blackle.com

Just how much electricity would be saved if the Google background were black instead of white? Find out. Go to Blackle.com where Heap Media created a Google Custom Search to keep track. According to some numbers it is approx. 756 mega watts/hour per year would be saved. Blackle saves energy because the screen is predominantly black. The whole thing started back in January when a blog post titled Black Google Would Save 750 Megawatt-hours a Year proposed the theory that a black version of the Google search engine would save a fair bit of energy due to Googles widespread popularity. There has been much debate about the potential savings of the site and the folks at Heap Media figured that even though it may be small, every savings add up. Taking it a step further and making Blackle.com your home site can serve as a gentle reminder to conserve energy in the small things.

Cool new carphone charger

Next month (October) UK mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse is set to launch a mobile phone charger that stops consuming power the minute the phone is fully charges rather than staying connected and continuing to pull electricity from the socket. According to the company, 95% of energy used by all mobile phone chargers is wasted. The new charger could save consumers millions and cut CO2 emissions by 250,000 tonnes – the same amount of energy it takes to heat 54,000 homes for an entire year.

PaperBackSwap

Want to settle down with a good book for free? Check out paperbackswap.com. A site that lets users post their books, swap them and request books from each other for only the cost of mailing. The site is pretty user friendly and seems to have a lot of popular books. Essentially, the more you use the site the more points you earn and the more books you can swap for free. The site is free but has a note that at some time in the future it may need to charge a nominal fee for the service to help cover costs. Try out new authors, reduce paper use, get a good read, all for the cost of postage. Not a bad deal.

Who is Armory Lovins?

Amory Lovins, is our person to watch of the week. For more than three decades Mr. Lovins has been working tirelessly to impact the way the world consumes energy. Mr. Lovins has published 29 books, hundreds of papers and has consulted U.S. Departments of Energy and Defense, briefed 19 heads of state, in 50+ countries. His work has earned him recognition from the “Alternative Nobel,” Onassis, Nissan, Shingo, and Mitchell Prizes, the Benjamin Franklin and Happold Medals, nine honorary doctorates, honorary membership of the American Institute of Architects, and the Heinz, Lindbergh, Jean Meyer, Time Hero for the Planet, and World Technology Awards.

Mr. Lovins cofounded and is Chairman and Chief Scientist of Rocky Mountain Institute (www.rmi.org), an independent, market-oriented, entrepreneurial, nonprofit, nonpartisan think-and-do tank that creates abundance by design. Much of its pathfinding work on advanced resource productivity (typically with expanding returns to investment) and innovative business strategies is synthesized in Natural Capitalism (www.natcap.org). This intellectual capital provides most of RMI’s revenue through private-sector consultancy that has served or been invited by more than 80 Fortune 500 firms, lately redesigning $30 billion worth of facilities spanning 29 sectors. RMI spun off E SOURCE ( www.esource.com) in 1992 and Fiberforge, Inc. (www.fiberforge.com), a composites engineering firm that Mr. Lovins chairs, in 1999; its technology permits cost-effective manufacturing of the ultralight-hybrid Hypercar® vehicles he invented in 1991. Mr. Lovins was also on the jury team for the first annual World Clean Energy Awards held in June this year in Basel, Switzerland. Look to see more of Mr. Lovins in the future.

His 28th book, Small Is Profitable www.smallisprofitable.org, an Economist book of the year, was published in 2002.

His most recent book was released in 2004 www.oilendgame.com

Get a free PDF copy of Armory Lovins book "Winning the Oil Endgame"

Lifestraw

Safe drinking water wherever you go? Lifestraw is a personal, mobile water purification tool designed to turn most of the surface water into drinking water offering relief from waterborne diseases of major public concern such as typhoid, cholera, dysentery and diarrhea. Headquartered in Switzerland, the Vestergaard Frandsen Group was founded in Denmark in 1957 and spends most of it’s time in complex emergency responses and disease control textiles with operations worldwide. Besides Lifestraw, VesterGaard can also provide plastic sheeting for Malaria prevention and durable insecticidal mosquito nets for complex emergencies. The device has a lifetime of 700 litres or up to 1 year.

This is one of my favorite products out there because it's simple, user-friendly and addresses the urgent need of clean, potable drinking water. Right now the product is only available for institutional purchases but the company appears to want to provide to consumers in the future. You can make a donation to provide Lifestraw to crisis locations around the world through various non-profit organizations and you can also apply to become a distributor of the product.

