Electric Feedback: Use Too Much Energy and This Light Switch May Shock You

Oh, how I wish this were true. From Gizmodo:

The Consumption Feedback Switch is a device that monitors your electricity usage. If it feels you’re within your light quota when you flip on the lights, you’ll see a small, harmless spark. But if you’ve been one of those dolphin-unsafe villains from Captain Planet, reading a few minutes too long at night, a gigantic stream of deadly electricity will mend your ways pending you not die.

Alright, we’re actually not sure that you feel a shock at all since the word “spark” may have been the choice of a liberal Google translation denoting “small glow.”

Damn, I would LOVE to do a product review on a light switch that actually gave you a shock if you were using too much energy. Eco-evil. I with there was an Etsy Alchemy for green tech products.

Link [Consumption Feedback Switch] via [Gizmodo] via [dvice]

Can a Power Company REALLY Be Carbon Neutral?

Yes, it can be done, and a New Zealand power company has been doing it for more than a year.

Worldchanging explains:

Meridian Energy generates around a third of New Zealand’s total energy demand (approx 12,000 GWh) exclusively from wind and hydro sources. The company has a history of advocating a carbon credit marketplace.

But not all New Zealand state-owned enterprises can boast the same carbon neutral certification.

Solid Energy is the largest coal mining company in New Zealand, and also state owned. It’s the company, I’m ashamed to say, that dig up and export New Zealand’s coal to be burned in China—and the ones that intend to create a new open cast mine in Happy Valley.

It sounds like a terrible place for a coal mine—even though I’m not certain what or where Happy Valley is (but then, what do Americans know about New Zealand really, except that it’s where the Hobbits live?). Before we all get too happy about this, I should note that Meridian Energy is carbon neutral in large part because they operate nine hydroelectric projects—big dams, that is, of the sort that would be considered an environmental disaster if they were under construction today, but are somehow okay if they already exist.

Meridian Energy also operate wind turbines—like the one in the photo above, in Wellington—on a really large scale.

Link [Worldchanging]

Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons

Pavlov’s Fish: Researchers Train Fish to Swim Into Nets For Harvest

The march of science, as described by Trendhunter Magazine:

Once again, with the idea of restocking our depleting resources, scientists at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Wood’s Hole, Mass. are testing a plan to train fish to catch themselves using sound.

The fish swim into a net when they hear a tone signaling feeding time. The system could eventually allow depleted fish like black sea bass to be released into the open ocean, grow to market size, then swim into an underwater cage at harvest time when they hear the signal. This way, farmed fish might be better acclimated to the wild when they can be called to feed every few days. The big goal is to help with the costs of fish farming, an important source of the world’s seafood. Trained fish return after several days of feeding saving the farms money on feed and reducing the fish waste released in concentrated areas.

The fish will actually swim into an underwater structure called the Aquadome (someone has been watching old Mad Max movies at Woods Hole).

It was the Russian researcher Ivan Pavlov who conditioned dogs to salivate when they heard the bell that announced feeding time, and the Aquadome works on the same principle. A major hurdle for the researchers will be the question of how many fish are lost to predators. I know from long personal experience that fish are pretty dense, but maybe they can be taught this skill, intricate for them. I wonder, though, if other fish will learn to associate the sound with food. Like sharks.

Link: [Trendhunter Magazine]

Photo credit: Flickr user Florian

When Kenyan Greenbeans Are Better: Why Local Food Isn’t Always The Best Choice

For Mike Small’s family in Fife, Scotland, it’s all about the local ingredients. For the past six months, the Smalls have been dining only on foods and beverages that come from within their home district. That means that on any given evening, the Smalls sit down to a combination of meats like fish, pork and lamb and local veggies such as parsnips, beetroots, kale, potatoes, leeks and other root vegetables. As long as it’s local, the Smalls are down with it.

While it sounds like the Smalls are making big leaps towards reducing their own carbon fooprints, turns out it just ain’t that easy. There are so many factors involved in the production and distribution of produce that it does not suffice to simply “eat what’s local” and assume that the impact that you are making is significant. Here are some reasons why:

• Food grown in areas where fertilizers and tractors are used is hardly carbon-friendly
• Many developing countries that export produce don’t use machinery and use cow crap for fertilizer, which means that even after air-freighting occurs, the carbon impact is less than it may be on a local, diesel-driven farm
• Purchasing local ingredients that are naturally dried instead of cooked and ready (chickpeas, for example) doesn’t mean you’re saving energy - you’ve still got to take them home and cook them, something that emits more carbon when done in small batches than when done in large ones
• Storing locally grown products that are not available year-round requires refrigeration, which emits carbon. Importing seasonal produce from where it is grown, even when done so via air-freight, is often more environmentally friendly than storage.

“The concept of food miles is unhelpful and stupid. It doesn’t inform about anything except the distance travelled.” — Dr Adrian Williams, of the National Resources Management Centre at Cranfield University.

Link [The Guardian]

Guess What I’ve Done? I Invented a Light That Plugs Into the Sun

I found this one via my buddy Hank Green.

From Muggle Sam:

Wouldn’t it be cool if we all changed our light bulbs to energy saving ones?

A compact fluorescent light bulb uses 1/4 of the electricity and lasts 10 times longer than standard light bulbs. Something everyone can do to help reduce the amount of C02 emissions.

Poem by my favorite Poet, Shel Silverstein

Performed by Sophia Age 4

Made in iMovie

We are so excited to be part of the 11th Hour Action Film’s YouTube channel! Big fans of what you are all doing at LeonardoDicaprio.org !!

