2nd Green Revolution

For a slightly different take on the Five Friday Facts comes the “virtually certain” impacts of climate change. This data comes from the IPCC’s (Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change) Summary for Policy Makers (PDF).

The definition of virtually certain used by the IPCC is a greater than 99% probability of occurrence. According to statistical analysis, the likelihood of these occurrences are statistically significant. However, they are all based on projections that reflect science’s current knowledge and as a result cannot account for all factors related to climate variability.

- Eric Wilson

• American household emissions come primarily from driving, electricity and home heating. Outside of America’s low-car outlier, New York, emissions from driving range from an average of 22,500 pounds of carbon dioxide per year in places like Providence and Boston (reflecting about 1,000 gallons of gas bought each year) to an average of 32,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per year in places like Greenville, S.C.

• Carbon emissions from San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose, California were the lowest among American metropolitan areas, but “are still more than four times the emissions in the brownest Chinese city (Daqing) and 10 times as high as the household emissions in the average Chinese city.”
• The average household in San Francisco uses about seven megawatt hours of electricity per year, which is associated with about 7,000 pounds of carbon dioxide. The average household in Orlando, Fla., or Memphis, Tenn., uses about 18.5 megawatt hours of electricity per year and that creates about 26,400 pounds of carbon dioxide.

• Average July temperatures are the best predictor of electricity usage.
• Home heating is the third major source of household emissions. Carbon dioxide emissions from that source range from less than 1,000 pounds per year in Florida cities, to more than 16,000 pounds per year in Detroit.

Source: New York Times

In his holiday letter to members, Rick Fedrizzi, President, CEO and Founding Chair of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) mentioned some statistics that speak to the boom in green building:

• 27,373 people joined Greenbuild 2009 in Phoenix
• 14 million people are employed by a USGBC member company
• Of the 4,328 LEED-certified projects in existence, some 2,090 – more than 48%! – achieved certification in 2009
• Nearly half of all certifications in LEED’s eight-year history occurred during one of the toughest economic years in memory
• Some 33% of LEED-certified homes are affordable homes, and USGBC has worked to bring LEED Platinum affordable homes to the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans
• With the financial support of USGBC’s individual and organizational donors, five recipients of the USGBC Young Leader Awards and 39 other deserving students and professionals attended Greenbuild 2009 on full-conference scholarships.

- Rick Fedrizzi
President, CEO and Founding Chair
U.S. Green Building Council

A little post-consumer waste can go a long way. Hyperion Books saved the following resources by printing Stirring It Up: How to Make Money and Save the World on New Leaf Pioneer 100 for the text, and Neenah Environment 100 for the jacket. Both papers are made with 100% post-consumer waste fiber versus virgin fiber.

• Trees: 67 fully grown
• Water: 28,769 gallons
• Energy: 49 million BTU
• Solid waste: 3,209 pounds
• Greenhouse gases: 6,322 pounds

[Image Credit]

In our tradition of doing something a little different than just the normal posts on Fridays, here are a couple of comics with green themes for your enjoyment at the end of the work week.

http://www.grinningplanet.com/environmental-cartoons/green-toons-comics-com.htm

http://www.dilbert.com/strips/comic/2007-06-19/

http://comics.com/frank&ernest/1997-07-31

Instead of the usual Five Friday Facts, here are five thought provoking quotations. Feel free to comment and add to the collection.

• “Now there is one outstanding important fact regarding spaceship earth, and that is that no instruction book came with it. We are not going to be able to operate our Spaceship Earth successfully nor for much longer unless we see it as a whole spaceship and our fate as common. It has to be everybody or nobody.”

– Buckminster Fuller

• “We’re trying to do good. And we’re trying to make money. The more money we make, the more good we can do.”

– John Mackey, Whole Foods Market CEO, as quoted by The New Yorker

• “Three hundred trout are needed to support one man for a year. The trout, in turn, must consume 90,000 frogs, that must consume 27 million grasshoppers that live off of 1,000 tons of grass.”

– G. Tyler Miller, Jr., American Chemist (1971) LINK

• “So I’m optimistic, because I’ve seen how much progress we’ve made. If we can just get people to become more conscious about what capitalism is, because I think capitalism is a tremendous force for positive change in the world, and take the collective human intelligence and creativity and begin to channel it in constructive ways, there’s really no limit to where humanity will be in the 21st century.”

