Seven nontoxic and pet-friendly garden remedies

It’s that time of year to begin gardening, and we always seem to encounter a few hiccups after the winter.

In my landscaping business, we specialize in pet-friendly yards and encourage others to use natural remedies to eliminate pests and other gardening problems that you may encounter.
Seven helpful hints to combat common garden headaches

1. Aphids (plant lice): Fill a water spritzer with water and two tablespoons of dishwashing liquid. Spray the plant, particularly on the underside of the leaves where mites hide. For large-scale infestations, place up to 4 tablespoons of dishwashing liquid in a hose end sprayer and douse the affected plant focusing on the underside of the leaves. Place aluminum foil at the base of your plants to deter aphids. The foil will reflect light onto the leaf bottoms and scare the aphids away. Plants that discourage aphids are chives, marigolds, mint, basil, and cilantro.

2. Deer: Place some soap shavings or used cat litter along the ground to create a boundary between the deer-grazing area and your garden. Also try hanging a salt lick in their path to distract them from your plants. Blood meal also deters them but must be reapplied if it rains or is irrigated.

3. Natural herbicide: Vinegar (any type of vinegar) acts like an herbicide. Apply when temperatures are above 70°, and you will see its affect within a week or two.

4. Mice: Peppermint, mint or cloves will deter mice and rats. You can either plant mint, (careful, it’s very invasive!) or soak strings in mint essential oils and place around areas where mice frequent. This technique is especially helpful in areas around compost bins. Eliminating food sources will also deter rodents, as will adopting a shelter cat, of course.

5. Rabbits: Sprinkle chili pepper around plants (it must be reapplied if it gets wet). Install oven racks around plants. Rabbits tend to dislike their texture and the way that the racks feel on their feet. Thorny or textured plants will also deter rabbits. Choose plants such as, lavender, sage, barberry and evergreens.

6. Ticks and fleas: Mint and lavender deter fleas and ticks. Also, install cedar chips in your garden. They smell great to you … but not to fleas and ticks!

7. Wake up your lawn with this tonic:
1 can beer (not light beer)
1 cup ammonia, regular household strength
1 cup plain liquid dish soap, not liquid detergent or antibacterial
1 cup any brand liquid lawn fertilizer
1 cup molasses or corn syrup: provides sugar and carbs; molasses also contains iron, which promotes greening process

Combine ingredients in a 20-gallon hose-end sprayer and apply evenly to the entire lawn in early mornings or late evenings.

It’s best to apply after mowing. Applications may be done every two weeks during the entire growing season.

t’s that time of year to

Little green actions DO count

Have you ever been laughed at for your green efforts? Have people ever poked fun when you wash out plastic food containers for reuse or fussed over your recycling? Have folks ever told you that your efforts will never make a difference?

Well, the joke, and responsibility, is now on them.

Next time you face this ridicule, either good natured or malicious; offer the following information to those who taunt you.

Carbon emission reduction strategies come in all shapes and forms, usually very expensive, but even if something could reduce the emissions of a nation by 5%, it's big news.

But how about an easily achieved 15% reduction? That would be incredible.

What about if it cost little to implement? That would be utterly amazing.

Congratulations, you're probably already playing your part.

An analysis recently released by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has revealed Americans can reduce U.S. carbon pollution by 15 percent - or one billion tons - through personal actions that require little to no cost (some can save you money too).

Some of the suggested actions include:

* reducing junk mail
* cutting down on vehicle idling
* using programmable thermostat for heating and cooling
* replacing light bulbs with CFLs (or LED lighting I guess)
* greener computer practices
* reducing red meat consumption by replacing it with chicken 2 days a week (or mock meat)

Nothing too strenuous or expensive there - in fact all bar one will save money!

Another example is cutting food waste. The NRDC analysis says if Americans collectively cut personal food waste in by 25%, this could avoid 65 million tons of greenhouse gases, around the level of emissions generated from 11 million cars - and again, another money saver!

There's a ton of other simple ideas throughout Green Living Tips and a bunch of bite-sized of ideas contributed by readers in the article "One Green Thing" that can help with reducing our personal carbon impact. One super-simple but important one that will save you money every time is use less of everything - particularly the stuff you don't really need. Consider all non-essential purchases carefully (see my impulse buying reduction tips).

Of course, to achieve this incredible estimate 15% reduction, it requires full participation. The good news is, we don't need to wait for governments to take decisive action. Remember Copenhagen? We might be waiting a while). We can spread this news to all who we meet.

Politely point out what can be achieved to those who tease you and say something along the lines of, "It can be done, but you need to be part of the solution too!". If you get their interest, don't overwhelm them with actions to take, just a little at a time - the longest journey starting with a single step and all that stuff :).

Tips for buying recycled paper products

As I was researching for my article on how different products are recycled, I was amazed to discover that recycling paper can at times be a rather environmentally damaging affair and the promotion of recycled paper products be somewhat misleading.

This doesn't mean we should stop recycling paper or buying products made with recycled paper - but perhaps just make more informed choices.

