Lalled In Fove With Fall
Today it just hit me all at once as I walked about campus, it’s fall! What did it for me was the wonderful crisp air filled with the aroma of fallen leaves becoming dirt. There is nothing quite like that smell combined with the cool air washing over you.
After some prodding by The Naib, I have decided it is time to alert others of an upcoming event next week: Campus Sustainability Day. On October 25th, Clark University will join other campuses across the country in celebrating their sustainable efforts. As a member of the Clark Sustainability Initiative (CSI…not the boob-tube show), I have been helping to promote and prep for the event. This year we will be providing a chance for student groups and local non-profits to table as a chance to spread the good word of sustainability to all the Clarkies. So, if you happen to live near a university, then you should check and see if they are participating this year along with other universities that are members of SCUP (Society for College and University Planning). And of course, if you happen to live near Worcester, come on out and join in the fun at Clark from 12 to 2!
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On a completely separate sustainable thought, I must share a recent aquisition from a Cape Cod jem: the transfer station swap shop! Ok, so the Cape had landfills back in the day. Now they are all capped (to my best knowledge) but still serve as a location for residents to drop off their recyclables and bulk trash items as transfer stations. At some point, someone realized that many items that persons had to drop off were “gently” used or may need a slight tune-up. Well, this leads to the creation of the swap shop as well as my recent find. A swap shop works simple: bring your lightly used items, leave them, and if you want, take a look and take what you could use. Now, on the “tune” of tune-up, I was able to get a nice record/cassette player this past weekend. Nothing like combining two loves in one: reusing and music. My computer speakers will serve for the time being, but nothing will compare to the moment I can actually play some of the records I have been collecting as “display” items. Drop a comment if you secretly love vinyl!
Rockin’ and reusin’ in Worcester,
dew
It’s Up To Us All
People complain a lot. Almost like it’s our national past time. You may have seen some fine examples of complaining from yours truly on this very page. Complaining is what made this country great. In fact I would say we don’t have nearly enough bitching going on right now.
What we have instead is a steam roller of a government that is passing laws that take away our freedom faster than we can keep track. Take for example the fact that Bush signed into law today a bill that makes it possible for him to designate anyone he wants as an enemy combatant and put them away forever without hope of a trial. And no one seems to care.
This is our worst nightmare, and we let it pass with nary a yawn.
So maybe I was wrong, it wasn’t simply pointing out what was wrong with the world that made America a great country it was standing up and doing something about it. Is it time for revolution, nay, not just yet. What we need now is civil engagement.
Democracy is like a little baby. It is constantly crying and shitting its pants, and without us, the citizens, to care for it it can develop a nasty case of diaper rash. The best way to keep the buns of this country poo free is to get out and vote. Not just party line voting (a little D or R next to someones name does not make them qualified to get your vote) but informed and engaged voting. Vote for the person that most shares your views.
It seems simple, but I so often hear that people want to vote for “who they think will win.” This is important, but you should vote for the candidate that you feel will make the same choice on an issue that you would. People can be dirty liars, and as such its impossible to know for sure how a candidate will vote on every issue, but there is a fair amount of information available that can help you make your choice. An informed vote is a good vote. With that in mind here are a couple of good starts on your way to making your vote count.
The new york times has created a nice little map with a nice little non-partisan link system that will let you figure out where all the contested races are as well as links to all the candidates home pages.
This should at least let you know who is running in your district and for what. You can also visit your local board of elections website to find out who is running in your area. Local elections are often more important than national ones, as this is where the “rubber meets the road.”
There are also many websites that can help you figure out how to register, where to vote, and find information about candidates and the issues. You can also be so bold as to call your elected officials and ask them what they feel about things, or let them know how you feel. Go to rallies, attend public forums. The several hours you spend informing yourself on the issues could mean the difference between 4 years with a great official or 4 years with a corrupt fuck-wit. The choices that elected officials make effect your job, your freedom, your family, every aspect of your life is in the hands of these people. I would say its worth a couple of days effort to make sure that you pick a good one.
You need to vote, it’s your civic duty. If you don’t vote the current business as usual (that is we all get fucked over by power hungry idiots, or abandoned by idiot zombies that do nothing) will continue. We will continue to live in a world that is full of war, pollution, global warming, hunger, and death. That’s not the kind of world I want to see, so this November I will be casting my vote. I will stand up and do my duty. Patriotism is not putting a magnetic ribbon on your SUV, its pulling that little lever in that little booth. It’s up to us all to protect America from the only enemy with enough power to do her any lasting harm, herself.
