a $1.1 million, 322-kilowatt rooftop solar power system at the food bank’s facility in San Jose, CA. SunPower contributed their solar technology and Cypress Semiconductor supplied $700,000 to support the project. Two types of SunPower solar roof tiles will be utilized. Over the 25 year life of the system, it is anticipated to save the food bank roughly three million dollars on their electricity bills. “The rooftop solar system, so generously donated by Cypress and SunPower, will help us to continue meeting the needs of our community,” said Kathy Johnson, CEO of the food bank. The SunPower tiles are already built into a frame, so they can be installed more swiftly when compared to a standard rooftop solar system. SunPower CEO Tom Werner said, “We hope this unique solar gift will shine a light on hunger, and encourage other businesses to support this worthy cause.” Since 1989, Cypress Semiconductor has donated approximately five million dollars, and around 500,000 pounds of food to the Second Harvest Food Bank. They raised the $700,000 for the solar project through employee fundraisers, and grants. T.J. Rodgers, the company’s president said, “Cypress is pleased to help reduce the organization’s operating expenses so that it can focus on what it does best–feeding the community.” The project is expected to wrap up in September.

“Hempcrete” Material is Sustainable & Efficient-

Anthony Brenner has designed a house made with true sustainability in mind, simply using hemp, lime and water. Dubbed “hempcrete”, the innovative building material is said to act as a “built-in air filter”, which actually helps improve air quality and does not contain any toxic substances. Not to mention, is inexpensive and more efficient than conventional building alternatives. “The insulating factor and thermal capabilities are fantastic,” Brenner tells CNN. Russ Martin, the owner of the home, says that it only cost them $133 per square foot to construct and helps them to save considerably on energy bills. Video below showcases the modern hemp home, courtesy of CNN Money.

Audi A1- The first car to move from petrol to electric in the same design?


The Audi A1 is a fundamental car design which is being touted by experts as likely to be fully converted into a production model fully electric car. The design is the key to a different approach to electric cars in general. It could also be the lead in to extremely cost effective electric car design, and make a huge difference in the auto industry in everything from car insurance to fleet maintenance costs.

Design issues

The Audi A1 is a good basic car with a relatively small frame and smooth lines. This is a better than average standard specification car as a petrol engine car, but relative to its size, it has some real advantages as an electric car which may show the way to mass conversions to electric.

The Audi A1 is a true benchmark suburban car. If it can be successfully converted to electric, it will save production lines a fortune in retooling, which is great news for consumers. One of the major obstacles, as well as imponderables, is the real cost of production of electric cars. Figures are all over the place, from the highly expensive to the obviously guessing ranges.

All major car manufacturers are now either in the planning or prototype stages of producing electric cars, generally derived from hybrid designs. The hybrids, good as some are and to put it politely vague as some others are, are a sort of design half way house. Production costs billions, and car manufacturers are understandably leery of spending big money on everything from design to retooling on a market which is only just now becoming visible.

The Audi A1, if it can be fully converted, can simplify the whole process. It would mean that a straightforward, good gas sedan can be turned into an electric car without severe impacts on the production costs. Result, new ball game, overnight. If they get it right, this could be Christmas for the car industry, the environment, and generations of mechanics who won’t have to wade in fumes and gas to earn a living. Even car insurance quotes would benefit from a really simple, reliable electric car.

The petrol engine is big, expensive to produce, it’s heavy, it’s a nuisance to fix, and it affects performance. The unstated problem with the big, high-grunt factor engines is that they’re huge, very heavy, and actually slow the car down and add to the strain on suspension with mass. Sedans aren’t much better.

In consumer and service terms, there’s nothing to be said in favor of petrol engines. They’re responsible for costing motorists a fortune, while not really delivering much more for service people than time and labor values for servicing and a fairly large number of workers compensation cases and high insurance costs.

Electric cars, by comparison, are literally clean, green and about as difficult to service as a remote control. You just check everything and replace what needs replacing. The new power sources, non-battery electric storage, are also likely to improve both range and efficiency within 10 years.

Keep watching the Audi A1, because this is the type of car that will ultimately replace the gas guzzlers.