First up, there's the issue of recycled content. There's no hard and fast rules in most countries for how much a paper product needs to have in terms of recycled components to make the "recycled" claim - it could be as little as 5%. So when shopping for paper, look past the big "Recycled!" blurbs and look for smaller text on the package that should indicate the % of recycled content. The higher the %, the better.

The more people buy the higher percentage recycled content paper, the quicker those manufacturers offering the lower percentage varieties might lift their game and stop trying to pull a fast one on the consumer.

Then there's a couple of different variations of recycled content

Post-consumer content

This uses material that has previously been consumed as a product, whether it's a newspaper or cardboard box.

Pre-consumer content

This is from waste generated by the manufacturing process. For example, around 20 years ago I used to work as a printer's assistant for a company that printed copies of a local Yellow Pages. The amount of waste we used to generate was horrific - dumpster loads of telephone books that weren't up to scratch were binned each day.

Of the two types, I guess the post-consumer content could be considered the "greener" of the two as it has completed an entire consumption cycle. However, that doesn't mean you should necessarily turn your nose up at pre-consumer content as its better the waste is reused than goes to landfill.

Some brands of recycled paper also may be a mix of post-consumer content and pre-consumer content; the amount of each should also be noted on the package as a percentage.

Recycled paper scams

There have been instances in the past where companies have been touting their paper is 100% recycled and it's simply not the case. This hasn't confined to small operators either.

For example, in Japan in 2008, a major scandal involving Nippon Paper hit the headlines. Nippon Paper admitted copy paper it claimed to be 100 per cent recycled contained only 59 per cent recycled paper. Other Nippon Paper products were also found to have lower than stated recycled content. This had been going on for 15 years according to this news item. Some of the virgin fiber used in these "recycled" products was coming from the forests of Australia!

I do think the Nippon Paper scandal put all the major manufacturers on notice though, so this type of blatant greenwashing shouldn't be a problem these days. Still, it doesn't hurt to do a search around the web on brand names to see what you can uncover.

Recycled vs. recyclable paper

Another trick to watch out for is the term "recyclable". This just means the paper can be recycled and has no bearing on whether it contains recycled content.

Chemicals

As mentioned in my article "How stuff is recycled" sometimes during the process of making recycled paper, nasty chemicals may be used. Try to avoid products that use chlorine in their production - chlorine bleaching creates highly toxic chemicals called dioxins.

As with all things green living related, remember it's not just what you use that makes a difference, but how much - as recycling takes energy and resources too. Pick up some related tips - the paper reduction diet

Nail polish and nature

I'm not really known to wear nail polish, but as a result of a question from a reader, I thought I would take a look at what's in nail polish, the environmental impact and green nail polish products.

Nail polish isn't a modern invention by any means. According to Wikipedia, the Egyptians were using it thousands of years ago based on henna extracts and the Chinese used a mixture of natural components such as Arabic gum, gelatin and beeswax.

These days, nail polishes tend to be synthetic chemical cocktails, often petro-chemical based (crude oil). Components may include:

- butyl acetate or ethyl acetate
- tosylamide-formaldehyde resin
- dibutyl phthalate
- stearalkonium hectorite
- benozophenone-1
- toluene
- Nitrocellulose

Some nail polish manufacturers are said to use industrial grade nitrocellulose in order to save money. Industrial grade nitrocellulose is mostly used for furniture finishes and car paints.

Of particular concern are formaldehyde, toluene and dibutyl phthalate - known as the "toxic trio" for their potential impact on human health.

Formaldehyde : carcinogen
Toluene : volatile organic compound
dibutyl phthalate : suspected "gender bender" and carcinogen

Past our own health, the wider environment needs to be considered - what poisons us is often toxic to a whole range of other creatures.

Given that over 50% of women (and some men) use nail polish, I hate to think how much of the stuff is produced a year - and it all has to end up somewhere once removed from finger nails. Additionally, there is the issue of all those little jars it comes in. It's just another source of waste in an overburdened waste stream.

As for the packaging; specifically the bottle and even if it is glass, it shouldn't be recycled as the contents that remain are considered hazardous waste - yet another item in our home toxic waste dumps. It's my understanding that in the USA it's recommended that nail polish bottles don't go out into the trash but to a hazardous waste facility.

On a positive note, nail polish manufacturers have been responding to the "toxic trio" issue. A survey by the National Healthy Nail Salon Alliance last year found the majority of the manufacturers questioned no longer use these chemicals. You can download a Nail Polish Wallet Card here (PDF) that identifies the complying major brands. The use of dibutyl phthalate in cosmetics, including nail polishes, is also banned in the European Union.

However, as to what these companies replaced the toxic trio with, I'm not sure. The Alliance also points out that further work needs to be done to ensure that alternative chemicals are safe as do all other chemicals used.

As there are so many nail polish brands and some coming from countries with a less than stellar records when it comes to toxins, if you have a favorite nail polish, contact the company and ask them what's in it. Ingredients may not only vary from brand to brand, but product line to product line. The individual components can then be quite easily researched.

You can also start looking into "green" nail polish.

Aside from being free of the toxic trio, these "earth friendly" products are water-based; often plant based and contain no petroleum products. They may use less packaging or bottles made from recycled glass.