Half The Consumption : Same Cost
Every day I walk half a mile to my local railway station, often passing queued traffic going the same way as me, to stand at Platform 1 and wait for the train to London Liverpool Street. Every day for the past week I have had to face an advertising hoarding bursting with excitement to promote the new Lexus RX Hydrid SUV. Low Emissions. Zero Guilt.
Yes, it does say that. And here is a picture of the lovable vehicle you can now own with “Zero Guilt”
The specifications are less than mouth-watering for those interested in energy conservation.
The RX 400h luxury SUV harnesses the power of a 3.3-litre V6 petrol engine and two powerful electric motors, delivering 269 Bhp of seamless power, whilst returning the lowest premium petrol SUV fuel consumption today: 34.9 mpg in the combined cycle.
34.9 mpg may sound impressive if you are used to a hulking Ford Explorer or a Chrysler 300C, but in the world of medium sized cars 34.9 mpg is not great.
The similar-sized Land Rover Freelander gives 36.7 mpg
The Renault Grand Scenic ranges from 34.4 to 52.3 mpg
The Ford Galaxy, 34.4 to 44.8 mpg.
The VW Polo diesel 5-door does 60.1 miles per gallon.
Hybrid Drive doesn’t sound too good now, does it?
But what we are seeing here, in the world of the guilt-ridden consumer, is the equivalent of putting twice as much half-fat cream on your pie. Rather than compromise your lifestyle by buying a more modest vehicle (how much space do you need for a family, for goodness sake!?) you are being tempted to carry on as before, and let the designers lighten your guilt load.
If you aren’t prepared to change your lifestyle to put this planet right again then you deserve to feel guilty, whatever the marketing executives want you to feel.
Keith Farnish
www.theearthblog.org
www.reduce3.com
And Proud Member Of The Sietch
300 Million And Growing
According to the U.S. Census Bureau the population of the U.S. will surpass the 300 million mark today (at 7:45 am eastern standard time, right about…..NOW). It is the only industrialized nation in the world whose population is rising substantially. (via)
3: The United States is the world’s third largest population after China and India, both of whose populations are also rising.
7: The number of people who are born every second in the U.S.
31: The number of migrants who enter the U.S. every second.
34 million: The number of foreign-born people living in the U.S. in 2004 compared with just 9.7 million in 1967.
2043: The year the Census Bureau predicts the U.S. population will reach 400 million.
1.5 million: The number of people living now living in Phoenix, Arizona, compared with under half a million 40 years ago. The country has witnessed huge demographic changes, with a shift in population from the Northwest and Midwest to the West and South.
50 percent: Half of the U.S. population lives in suburbs compared with 38 per cent in the 1970s.
50 percent: The number of married couple households has fallen to 50 percent from 75 percent in 1967.
26 percent: The percentage of people who live alone as young people marry later and older people who are divorced or widowed don’t remarry.
2.3kg: The amount of trash each American produces every day — about five times more than a person in a developing country.
25 percent: The amount of the world’s energy consumed by the U.S. The country is also the single largest emitter of carbon dioxide.
1,000: The number of plants and animals listed as endangered species because of loss of habitat due to land development.
3: The number of times more water each American uses than the world average. The U.S. has also lost half of its wetlands to urban development and agriculture.
From here
THE population of the US is scheduled to officially hit 300 million at 7.46am (EDT) today, when the Census Bureau’s population clock rolls over to the big number.
…
It is not easy estimating the exact number of people in a country the size of the US. It gets even more complicated when you take into account illegal immigration, another reason for the federal government to let the milestone pass quietly.
When the US population officially hit 200 million in 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson held a news conference at the Commerce Department to hail America’s past and to talk about the challenges ahead. Life magazine dispatched a cadre of photographers to find a baby born at the exact moment, anointing a boy born in Atlanta as the 200 millionth American.
This year, there is a good chance the 300 millionth American has already walked across the border from Mexico.
“It’s a couple of weeks before an election when illegal immigration is a high-profile issue and they don’t want to make a big deal out of it,” said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.
Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said the Bush administration was not playing down the milestone, though he said he had no plans for today. Census Bureau employees planned to mark the moment this afternoon with cake and punch.
“I would hate to think that we are going to be low key about this,” said Gutierrez, whose department oversees the Census Bureau. “I would hope that we make a big deal about it.”
…
The US adds about 2.8 million people a year, for a growth rate of less than 1%. About 40% of the growth comes from immigration. The rest comes from births outnumbering deaths.
The Census Bureau counts the population every 10 years. In between, it uses administrative records and surveys to estimate monthly averages for births, deaths and net immigration. The bureau has a “population clock” that estimates a birth every seven seconds, a death every 13 seconds and a new immigrant every 31 seconds. Add it together and you get one new American every 11 seconds.