SPE’s Culver City Lot Project Fulfills the USGBC’s Stringent Standards-


Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) recently announced that it has been awarded the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certification for the studio’s Lot and Office Transformation (LOT) Project. “We are proud to receive this designation for our newest buildings on the lot,” said Michael Lynton, Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures. “It’s our belief that we have a responsibility to help create a greener world for our community and future generations, and this project is an important part of our overall sustainability efforts.” The LOT Project included two new 100,000 square foot office buildings, named after Jack Cohn and Harry Cohn, and a parking structure located at the studio’s historic lot in Culver City, California. The Jack Cohn and Harry Cohn buildings were awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council for an all-around conservational approach in design and construction.

Criteria factors in the SPE Lot Project include: the use of local, recycled building materials; avoiding over 16,128 tons of construction waste material from being thrown into landfills; the use of motion detector lights and energy efficient light bulbs; the installation of an on-site filtration system for storm water runoff as well as low-flow toilets and urinals; the use of low-emitting carpeting, paint, sealants, adhesives and wall coverings; the enforcing of “Green Housekeeping” building maintenance standards; and the availability of preferred parking for low emitting and fuel efficient vehicles as well as car pools and van pools. To boot, the LOT Project incorporated a high-tech, energy efficient central cooling plant. “Naturally, a project of this size and scope was undertaken with a great deal of thought and care,” said Jeff Hargleroad, Executive Vice President, Corporate Operations. “We recognized early on this was a great opportunity to pursue design and construction practices that would map to our core values as a company; it became obvious that this was the right thing to do.” Last summer, SPE’s Culver City lot was the first and only studio to achieve ISO14001 certification, with energy and environmental initiatives that encompassed nearly all aspects of the studio’s operations. As a pioneer in the green movement, the possibilities are endless in what sustainable projects they will take on next.

Company Creates Vine Canopies for Buildings that “Eat” CO2 Emissions & Protect Against Heat-

Kyocera Group has begun using viney plants to create “green curtains”, which are formed over trellises to shade portions of windows and outer walls of buildings at 20 different locations in Japan, Thailand and Brazil. These curtains create a canopy over the buildings to prevent direct sunlight from raising the temperature of the building’s interior, helping to reduce the need for energy-intensive air conditioning. Not to mention, the plants also help to protect the environment by absorbing CO2. Taking their conservation efforts another step further, the company has even created a comprehensive how-to website dedicated toward helping consumers fashion their own eco-curtains around offices and homes. Kyocera’s “green curtain” idea began at its Okaya Plant in Nagano Prefecture, Japan as part of its effort to conserve energy and environmental resources. According to their website, these “green curtains” will absorb roughly 23,481 lbs of CO2 — or approximately the same amount as 761 cedar trees.

Go Green with Joe Laur’s Ten Simple, Eco-Friendly Alternatives-

Today’s consumer should be increasingly more cautious about the products they are using, now more than ever, considering that dangerous health and environmental effects have been linked to a plethora of seemingly simple, everyday items. Many electronic products contain dangerous chemicals and, when thrown into landfills, release these toxins into our air and water. Many people don’t even realize that they are being exposed to dangerous levels of electromagnetic radiation through electronics such as cellular telephones, Bluetooth devices, WiFi, wireless telephones, and wireless baby monitors, to name a few. Not to mention, most of these newfangled electronics on the market today are extremely energy intensive – meaning, these products are wasting precious energy to make and to use.

So, help bring America (and the rest of the world) back to our “roots” and check out Joe Laur’s top 10 list of simple green alternatives.

New Data Shows Global Plant Productivity Weakening Due to Regional Drought-

According to a new study of NASA satellite data, global plant productivity that had once been flourishing with warming temperatures and an extended growing season is now declining due to regional drought. Plant productivity is a measure of the photosynthesis process that green plants use to convert solar energy, carbon dioxide and water into sugar, oxygen and ultimately plant tissue. During the 1980s and 90s, there was an observed 6 percent increase in plant productivity – and through careful monitoring, researchers have found that it has only dropped 1 percent over the last decade. However, even this small decline could potentially affect food security, biofuels and the global carbon cycle. Researchers Steven Running and Maosheng Zhao of the University of Montana in Missoula have detected the global shift from thorough analysis of NASA satellite data. The researchers examined statistics from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on NASA’s Terra satellite, and compared them with growing season climate data that included figures on temperature, solar radiation and water. “We see this as a bit of a surprise, and potentially significant on a policy level because previous interpretations suggested global warming might actually help plant growth around the world,” Running said. In 2003, a similar study led by scientist Ramakrishna Nemani, now a researcher at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., determined plant productivity was on the rise due to rising global temperatures and other related statistics. Intending on simply updating prior-collected data, Running and Zhao expected to see a comparable increase. However, the researchers instead found a decline between 2000 and 2009 that they linked to regional drought which, in fact, negated the positive influence of a longer growing season. “This is a pretty serious warning that warmer temperatures are not going to endlessly improve plant growth,” Running said. The team published its findings August 19 in Science.