However, they may not be totally free of toxins, so even makers of products touted as "environmentally friendly" nail polish should be questioned.

I think natural, manicured nails without the goop look nice too - and fingernails don't have to be long do they? Health and environmental issues aside, think of the money you could save. Ditching the nail polish altogether for some people may be an easy greening step and as we've discovered, little green actions can make a difference!

What activities can I do when I turn off the lights for Earth Hour?

Earth Hour is coming up on March 27 and I, for one, am excited to get in on the action and turn off my lights. One question though – what the heck am I supposed to do in the dark for a whole hour?
You’ve come to the right place, my friend. For those of you who don’t know, the World Wildlife Fund started Earth Hour three years ago, asking people to turn off their lights for one hour to raise awareness about the need to take action on climate change. It has since become a global phenomenon, with more and more people turning out their lights each year.

In 2009, nearly 1 billion people in 4,100 cities in 87 countries on seven continents turned out their lights for Earth Hour. The only question many people have is exactly yours. What am I supposed to do in the dark for a whole hour?

Well, I’ve got some great ideas for ways you can spend Earth Hour. And you know what? These activities are so fun, you won’t even remember to turn on the lights come 9:30.

Eat a candlelit dinner
Prepare the whole meal in advance and make sure the table’s set, so you don’t stab anyone with the dinner knives while trying to set the table in the dark. Then, once you switch off the lights, settle down at the table and enjoy a candlelit dinner. Whether it’s with your honey, your family, or just a friend or two, you’ll be sure to enjoy.

If you’ve got kids, play games or tell them stories
How often is Saturday night just movie night? This Saturday night, get the kids together for some ghost stories by candlelight or a game of Monopoly. If you’re really ambitious, you can even try building a fort with them in your living room.

Look at old picture albums
In this day and age, everything’s electronic — on a hard drive, a memory card, a USB stick, in an online album somewhere on the Internet. You get my point.

For Earth Hour, why not pull out the dusty albums from years past (everybody’s got one somewhere) and leaf through some old pictures of yourself or your family by candlelight. You can even make it into a game (“Who can find the only picture ever taken of Grandma in a two-piece?”). It’s sure to make for some good times, good memories and some great stories.

Get some friends together for a game night
What says I care about the Earth more than Taboo by candlelight? And the best part of it is, it’ll be dark enough that nobody will see you cheating.

Go outside for some stargazing
When was the last time you looked up at the sky and actually saw more than a few stars? That’s because with all the light pollution out there these days, it’s hard to see much of anything in the sky besides the moon — or the lights of a passing plane if you’re lucky.

Take advantage of the Earth Hour opportunity, and head outside for some good old-fashioned stargazing. Unless of course, you’re fortunate enough to live in Salt Lick, KY — then you might see stars any ol’ night of the year.

Don’t forget to check out this video promo for Earth Hour 2010, featuring landmarks across the world that went dark for 2009’s Earth Hour, including the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Empire State Building in New York City — definitely inspiring to watch.

And remember, no matter how you decide to spend Earth Hour, know that you’re one of billions of people joining together to take a stand on the future of our planet, and that, my friends, is more than enough.

Return Carbon to the Ground

Carbon Capture and Disposal
Coal gasification with carbon capture and disposal (CCD) technologies are essential if continued use of coal is to be reconciled with preventing dangerous global warming. Long-term geologic disposal of CO2 (for thousands of years) is viable now and must be implemented quickly if we are to meet the challenge of sharply reducing global emissions this century. 1

These technologies could prevent 100 billion tons of CO2 from escaping coal plants in the next 50 years. Well established but in limited use, CO2 capture and disposal technology involves capturing nearly pure CO2, compressing it to liquid form, and injecting it into deep, porous rock formations beneath impermeable cap rock. Such geological formations are common throughout the world at varying depths.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has concluded that CCD is viable. In most cases, the CO2 is gradually (over thousands to tens of thousands of years) absorbed by the surrounding rock, where it mineralizes into solid form. It is possible, however, for stored CO2 to leak up through well bores and other deep fissures, so accurate siting of injection wells and monitoring of CO2 floods and disposal are essential.

As a result, ensuring that CCD results in the permanent sequestration needed for climate protection will require rigorous criteria and performance standards for CO2 injection and disposal sites.

CO2 and Enhanced Oil Recovery
Coal gasification and carbon capture and disposal are more costly than conventional coal plants. But this cost can potentially be offset by producing additional oil from already developed fields using carbon dioxide captured from coal-fired power plants.

When CO2 is injected at high pressure into mature oil fields, it pressurizes the well and mixes with the oil, increasing the oil’s mobility and promoting enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The oil is displaced by the CO2, which can be safely stored in the geologic formations that held the oil.

And although some CO2 is pumped out along with the oil, this CO2 can be recaptured and re-injected for additional oil recovery or permanent disposal.

Standard primary and secondary oil production without EOR only recovers about one-third of the original oil in typical reservoirs. Current state-of-the-art EOR techniques generally allow an additional 10 percent of the original oil in place to be recovered.