– John Mackey, Whole Foods Market CEO, as quoted in reason

- Image source: [Metropolitan Museum of Art]

• Between 80 and 85 percent of the energy used to wash clothes comes from heating the water.                                                 –U.S. Department of Energy

• “Sleep” features that power down home office equipment and other electronic devices that are turned on but not in use can save households up to $70 annually.                                                                       –Alliance to Save Energy

• The United States consumes almost 9 million barrels of gasoline daily – 44 percent of total global daily gasoline consumption.                                         –Alliance to Save Energy

• Transportation accounts for more than 65 percent of the oil we consume in the United States and more than we produce. Today, our country imports more than 58 percent of its oil supply, and imports are expected to reach 70 percent over the next two decades.                                 –U.S. Department of Energy

• Many idle electronics – TVs, VCRs, DVD and CD players, cordless phones, microwaves – use energy even when switched off to keep display clocks lit and memory chips and remote controls working. Nationally, these energy “vampires” use 5 percent of our domestic energy and cost consumers more than $8 billion annually.                              –Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Source: Marin Academy

• I will be smarter than bottled water companies and drink for free what they are trying to sell me. Last year we consumed about 50 billion plastic water bottles. Several bottled water brands use the same H₂0 that’s available from your faucet. Use a water bottle and refill it throughout the day — for free.

• If I can remember to TiVo “Lost,” I can remember to bring my own bags to the grocery store. Plastic bags are made from petroleum and only about 1 percent of the estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags consumed worldwide are recycled each year. Most end up in landfills (where they take perhaps 1000 years to decompose) or in the sea.

• I will take a day off from road rage and take mass transit or car-pool one day a week. If you have public transportation options available to you, try switching to the train or bus one day a week. According to the American Public Transportation Association, public transportation use saves 1.4 billion gallons of gasoline each year, and can reduce household expenses by $6,200. If you don’t live near public transportation, try organizing a once-a-week carpool with your neighbors or coworkers. You’ll save on fuel, tolls, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by removing cars from the road. As a bonus, you’ll gain access to that exclusive carpool lane.

• I Will Connect with Congress. Send your senator or representative a letter that you support green business, clean technology, and action against climate change. Congressional leaders are pretty easy to find these days on the Internet. Congress.org helps you connect. Just type in your zip code and voile!

• I Will Buy in Bulk. This reduces packaging and can make shipping easier and more efficient.

Sources: #1-3, The Daily Green; #4-5, GreenRightNow

Today is Christmas in the United States, so we’ve gathered a few facts related to the holiday.
Merry Christmas!

• This year, Americans will use more than 38,000 miles of ribbon.
• Americans will also leave millions of Christmas trees on the curb. A fake tree is petroleum based and not biodegradable. Some other possibilities are to buy or rent a live tree (see livingchristmastrees.org) Or get a cut tree and, after the holidays, take it to the county recycling facility, where it can be turned into mulch. (Source:#1-2, Newsweek)
• The 2.6 billion holiday cards sold each year in the United States could fill a landfill the size of a football field 10 stories high.(Source:Mahalo)
• LEDs (light-emitting diodes) can be used instead of incandescent bulbs to decorate your tree and home. They’re more expensive, but last much longer and use 80% to 90% less power than conventional mini bulbs. They cast a bright white light and stay cool to the touch so they won’t singe the tree—or someone’s fingers. (Source: TIME)
• The swiftest way to eliminate waste is to give less. A 2005 survey by the Center for a New American Dream showed that 78 percent of Americans wish the holidays were less materialistic.

- The 2nd Green Team

• Between 80 and 85 percent of the energy used to wash clothes comes from heating the water. Using warm or cool water instead of hot will save money and energy and get clothes just as clean.

–U.S. Department of Energy.

• “Sleep” features that power down home office equipment and other electronic devices that are turned on but not in use can save households up to $70 annually.

–Alliance to Save Energy Power$mart Booklet.

• The United States consumes almost 9 million barrels of gasoline daily – 44 percent of total global daily gasoline consumption.

—Alliance to Save Energy.

• Transportation accounts for more than 65 percent of the oil we consume in the United States and more than we produce. Today, our country imports more than 58 percent of its oil supply, and imports are expected to reach 70 percent over the next two decades.

—U.S. Department of Energy.

• Many idle electronics – TVs, VCRs, DVD and CD players, cordless phones, microwaves – use energy even when switched off to keep display clocks lit and memory chips and remote controls working. Nationally, these energy “vampires” use 5 percent of our domestic energy and cost consumers more than $8 billion annually.

—Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and quoted in Alliance’s Power$mart booklet

Source: http://courses.ma.org/Mini_Course/Green/Did_You_Know.pdf (Marin Academy)