Google Goes Solar
With Whole Foods going 100% wind (by using green tags), and many other companies following suit, as well as some government agencies, its no wonder that Google would go solar.
I would imagine that Google uses a shit-tonne (that being more than a butt-load, and less than a ho-billion) of electricity could really use a large 1.6 MEGAwatt installation.
From here
Google Inc. plans a solar-powered electricity system at its Silicon Valley headquarters that will rank as the largest U.S. solar-powered corporate office complex, the company said on Wednesday.
The Web search leader said it is set to begin building a rooftop solar-powered generation system at its Mountain View, California, headquarters capable of generating 1.6 megawatts of electricity, or enough to power 1,000 California homes.
“This is the largest customer-owned solar electric system at a corporate site,” said Noah Kaye, director of public affairs at the Solar Energy Industries Association, an industry group based in Washington, D.C.
A Google executive said the company will rely on solar power to supply nearly a third of the electricity consumed by office workers at its roughly one-million-square-foot headquarters. This does not include power consumed by data centers that power many of Google’s Web services worldwide, he said.
You can watch a video of the potential installation here.
A little run down of the system from the designers website shows the system stats as the following.
Location:
Mountain View, CaliforniaSystem Size:
1.6 MW
Energy Output:
2,611,719 kWh per year
Savings:
$393,000 + annually
Results:
C02 emissions reduced by 3.6 million pounds/year (equivalent to 4.28 million car miles/year)
Read the PDF stat sheet here.
The payback on a system of this size is amazingly fast.
By building the largest solar power system ever installed at a single corporate campus, Google will save more than $393,000 annually in energy costs — or close to $15 million over the 30-year lifespan of its solar system. At this rate, the system will pay for itself in approximately 7.5 years.
Lets hope this inspires other tech giants to start doing the same.
Wha?
I for one welcome our new evil cat overlords.
Monday Confessional
Monday (or moondo from the German das mooday or day of the cow), is often celebrated every week after Sunday (German for a whales vagina) , and it is almost always great.
A typical Monday for me starts out with a little house cleaning. I get up, do some menial chores that keep my domicile from becoming a roach infested hell pit, and then follow it up with a SDP (small dance party) in the kitchen. The SDP is the signal to my cohorts to begin the ritual freak out. The freak out is accomplished by a mad dash to create and eat as many “food” items as possible before the grand Monday battle.
The Monday battle is often aquatic (as it was this week), but also often terrestrial. Today we did battle with shellfish, and shellfish accessories. We quahoged, we degunked, we removed nets, we stacked trays, we fixed crab traps and so much more. Many quahogs tried there steel against our fury, and all failed. My armor was weak but my aim was true. In the end only we, the strong, survived.
Take that bi-valves, and bi-vale accessories.
Federal Governments Going Green
Editor’s note: Last Monday, North American Windpower launched its new website, which now features daily news updates and an archive of wind news content. Please be sure to visit them at www.nawindpower.com, and let them know what you think!
While corporations and organizations in the U.S. and Canada continue to sign up for green power purchases at a rapidly increasing rate, the jump-start for many of the larger-scale purchases of renewable energy came from policy directives in Washington, D.C., and Ottawa. And those directives continue to this day, as efforts are made for renewable energy development - including wind - to continue.
The latest example is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which recently closed a deal making it the first federal agency to purchase renewable energy equivalent to 100% of its annual electricity needs.
The agency recently signed a contract with 3 Phases Energy Services that went into effect September 1 to purchase more than 100 million kWh in renewable energy certificates (RECs), created when power producers generate electricity using wind turbines. This contract extends annual green power purchases to more than 190 EPA facilities nationwide. The new purchase brings the agency total to nearly 300 million kWh per year, which is equivalent to 100% of the electricity EPA uses nationwide annually. The contract, which continues through Sept. 30, 2007, supports the development of wind farms in California, South Dakota, Oklahoma and Wyoming.
“At EPA, we don’t just talk the talk - we walk the walk,” says EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson. “For 35 years, EPA has been greening our nation’s landscape. By committing to alternative, renewable power sources, the agency is meeting the president’s call to green our nation’s energy.”
Windlogics
Significant government purchases of renewable energy got their start with Executive Order 13123 of June 1999, which committed agencies to “strive to expand the use of renewable energy within its facilities…and [purchase] electricity from renewable energy sources.”
But in sheer volume, the U.S. Air Force purchases the largest amount of green power of any government agency, with 1,043,558 MWh. In fiscal year 2005, the U.S. Air Force purchased over 40% of the renewable power purchased by the federal government.