In fact, 35 million tons of CO2 are currently used each year to recover 75 million barrels of oil. Unfortunately, most of this CO2 is pumped out of natural reservoirs rather than captured from industrial sources.

The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that if CO2 were widely available for EOR, current techniques could recover more than 60 billion barrels of oil from domestic fields in the lower 48 states. 2

Advanced techniques have the potential to double the amount of recoverable oil to upwards of 120 billion barrels—more than 18 times the amount of oil that is estimated to be economically recoverable from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. 3 At $40 a barrel, these domestic reserves would be worth between $2.4 and $4.8 trillion.

Return Carbon to the Ground

Americans need to transform how we produce and consume energy to prevent dangerous global warming. In fact, scientists say that significant carbon dioxide (CO2) reductions should begin within 10 years and that U.S. CO2 emissions should be cut by 50 percent or more by 2050 to avoid the most severe, irreversible effects of heat-trapping pollution. Energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies will be the cornerstones of the solution.

To the extent that coal continues to be used, an important additional strategy is to capture the CO2 emitted from coal-fired power plants and pump it into natural geologic structures deep in the Earth, where it is gradually absorbed.

More than 50 percent of the electricity consumed in the United States is produced from coal. Yet coal has the highest uncontrolled carbon dioxide emission rate of any fuel and is responsible for 33 percent of the U.S. carbon dioxide (as well as other harmful emissions) released into the atmosphere.

There is no such thing as “clean coal”: coal production, processing, and transportation practices scar the landscape and foul the water, harming people and ecosystems that range from Appalachian coal-field communities to Western ranchers. Although Clean Air Act standards helped reduce sulfur and nitrogen emissions somewhat, carbon dioxide emissions from power plants increased by 27 percent since 1990, and there is no end in sight unless emission limits are put into force.

More than 100 new conventional coal-fired power plants are in various stages of development throughout the United States. By 2030, the Department of Energy projects that the equivalent of 450 new large (300 MW) coal-fired power plants will be completed.

With a lifetime of more than 60 years, these plants will produce more than 60 billion tons of CO2 in total—10 times the current annual emissions from all sources—enough to effectively foreclose the option to prevent dangerous

Heavyweights Weigh in on Global Warming

Ever wonder what climate change experts talk about when they get together? The blog Daily Kos gives you a chance to find out -- well, at least to “listen” in on a virtual roundtable discussion with three renowned climate scientists.

Daily Kos sat down for an online chat with Dr. Michael E. Mann, director of Penn State’s Earth System Science Center; Dr. Gavin Schmidt, a climate modeler with NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York; and Dr. Stefan Rahmstorf, an oceanographer with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.

The three are some of the minds behind the climate change blog RealClimate, on which experts weigh in on various climate news and myths that surface in the media.

The roundtable discussion deals with various matters related to our changing climate, including how quickly it’s changing, how we know human activity is having an impact, why you can’t blame climate change for isolated weather events, and what -- if anything -- can be done to lessen the impacts of global warming.

Wind, Solar, and Biomass Energy Today

From suburban New Jersey to urban Los Angeles, millions of Americans are powering their homes with clean electricity that doesn't produce any air or global warming pollution. They are filling their gas tanks with fuels that do not increase our dependence on foreign oil or endanger our national security.

How do they do it? It's simple; they tap America's renewable energy resources.

A few decades ago, only back-to-the-land types made serious use of solar panels and windmills, but today renewables have gone mainstream. The latest technology has brought the price of renewables down dramatically, making them more cost-competitive.

Demand is booming -- large utilities, municipal power companies and suburban developments are seeing the value in wind, biomass and solar power.

Wind power is the fastest growing form of electricity generation in the United States, expanding at an average annual rate of more than 20 percent.

Solar energy employs more than 20,000 Americans in high-tech, high-paying jobs. Ethanol producers make 4 billion gallons of fuel a year, equal to 2 percent of our national gasoline use.

This market growth -- and all of the environmental benefits that come with it -- have given clean energy political muscle. Nearly 20 states have passed renewable portfolio standards that require utilities to generate a percentage of electricity from clean energy resources.

Now supporters are pressing for a national standard that would require 20 percent of the country's electricity to come from renewables.

That means wind farms and solar power plants could soon be energizing your home -- and you too will be helping reduce pollution and prevent global warming just by switching on your lights.

Sustainable Energy 101

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global green
The goal of the Sustainable Energy Initiative is to build a sustainable energy future through increasing conservation, improving efficiency, and raising the percentage of renewable energy in the nation's overall energy portfolio.

The initiative includes public outreach on energy-efficient practices for homes and businesses, promoting green power, working to establish rigorous energy efficiency standards for federal and state agencies, and advocating for increased investment in renewable energy technologies at the state and federal levels.
About Green Power
Green power is electricity generated from renewable sources. It includes solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, and small hydro. Renewable sources are more environmentally friendly than traditional electricity generation. Unlike fossil fuels they emit little or no air pollution and leave behind no radioactive waste like nuclear. Most importantly, they are naturally replenished by the earth and sun.