As The Boos Rained Down: President Bush Throws Out First Pitch in Green(er) Stadium

Michael recently reported that President Bush would throw out the first pitch in the Washington Nationals new green(er) stadium. Here’s video of him running out to a cascade of boos, quickly throwing his pitch (a good one for a throw-out pitch, I’ll give him that), and then retreating to the tunnels.

Our country does like this President.

Impeach!!!

Dastardly Seal Hunters Die After Boat Flips in Rough Water- No Miracle Seals Come to the Rescue

Karma can be a bitch sometimes.

Breitbart has it:

The annual Canadian seal hunt was marred Saturday by a boat accident in the ice-covered Gulf of St. Lawrence that killed members of the boat’s crew, officials said.

“There have been fatalities,” fisheries department spokesman Michel Plamondon said, but a precise casualty figure was not available.

Rescue teams recovered three bodies and another person was still missing in the waters north of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canadian media reported.

The fishing boat carrying seal hunters from the Magdalen islands capsized before dawn Saturday off Canada’s east coast, Plamondon said. CBC television reported six men were on the boat, and two have been rescued.

The boat flipped over while it was being towed back to port by the Canadian coast guard after encountering steering problems, according to local television reports.

Local radio, citing the coast guard, said the accident occurred at 1:00 am Saturday morning.

The boat, L’Acadia, was on its way to the seal herds when it lost a rudder, prompting an SOS appeal to the coast guard.

Link [Breitbart]

Photo credit: Flickr user Mikebaird

March 29th- Live Blogging Earth Hour: Because Someone Had To

We’re live blogging Earth Hour.

8:10 pm- Ahh…. It’s nice to have the Green Blogosphere all to myself. Treehugger, EcoGeek, GroovyGreen, and WorldChanging are all dark and abandoned ghost towns. I’m sitting in the ol’ living room with all the lights in the house on watching an hour long marathon of Cops. I’m warming my feet with a plug in heater and have a few pieces of toast in the toaster. I’ll make some hot chocolate in the microwave in a bit.

8:18- A good Cops so far, they just took out a guy running from them. Looks like it’s time to bust some crack heads. Stupid cops.

8:22- Nice- only four and a half minutes on high in the microwave to heat up a big ass mug of half and half hot chocolate.

8:25- I just turned up the radio downstairs real loud, every kilowatt helps. You can barely hear it with the door shut.

8:27- Just noticed an outside light that I had missed. Flicked it on.

8:30- First Cops is over, one more to go.

8:32- Plugging in the Foreman Grill, it’s grilled cheese and Fluff time!

8:34- Nice, a good looking lady cop in Sacramento. She’s got the taser!

8:35- We’ve got a chase on our hands!

8:36- Oh yeah, I’ve seen this one on Hulu. The guy had a good hiding spot (in the recycling bin), but the damn dog tracked him down.

8:40- Awesome! I found a big ass light and disco ball in the basement from back in the college days. I wonder how much juice that sucker pulls. I hope everyone in the dark is having a good break away from the grid. I’m thinking of you and doing my part to use the extra energy now flooding the system. I’m helping to stabilize the load- I’m a damn hero.

8:43- Now is a good time to plug in all my rechargeable batteries.

8:44- I love seeing rich white guys get busted on Cops. I also love warm clothes right out of the dryer. Popped in another load to wash and dry.

8:48- The floodlights I plugged in outside is melting down into the snow. I can’t stand how cops just slime their way into searching you and your car. Everyone should see Busted: A Citizen’s Guide to Surviving Police Encounters.

8:50- It’ll be nice when the rest of the world plugs back in. It’s lonely in here.

8:53- Blender is out- mmmm…. super thick milkshake.

8:54- Suspicious Vehicle in Broward County. The guy isn’t getting off the cell phone or rolling down the window.

8:56- Well it’s was a great hour live blogging Earth Hour. Going to make some coffee to ice up for tomorrow in the last few minutes.

8:59- That’s it for me tonight, shutting down and going to sleep. I’ve got to wake up early to go to my second job at Wal-Mart. How else do you think I’m going to be able to pay the power bill from today?

9:01 pm- Welcome back everyone.

Catch Us After You Plug Back In: EarthFirst is Liveblogging Earth Hour Tonight 8-9pm

I’ll be liveblogging tonight from 8-9pm to help celebrate Earth Hour, the 60 minute span when the world is being asked to turn off all lights and electricity. I will be camped out at EarthFirst HQ East (my living room) with all my lights on watching the TV set to something good and trashy while warming my hands over my plugin heater. My posts will cover what I’m watching on TV, any snacks I happen to make, and the general atmosphere in the room as we suck up all the excess energy left on the power grid by the rest of you do-gooders.

If you’re a good little greenie you’ll have to catch up on things after you plug back into the system at 9pm. Woot.

President Bush To Throw First Pitch At New Green Stadium, Up is Down, War is Peace

Oh, the irony. In celebration of opening day for the first green-built professional stadium in the U.S., President George W. Bush will throw out the inaugural pitch. Seriously? Was Carrot Top busy? What about Gary Busey? Anyone else?

The official new home of the Washington Nationals baseball team, the stadium boasts a wide array of eco-friendly elements. Grist beautifully gives us the low-down,

The U.S. The LEED Silver certified ballpark was built on a restored brownfield, and many building materials were produced locally. The stadium boasts efficient lighting and plumbing, drought-resistant plants, a concession area with a green roof, filters to keep stormwater runoff out of the nearby Anacostia River, and proximity to public transit (as well as a shortage of parking).

The stadium will also use air-cooled chillers for concessions instead of water-cooled ones. This will likely result in savings of over six million gallons of water each year. All-in-all, about $611 million was spent on the project. For more, jump here.

Source: [Grist]

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