Pluggable Solar Panel Kit to Lower Cost of Solar Installations-

Installing solar modules is typically a job reserved for certified professionals — however with renewable technologies advancing at such a rapid pace, solar panel installations may soon be as simple as 1,2,3. The “Sunfish”, designed by Chad Maglaque and Clarian Technologies, is a comparatively inexpensive solar module kit anticipated to release in stores by spring 2011. To begin installation, consumers would need to purchase a power module, circuit monitor and pluggable solar panel(s) from their local hardware store. Next, they must swap out a regular electricity outlet for the circuit monitor (which is as easy as installing a grounded outlet), plug in the 18-kilogram solar panel into the power module and mount it on the most sun-exposed side of their residence. The power module must then be synchronized with the circuit monitor using power metering software, such as Google PowerMeter. Once setup is complete, renewable energy will be readily available. “We’re talking about a [do-it-yourself] handyman on the order of cable guy level of installation,” Maglaque says. Depending on the consumer’s budget, one to five panel arrays may be implemented and can generate as much as 150 kilowatt-hours of electricity per month — enough electricity to offset one major appliance, such as a refrigerator. According to the company, one panel, with the module and circuit monitor will cost around $799. “I see that being $599 in the not-too-distant future,” Maglaque adds. “Solar continues to come down in price.” Although, to be realistic, it would take as much as four years to pay back that cost in electricity savings even with government rebates and tax credits. The system price is nominal when compared to a solar installation using a licensed contractor, however, which can skyrocket the total cost to around $20,000. Not to mention, an added benefit of the “Sunfish” system allows the consumer to tote the entire system with them if they happen to relocate to a different residence. The power modules, circuit monitors, and panels that make up the “Sunfish” are set to undergo thorough UL testing to certify the endurance and efficiency of the system.

Indian Parliament to Install Solar & Biomass Plant-

Through an arrangement with the Indian Parliament, the Punjab Energy Development Agency has invited bids for installing an 80 kW solar PV system. The solar array would provide battery backup for the Parliament building in the off-chance of a blackout, however over 50 percent of the generated power would be fed back into the grid. The project would help promote the use of solar PV systems which remain unpopular due to the high costs and lower efficiency when compared to other forms of clean energy. The installation is anticipated to initiate solar PV policy initiatives in homes and commercial buildings throughout the nation. Not to mention, the system would also serve as a demonstration of the feed-in tariff mechanism which is mostly untested in India. Some major companies have submitted bids, including Punj Lloyd, Wipro Ecoenergy and the Solar Energy Group of Reliance Industries. If this initiative is a success, the overall installed capacity could skyrocket to 20,000 MW over the next 12 years. Meanwhile, a new solar thermal system with a 2,000-liter capacity and a 0.5 tonne capacity biomass plant are also expected to be installed at the Parliament House.

Uninhabited Islands Around the Globe May be Used to Generate & Store Energy for Later Use-

Gottlieb Paludan, a Danish architectural firm, has come up with a revolutionary plan to store green energy which may help to solve the world energy crisis. The firm has proposed to take the world’s uninhabited islands and turn them into Green Power Islands, in which energy would be generated on land through wind or solar — depending upon the climate — and the surrounding water would be used to store the power using pumped hydro. Pumped hydro is an efficient and feasible way to store energy and, not to mention, has been successfully used around the world for years. Renewable energy can be particularly unreliable, since the blowing wind and shining sun is only available throughout a portion of the day. Thus, pumped hydro allows the energy captured throughout the day to be stored effectively and can be used at a later time when the need arises. The firm has specified many areas around the globe which would be an optimal site for the Green Power Islands: their native Denmark, the Florida Keys, Jiangsu in China, Manama in Baharain and Tamil Nadu in India. Each of these areas are saturated with unsettled islands and boast an ample supply of either wind or sun. Their plan intends to drive at least 75 percent of the energy captured into the grid. For more information, please visit the Green Power Island website.