* Solar: Converting energy from the sun into electricity using photovoltaic panels and solar thermal plants.
* Wind: Harnessing the power of the wind using turbines (wind power is the fastest growing renewable energy technology).
* Geothermal: Use of steam that lies below the earth's surface to generate electricity.
* Biomass: Releasing solar energy stored in plants and organic matter by burning agricultural waste and other organic matter to generate power.
* Small Hydro: Use of flowing water to power electric turbines (small hydro plants are less than 30 megawatts in size).

Find out more about green power.

What Is Brown Power?
Brown power is power generated from environmentally hostile technology. The vast majority of electricity in the United States comes from coal, nuclear, large hydro, and natural gas plants.

Brown power generators are:

* The single greatest source of air pollution in the United States, contributing to both smog and acid rain.
* The greatest single contributor of global climate change gases including carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide.

Consider these additional facts:

The average California household's annual use of electricity produces the same amount of smog the average car would generate if driven across country from Los Angeles to New York City, and about the same amount of global warming-causing carbon dioxide if that same car was driven a third of the way around the world.

It is estimated that 50,000 people in the United States die each year from heart and lung disease due to air pollution linked to the burning of fossil fuels to generate electricity.
Energy Roadmaps
Global Green USA worked with commercial property owners to create a tool ("Roadmaps") to assist them in deciding how best to incorporate energy-efficient techniques strategies, and equipment in the upgrading of their buildings.

The Roadmaps help building owners and managers to more fully understand the wide range of opportunities and implications of working with consulting energy engineers and Energy Service Companies (ESCOs).

Move Over, Gasoline: Here Come Biofuels

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Clean-burning biofuels, made from plant materials, will power the cars of the future.
Americans love cars. We love the freedom of movement they provide, love cruising down the open highway. But today, it's beyond argument that our gasoline habit is a road to ruin. Voices from across the political spectrum say oil dependence is bad for America's national security, economy and environment.

But what if there were a viable alternative to petroleum? What if there was a cost-competitive, clean-burning, global-warming-busting fuel that could be produced from plants grown right here on American soil?

It may sound too good to be true, but it's not. Scientists, farmers and auto experts agree that biofuels -- fuels made from plant materials -- can help free America from our oil dependence.

Aggressive action to develop biofuels between now and 2015 would position America to produce, by 2050, the equivalent of more than three times as much oil as we currently import from the Persian Gulf.

And if combined with better vehicle efficiency and smart-growth urban planning, biofuels could virtually eliminate our demand for gasoline by 2050.

This is not the stuff of science fiction. The biofuels industry relies on real-world technologies that are improving by leaps and bounds. With technological advances that we could deploy over the next 10 years, biofuels would bring staggering economic and environmental benefits:

* Biofuels can slash global warming pollution. By 2050, biofuels -- especially those known as cellulosic biofuels -- could reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 1.7 billion tons per year. That's equal to more than 80 percent of current transportation-related emissions.
* Biofuels can be cost competitive with gasoline and diesel. By 2015, we could produce biofuels at costs equal to between $0.59 and $0.91 per gallon of gasoline, and $0.86 per gallon of diesel.

These prices are competitive with average wholesale prices over the last four years -- $0.91 per gallon for gasoline and $0.85 per gallon for diesel.
* Biofuels will provide a major new source of revenue for farmers. At $40 per dry ton, farmers growing 200 million tons of biomass in 2025 would make a profit of $5.1 billion per year.

And that's just the beginning. Experts believe that farmers could produce six times that amount by 2050.
* Biofuels can provide major air quality benefits. Biofuels contain no sulfur and produce low carbon monoxide, particulate and toxic emissions. Using biofuels should make it easier to reach air pollution reduction targets than using petroleum-based fuels.
* Biofuels offer major land-use benefits. Switchgrass, a promising source of cellulosic biofuel, is a native, perennial prairie grass that has low nitrogen runoff, very low erosion, and increased soil carbon, and also provides good wildlife habitat.

Making Biofuels Happen: An Action Plan
It may seem like gassing up with fuel that's been grown by an Iowa farmer is a long way off. But it isn't. American farmers and refiners are already producing billions of gallons of ethanol from corn.

But to make enough biofuels to slash our oil use, the industry will need to evolve to making cellulosic biofuels -- fuels made from whole plants, not just the corn kernel. To make this next leap, we need to put the right national policies in place.

The federal government should:

* Invest in a package of research, development and demonstration. Producing a cheap and reliable alternative to oil will be lucrative business, but the industry alone will take too long to develop the new technologies needed.

The government can spur the development along -- and ensure that biofuels are affordable for American consumers -- by investing about $1.1 billion between 2006 and 2015 in biofuels development.
* Offer incentives for deploying the first billion gallons of cellulosic biofuels. With oil prices skyrocketing and greenhouse gas emissions piling up, we need to shift to biofuels today, not in the distant future.

To make sure that at least 1 billion gallons of cellulosic biofuels are produced by 2015, the government should offer $1 billion in incentives to production facilities.
* Give consumers a meaningful choice at the pump. Today, drivers have a choice between oil and oil when they wheel up to the gas pump. To change that -- to provide a choice between oil and biofuels -- will take robust markets and infrastructure.