Dyess Air Force Base in Texas is the first Department of Defense installation to be 100% powered with green energy.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is one of the largest green power purchasers in the country. It is buying green power or RECs totaling more than 160,000 MWh. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado is purchasing 30,000 MWh of renewable energy certificates to cover 100% of its power needs.
Other top 25 federal government operations are the U.S. General Services Administration Northeast Region in New York City (92,000 MWh) and the U.S. Army’s Ft. Carson in Colorado (40,000 MWh).
The green power purchasing program began in 1999, when EPA’s Region 9 laboratory, in Richmond, Calif., became the first federal facility to purchase green power equal to its total annual electricity consumption.
Canadian efforts
Through the Purchase of Electricity from Renewable Resources (PERR) Program, the Government of Canada is committed to purchasing 20% of its electricity needs (approximately 450 GWh/year) from renewable resources, such as wind and biomass. The PERR Program is a joint initiative between Public Works Government Services Canada, Natural Resources Canada and Environment Canada (NRCan).
Canadian programs started in 1994, following a recommendation by the Task Force on Economic Instruments and Disincentives to Sound Environmental Practices. Natural Resources Canada studied the feasibility of having the federal government buy some of its electricity from renewable energy sources. After consulting with electrical utilities and the renewable energy industry, NRCan announced its intention to start pilot projects to purchase electricity from renewable sources, including wind power.
In December 1997, NRCan began purchasing electricity from Calgary’s electric system. The 10-year agreement with ENMAX is for the production of 10,000 MWh of electricity from renewable sources for NRCan’s Alberta facilities.
Environment Canada also signed an agreement for 2,000 MWh hours of green electricity for their electricity requirements in Alberta. In September 2000, NRCan signed a 10-year agreement with SaskPower, Saskatchewan’s electric utility, and is currently receiving about 32,000 MWh annually of wind power for its facilities in Saskatchewan.
Early in 2001, NRCan signed an agreement with Maritime Electric from Prince Edward Island for purchasing electricity from ERES. This 10-year agreement is for the production of 13,000 MWh of wind power annually.
It is expected that the federal government will purchase an additional 400,000 MWh of wind energy, derived primarily from Nova Scotia, Ontario, New Brunswick and Alberta.
Sweet Solar Parking Meters In Boston
Boston is going to be installing solar powered parking meters. If that is not cool enough they also take credit cards, speak three languages, and still take normal coins (with the added fun of taking dollar bills now).
The only flaws I can see is that because of the ticket system used the meter will produce a waste stream, that’s all we need is more paper floating around the streets (I was similarly not impressed when Boston moved from a re-usable T coin to the current paper ones), and you will not be able to use the rest of the time on someones meter unless they give you their ticket.
Other than that however, these things are an idea that should have been implimented years ago.
From here
The city plans to begin installing solar-powered meters that take credit cards on a four-block section of Newbury Street in the Back Bay next week.
Officials hope the new meters will allow more parking spaces to fit along congested streets, as well as being more convenient.
“This is a new era in parking in Boston,” Thomas J. Timlin, Boston’s transportation commissioner, told The Boston Globe. “It is the biggest step since the city first purchased meters so long ago.”
But the new machines will still take cash: quarters, dollar bills and one-dollar coins. They also can be used in English, Spanish or French.
The 23 meters, which cover eight parking spots each, are the first step in a citywide upgrade. The machines will print out tickets with time stamps that drivers will place on their cars’ windshields.
Parking rates won’t change; each 15 minutes will still cost 25 cents and the time limit will still be two hours. And drivers won’t be able to use time someone else has left on the meter.
City workers won’t have quite as heavy a load to empty the machines, whose solar panels make them lower-maintenance. The city collects about 32 million quarters a year from the standard parking meters, about $8 million dollars worth.
From here.
They are powered by solar panels, eliminating the need for city workers to replace batteries. The new meters also have wireless communication devices that inform transportation workers of problems, reducing the risk of out-of-order meters. The city for years has struggled with disabled meters, with several hundred of the city’s 7,300 meters broken or vandalized at any given time.
Its a wonder more cities have not gotten on the solar power bandwagon for things like this. This is a perfect application for solar power, you have lots of small power loads that would make it hard to wire them to a central power system, it cuts down the cost of replacing batteries year after year, and its super low maintanence. Many cities and states have already moved over to solar powered street lights (another perfect match for solar), saving them lots of money on electricity. Lets hope this trend continues.
Meet Devon Our Newest Member
The Sietch is proud to welcome Devon our newest member!
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