Freecycle

Freecycle is a non-profit,501(c)3 organizations that is all about giving and getting free stuff from people in your area. Through your local Freecycle community you can keep good stuff out of landfills and have your slightly loved stuff end up in the hands of someone who will give it a good home. Don’t you worry. Essentially, it is a craigslist.com but all the products are free. Got something that needs a new home? – Sign up for your local group and send an email offering the product to the members of the group and designate a recipient. Need something? Check the offerings from your local group and request to be a recipient of the product and then wait and see if you get lucky.

Freecycle started May of ‘03 down in Tucson, AZ in an effort to promote waste reductions and preserve the desert landscape rather than creating more landfills. Joining is free, and each group is moderated by a volunteer.

The Green Zebra in SF

Living in San Francisco? The Green Zebra is the green version of the local entertainment coupon booklet. A coupon book and resource guide the Green Zebra guide provides savings for anyone who wants to shop sustainably. Just like the out-on-the town coupon booklets that we are all familiar with, the Green Zebra guide can also be used as a fundraiser for schools or organizations and has a really easy and profitable fundraising program. The Green Zebra is an awesome concept that exposes the broader community to sustainable products in their area. Now we just need to convince them to take it outside of SF! If anyone knows of anything similar outside of SF let me know. Check it out.

Greening of Park City, Utah

Looks like Park City, Utah is going green. Tom Bakaly, the city manager of this ski resort town in northern Utah, created a Sustainability Team comprised of 2 groups; a Sustainability Visioning Team and a Sustainability Implementation Team. Bakaly also appointed two full-time individuals to execute the town’s sustainability objectives. Alison Butz and Phyllis Robinson accepted the positions of Envrionmental Affairs and Project Manager and Community and Public Affairs Managers respectively. The two will now join Patrick Putt, the Planning Director and third member of the Sustainability Visioning Team. The efforts come as part of the town’s effot to reflect community priorities and City Council goals relating to ‘creating a sustainable community’. No real clear objectives appear to be delineated quite yet other than providing a consultative role to the community and City Council as to the impact of City actions and initiatives.

USB Rechargeable AA batteries

Green Batteries?

Every year 15 billion Alkaline batteries ( enough for a column of batteries to go to the moon and back) are made and thrown away. Enter USB Cell – USBCell is a AA battery that can be recharged hundreds of times without cords, cables etc. According to their website;

“USBCell was recently commended for best product design of 2006 alongside the Ipod Shuffle and is now available online to 50+ countries” and “are estimated to save several KG of toxic waste and C02 emissions compared to using lots of ‘Rubbish after one use’ alkaline cells.” The USBCell works with wireless mice, folding or wireless keyboards, digital cameras, MP3 speakers, projector controllers and etc. Pretty cool.

Cradle to Cradle

Interesting new book. A great, short and concise review of the book as found on lime.com -
"In Cradle to Cradle, the authors present a manifesto calling for a new industrial revolution, one that would render both traditional manufacturing and traditional environmentalism obsolete. Recycling, for instance, is actually "downcycling," creating hybrids of biological and technical "nutrients" which are then unrecoverable and unusable. The authors, an architect and a chemist, want to eliminate the concept of waste altogether, while preserving commerce and allowing for human nature. They offer several compelling examples of corporations that are not just doing less harm--they're actually doing some good for the environment and their neighborhoods, and making more money in the process. Cradle to Cradle is a refreshing change from the intractable environmental conflicts that dominate headlines. It's a handbook for 21st-century innovation and should be required reading for business hotshots and environmental activists."
The authors website

Idealist

In their twelfth year now idea-list is a great resource for both those interested in getting involved and those who operating a non-profit. For like-minded individuals the site provides a way to identify opportunities for involvement in your local area, jobs, interns, and useful sites. For non-profits it can help locate consultants, materials, interested volunteers, resources and discussion boards. A definite bookmark.

Another piece of good news - According to the Washington Post Sony is the first major electronics company to team up with Waste Management Inc. to expand its recycle program. Most computer and electronics companies like HP, Apple, and Dell require consumers to mail in their old equipment to be recycled. Starting September 15 however, Sony will provide 75 recycle stations available for consumers to drop off their old goods to be recycled. All Sony or Sony-Ericsson products will be recycled for free but other brands will require a small fee. California and Minnesota got the major share of the the stations with 17 in CA and 19 in MN. Sony plans to double the number of drop-off centers within a year, hoping to have at least one in every state and ultimately one within 20 miles of 95% of the U.S. population.

Matador Travel beta

Cool new Beta. MatadorTravel. A community site for the sustainability-minded passionate traveler to congregate, share pictures, tips, best places to visit, things to do and connect with other like-minded individuals. The types of articles posted are;
Sustainability
Music + Art
Travel & Place
Sport
Innovators
The site offers some special features for NGO's and non-profits. So if you want to raise money for your NGO, find volunteers, spread awareness,through photos and blogs, and create a network of supporters check out matadortravel.com. For those interested in finding opportunities the site also allows you to search through member organizations to find a fit. And if you are a writer/photographer world traveler matador also posts paid writing gigs and how much they pay right on their home page. You can join as a member or an organization.



http://matadortravel.com/themes/matador/logo.png

How can I make my city more green?