And to that end the government should require that all vehicles sold by 2015 be able to use both traditional fuels and biofuels and that at least one-quarter of gasoline stations have at least one pump dedicated selling to biofuels.

nergy vampires: Is it worth it to unplug your electronics?

E

It's common knowledge that appliances continue to draw a small amount of power when they're switched off but still plugged in.

One solution is to unplug electronics and chargers when you aren't using them. Or you can plug cords into a power strip and switch it off whenever you want to cut off all power to appliances.

But many consumers wonder if it's worth the hassle to unplug electronics they aren't using. The answer, of course, depends on your objectives.

While it's true that an "informed and aggressive approach can reduce standby use by about 30 percent," according to scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, "There are more productive ways to save energy with an investment of an hour."

The upshot? If it's easy for you to unplug chargers and other electronics when you aren't using them, then go for it. And no-one says you have to unplug everything. You might want to choose the biggest energy hogs or items that are easily unplugged.

But don't fret if you find the job too tedious or hard to remember. The following actions are all easy and, in some cases, save you more money with much less effort than stamping out energy vampires.

Pick and choose what works best for you from this list, or try everything for an estimated annual savings of $275.



* Activating the power-save function on your computer is a super-easy way to shave up to $90 a year off your utility bills. Exactly how much you save depends on whether you use a laptop or a CPU and a monitor and how long you currently leave your computer on for.

Low power mode also helps equipment run cooler so it lasts longer. Get into the habit of turning off your monitor when you walk away for 20 minutes and your computer when you leave your desk for more than two hours, and you'll rack up even more savings.



* Reduce the brightness setting of your television. Select the "home" mode because the "retail" or "vivid" mode (the default setting for most TVs) uses up to 25 percent more power, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.

While you're at it, activate the energy- and power-saving modes on your TV and other appliances and save around $43.04 a year.



* Video game consoles, such as the Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360, use nearly the same amount of power when they are turned on and left idle as they do when you are actively playing a game or watching a movie.

Save more than $100 a year by remembering to turn off your gaming system whenever you're not using it.



* Switching off unneeded lights will save you $21.04 a year. Does it make sense to turn off the light when you leave a room for a few minutes? Yes for incandescent bulbs. Fifteen minutes is a good rule of thumb for compact fluorescent light bulbs.

Speaking of CFLs, Consumer Reports' tests found that each CFL will save you around $5 a year in electricity costs over a regular bulb.



* Wash your clothes in cold water. You'll reduce your bill by around $18.58 a year and it's better for your clothes.

Even just switching your temperature setting from hot to warm water can cut a load's energy use by half, according to the Department of Energy.

Move Over, Gasoline: Here Come Biofuels

0 votes
Buzz up!
Clean-burning biofuels, made from plant materials, will power the cars of the future.
Americans love cars. We love the freedom of movement they provide, love cruising down the open highway. But today, it's beyond argument that our gasoline habit is a road to ruin. Voices from across the political spectrum say oil dependence is bad for America's national security, economy and environment.

But what if there were a viable alternative to petroleum? What if there was a cost-competitive, clean-burning, global-warming-busting fuel that could be produced from plants grown right here on American soil?

It may sound too good to be true, but it's not. Scientists, farmers and auto experts agree that biofuels -- fuels made from plant materials -- can help free America from our oil dependence.

Aggressive action to develop biofuels between now and 2015 would position America to produce, by 2050, the equivalent of more than three times as much oil as we currently import from the Persian Gulf.

And if combined with better vehicle efficiency and smart-growth urban planning, biofuels could virtually eliminate our demand for gasoline by 2050.

This is not the stuff of science fiction. The biofuels industry relies on real-world technologies that are improving by leaps and bounds. With technological advances that we could deploy over the next 10 years, biofuels would bring staggering economic and environmental benefits:

* Biofuels can slash global warming pollution. By 2050, biofuels -- especially those known as cellulosic biofuels -- could reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 1.7 billion tons per year. That's equal to more than 80 percent of current transportation-related emissions.
* Biofuels can be cost competitive with gasoline and diesel. By 2015, we could produce biofuels at costs equal to between $0.59 and $0.91 per gallon of gasoline, and $0.86 per gallon of diesel.

These prices are competitive with average wholesale prices over the last four years -- $0.91 per gallon for gasoline and $0.85 per gallon for diesel.
* Biofuels will provide a major new source of revenue for farmers. At $40 per dry ton, farmers growing 200 million tons of biomass in 2025 would make a profit of $5.1 billion per year.

And that's just the beginning. Experts believe that farmers could produce six times that amount by 2050.
* Biofuels can provide major air quality benefits. Biofuels contain no sulfur and produce low carbon monoxide, particulate and toxic emissions. Using biofuels should make it easier to reach air pollution reduction targets than using petroleum-based fuels.
* Biofuels offer major land-use benefits. Switchgrass, a promising source of cellulosic biofuel, is a native, perennial prairie grass that has low nitrogen runoff, very low erosion, and increased soil carbon, and also provides good wildlife habitat.

Making Biofuels Happen: An Action Plan
It may seem like gassing up with fuel that's been grown by an Iowa farmer is a long way off. But it isn't. American farmers and refiners are already producing billions of gallons of ethanol from corn.

But to make enough biofuels to slash our oil use, the industry will need to evolve to making cellulosic biofuels -- fuels made from whole plants, not just the corn kernel. To make this next leap, we need to put the right national policies in place.

The federal government should:

* Invest in a package of research, development and demonstration. Producing a cheap and reliable alternative to oil will be lucrative business, but the industry alone will take too long to develop the new technologies needed.

The government can spur the development along -- and ensure that biofuels are affordable for American consumers -- by investing about $1.1 billion between 2006 and 2015 in biofuels development.
* Offer incentives for deploying the first billion gallons of cellulosic biofuels. With oil prices skyrocketing and greenhouse gas emissions piling up, we need to shift to biofuels today, not in the distant future.

To make sure that at least 1 billion gallons of cellulosic biofuels are produced by 2015, the government should offer $1 billion in incentives to production facilities.
* Give consumers a meaningful choice at the pump. Today, drivers have a choice between oil and oil when they wheel up to the gas pump. To change that -- to provide a choice between oil and biofuels -- will take robust markets and infrastructure.

And to that end the government should require that all vehicles sold by 2015 be able to use both traditional fuels and biofuels and that at least one-quarter of gasoline stations have at least one pump dedicated selling to biofuels.

Return Carbon to the Ground

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Reducing global warming pollution and enhancing oil recovery
Americans need to transform how we produce and consume energy to prevent dangerous global warming. In fact, scientists say that significant carbon dioxide (CO2) reductions should begin within 10 years and that U.S. CO2 emissions should be cut by 50 percent or more by 2050 to avoid the most severe, irreversible effects of heat-trapping pollution. Energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies will be the cornerstones of the solution.

To the extent that coal continues to be used, an important additional strategy is to capture the CO2 emitted from coal-fired power plants and pump it into natural geologic structures deep in the Earth, where it is gradually absorbed.

More than 50 percent of the electricity consumed in the United States is produced from coal. Yet coal has the highest uncontrolled carbon dioxide emission rate of any fuel and is responsible for 33 percent of the U.S. carbon dioxide (as well as other harmful emissions) released into the atmosphere.

There is no such thing as “clean coal”: coal production, processing, and transportation practices scar the landscape and foul the water, harming people and ecosystems that range from Appalachian coal-field communities to Western ranchers. Although Clean Air Act standards helped reduce sulfur and nitrogen emissions somewhat, carbon dioxide emissions from power plants increased by 27 percent since 1990, and there is no end in sight unless emission limits are put into force.

More than 100 new conventional coal-fired power plants are in various stages of development throughout the United States. By 2030, the Department of Energy projects that the equivalent of 450 new large (300 MW) coal-fired power plants will be completed.

With a lifetime of more than 60 years, these plants will produce more than 60 billion tons of CO2 in total—10 times the current annual emissions from all sources—enough to effectively foreclose the option to prevent dangerous

lHeat-resistant algae could help threatened cora

Warmer ocean temperatures pose a serious threat to corals around the world. Warmer waters typically kill the brown or green algae that a reef depends on for food, leading to bleaching and death of the reefs, but Penn State scientists have found some algae are not affected by rising temperatures, buying their coral partners some time.

Heat-resistant algae have been found in the Andaman Sea in the Indian Ocean as well as in spots in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. Scientists aren't sure if the resilient algae can save corals -- the algae may not be able to be imported to coral reefs where it doesn't naturally occur and there are other things threatening coral, including rising ocean acidification, pollution and bottom-trawling fishing. Considering all of that, the algae may be just a temporary life-preserver.

But some scientists think warmer waters may encourage the growth of these algae, benefiting the reefs they occupy over the long-term. Continued research will be needed, but this discovery does offer a glimmer of hope for the world's coral.

How to better reuse and recycle old electronics

How much is a ton of old recycled phones worth? $15,000, thanks to the silver, gold, palladium and copper used in each phone. (That's about $2.50 in precious metals per phone.)

The value of e-waste was the topic at the world's first-ever e-waste academy, where a more urgent questions were like these: How does Peru manage to refurbish more than 85% of the old computers it imports, while the rate is 20% in Nigeria, Pakistan, and Ghana? How can China police its estimated 2 million "backyard" e-waste recyclers, so that they aren't incinerating old devices to recover precious metals, releasing toxic pollution in the process? How can discarded electronics from North America, Europe and Japan benefit schools and small businesses in Africa, Asia, and South America?

The goal of the organizer, Solving the E-Waste Problem (which goes by the acronym StEP), is to boost recycling and reuse rates, while protecting third world countries from the hazards that can accompany both e-waste recycling and dumping.

The conclusion: "Processes and policies governing the reuse and recycling of electronic products need to be standardized worldwide to stem and reverse the growing problem of illegal and harmful e-waste processing practices in developing countries."