Anybody on a city council or looking for some examples of what other cities have done to go green? Here is an interesting report that the Sierra Club put out in 2005 that illustrates what Austin, TX - Portland, OR - Chicago, IL and Fort Collins, Co have done to go green. A slightly old report but still with good information.

Big box retail going green?

Of the 800 certified LEED projects to date only 50 are retail but Best Buy is trying to change that. In its annual sustainability report released in June of this year Best Buy stated that beginning mid-2008 the company intends to build only eco-friendly stores certified by the USGBC through LEED. (LEED = Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design - a program that gets the nod from many eco-activists for its tough standards and inspections that is administered by the USGBC) Since mid-2006 20 retailers including Best Buy, Starbucks, Target, Lowe's and others have been working with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) to create a new bulk certification program. The new program would allow chain stores to get prototype buildings of the chain certified rather than each individual location. The USGBC could then conduct random surprise visits to test the quality controls and energy efficiency of each location. In addition to getting LEED certified Best Buy plans to increase use of reusable containers by 30%, retrofit 20% of its 650 stores with dimmable, zonable ceramic metal halide lights, and recycle 75,000 tons of cardboard,1,800 tons of plastic, 15,000 tons of consumer electronics and 27,500 tons of appliances before the end of the fiscal year.
A good year for Best Buy that also wrapped up a consumer electronics recycling grant program earlier this year. Sharp launched their own similar program that will recycle your old television for free with the online purchase of a new LCD TV no smaller than 37 inches and no smaller than the size of the screen to be recycled. Want to see your office or building go green? Get LEED certified.

Similar to prosper.com except with an angle of giving to underdeveloped world kiva.org has an awesome business model. Kiva works with microcredit organizations around the world to identify entrepreneurs who are in need of some capital to develop their business. The small loan can also provide the entrepreneur a way to actually make a little profit instead of much if not all of it going to pay back loan sharks. y choosing a business on Kiva.org, you can "sponsor a business" and help the world's working poor make great strides towards economic independence. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates from the business you've sponsored. As loans are repaid, you get your loan money back. The amounts requested range from $25 to $1200...nothing that will break the bank.

Idaho Blue Insulation
Jack and Katy are awesome! I met both of them a couple weeks ago and they are very nice people with an excellent product that I couldn't help but mention them in here. Just like Reware, they offer a product that we all need and can use without changing our current behavior and even exceeds our expectations. Jack and Katy are the Idaho Distributors of an insulation made from recycled denim called UltraTouch. The insulation made of natural fibers is manufactured by Bonded Logic, and is safe for you and the environment.
- This insulation doesn't itch or irritate the skin
- Provides Maximum thermal performance
- Resistant to mold, mildew, moisture and pests
-Class A fire rating
- Made in the USA from 100% recycled materials
- Protected by a nontoxic, natural biostat borate
- Sustainable manufacturing process
Products like this I really like to get behind because they are simple, easy and have huge growth potential.

Step It Up 2007
What a great year these guys have had! On April 14 this year at more than 1400 iconic locations across the entire United States Americans called on political leaders to take steps to stop global warming and reduce consumption of harmful energy sources. Specifically to cut carbon emissions 80% by2050 and 10% by 2010. Check out their website to find groups and events in your area. Even though you may have missed April 14, don't worry the Step It Up crew is looking to Nov. 3, 2007, (a year before election day) as the the next big date in the struggle to motivate leaders to make real progress to combat climate change. With Step It Up 2: Who's A Leader? , as it is called, we should have a better sense of who will commit to take actions toward sustainability and stopping global warming.

Reware

Reware is a really cool innovative company that sells portable solar powered chargers. The products use what they call a "thin-film" technology to turn sunshine into electricity and can be used to charge any 12 volt electronic device; mobile phones, games, PDA's and etc. Kudos to Reware for developing such a great collection of products. What a great sustainable, marketable product! I noticed the other day that they are looking for interns so I thought I would add a link for those interested.

Making it easy to give

Coolest new website - ripple.org is an awesome idea from Australia and an amazingly easy way to support some positive change organizations. Essentially ripple is a search engine that makes a donation to a good causes every time you search or click to view the paid advertisements. Some numbers - In 2006 ~15 Billion dollars was spent on internet advertising. If ripple had as many users as MySpace, that could raise up to $2 billion a year. And its easy.