"Millions of old devices in North America and Europe could easily double their typical three or four year 'first life' by being put to use in classrooms and small business offices across Africa, South America and Asia," says Ramzy Kahhat of Arizona State University, who advocates a return deposit on electronics similar to that used on carbonated beverage containers in many states, so that devices are recycled promptly while they're still most useful to a new user. "An old Pentium II computer with an open-source operating system like Linux can run faster than some of the latest new models on store shelves."

If you're ready to recycle an old cell phone, laptop, iPhone, digital camera, or other electronic device and want to harvest some cash in exchange for the precious metals or years of life it embodies, one option is NextWorth, which will pay you for your old phone (or at least cover the cost of shipping it, if the company deems the item has no value). The trade-in value of devices ranges as high as $340, and averages $25 or $30.

Other options include Dyscern, a 2009 Heart of Green award winner, and these four charity cell phone recyclers.

Getting rid of old stuff

Wondering what to do with all the old stuff now that you've gotten a bunch of new things for the holidays?

Resist the urge to cram your closets with junk you'll never use again or send perfectly useful things to the landfill. Here's how you can donate, give away, recycle, sell, or trade old items.



Electronics

Most of us already have a stockpile of old electronics we don't know what to do with. Luckily, it's easier and easier to responsibly get rid of old gadgets. Don't forget to take your personal info off of cell phones and computers first.

* Many major consumer electronics manufacturers, such as Dell and Apple, will take back their old products.

* A growing number of retailers have extensive free recycling programs or trade-in options (where you get store credit when you bring in old electronics). Best Buy, Staples, and Radio Shack have in-store and online programs that are worth checking out.

* Donate old cell phones and computers directly to a charity in need. Some Goodwill locations accept computer equipment in any condition for refurbishing or responsible recycling. Your old cell phone, PDA, or MP3 can benefit a charity of your choice through CollectiveGood.

* Try selling your old gadgets at Gazelle.



Sports equipment: Donate to schools, youth programs, Salvation Army, and Goodwill. Or see if you can trade it in for new gear at Play It Again Sports.



CDs, DVDs, video games: You can drop off CDs and DVDs at any Best Buy store in the U.S. Just look for the free kiosk just inside the front door. GreenDisc recycles CDs, DVDs, and video and audio tapes and their cases. You can swap, music, DVDs, or video games by mail through Swaptree, SwapaDVD, SwapaCD, and Game Trading Zone.



Kids stuff: Donate old toys to a nearby children's hospital, daycare center, or Goodwill. Trade (or sell) kids' stuff you no longer want at Tots Swap Shop, Kizoodle, Swap Baby Goods, or Hand-Me-Downs.



Books: Ask your local library, school, or hospital if they can use books you no longer need. Otherwise, consider sending them to the Global Literacy Project, which distributes books to communities, libraries, and schools around the world. There are also several websites that are dedicated to helping you swap old books into new reading material.



Clothing: It's well-known that you can donate old clothes to the Salvation Army and Goodwill. And women's business attire can go to Dress for Success. You can also trade what you no longer wear at Swapstyle or Swap-O-Rama-Rama.



Shoes: Soles4Souls collects gently worn shoes and distributes them to the needy. Drop off your old shoes at a nearby donation location or mail them to one of its distribution centers. If your athletic shoes are too worn out to donate, then Nike will recycle them into a material that's used in sports surfaces, playgrounds, and new products.



Of course, you can also give away many things on Freecycle, or sell your old castaways on Craiglist or eBay.

Just What Is a Greenhouse Gas, Anyhow?

They're in the news almost as much as Brad and Angelina, and you know they have something to do with global warming. But what exactly is a greenhouse gas? In a nutshell, they're gases in the atmosphere—both naturally occurring and caused by humans—that absorb and emit radiation.

Ultraviolet radiation and sunlight hit the Earth and its atmosphere. Most of this is reflected back into outer space, thanks to the ozone layer, clouds, and ice on the Earth's surface. Approximately 25 percent is absorbed by the planet, and is then re-emitted as infrared radiation. Some of this re-emitted radiation is absorbed by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, exciting the molecules and causing them to emit the radiation back to the planet again, as heat.

The more of these gas molecules there are in the atmosphere, the more infrared radiation can be absorbed and sent back to the Earth's surface. Increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the air will result in an increase of infrared radiation being trapped and re-emitted.

The greenhouse gases that we have the widest understanding about are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs, used for aerosols). CO2 currently contributes the most to the greenhouse effect – the amount of radiation being trapped and re-emitted by greenhouse gases – but the other gases combined will soon be as important to the greenhouse effect as CO2.

These gases are increasing in concentration in the atmosphere, and they have higher rates of absorption of infrared radiation. CFCs, for instance, can absorb 20,000 times as much heat as CO2. However, international decisions to curb CFC emissions have helped stabilize CFC levels in the air.

Greenhouse gases are not, inherently, a bad thing. In fact, they help make this planet livable. Without them, the average temperature of the Earth's surface would be slightly less than 0 degrees Fahrenheit! With the greenhouse effect, the average surface temperature is 59 degrees Fahrenheit. But the growing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has the power to raise the average temperature.