2nd Green Revolution

Today at the National Bike Summit in Washington, DC Google will announce that Google Maps will now include biking directions in the United States. The easy to use Google Maps previously had directions by foot, car, and public transportation. The lack of directions for bikes was, according to TechCrunch, “the most-requested feature for the service, as some 57 million Americans ride bikes.”

Working with Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, a nonprofit group that converts old rail lines into bike trails, Google now has information on some 12,000 miles worth of trails in the U.S. Of that, Read the rest of this entry »

This post comes from a 2nd Green Revolution reader who forwarded us the idea. Originally from the Maine Solar Primer booklet 2nd Edition by Richard Komp with drawings by Caleb Crawford, the SunGrabber is a relatively easy way to capture some of the sun’s heat by attaching a home-made solar panel to an existing window. Also known as a “thermal siphon”, the idea in its simplest form works on the principal that hot air rises. The best way to understand the concept is to look at the drawing after the jump or at this URL at Build It Solar. Read the rest of this entry »

Bloom Energy had the official public unveiling of their solid oxide fuel cell technology today in Silicon Valley. After years of flying under the radar as a stealth start-up, the company made it’s debut on the world stage with a bang. California governor Arnold Swarzenegger was on hand as was former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Google co-founder Larry Page, venture capitalist John Doerr, and executives from eBay, Walmart, Coca-Cola, and FedEx. These companies have been generating energy from Bloom Boxes (units that contain stacks of these fuel cells) on a trial basis. According to TechCrunch, “Five Bloom energy boxes about the size of a parking space each now provide 15 percent of the power at eBay’s campus. Walmart is testing the boxes in two locations where [they are] carrying 60 to 80 percent of the energy load of an entire store.” A video describing the technology can be found here. Below is Bloom Energy’s explanation of how their technology is more flexible and better than “hydrogen” fuel cells. Read the rest of this entry »

Green energy start-ups often promise revolutionary technology in going after the Holy Grail of clean, cheap, efficient, and abundant energy only to disappoint in the end. What makes Bloom Energy and the claims that they make any different? Well, perhaps nothing. But perhaps they will back up their talk when a mysterious countdown on their homepage is explained on Wednesday. Featured recently on 60 Minutes, the company is the product of a foray into business by former NASA engineer KR Sridhar. The origin of the technology goes back to a project to produce oxygen for astronauts on Mars. Once that program was scrapped by NASA, Sridhar reversed his design to make a fuel cell that uses oxygen and fuel to produce electricity. Read the rest of this entry »

As a follow up to the vermicompost (worm composting) post the other day, today’s post delves into outdoor composting. While similar in their goals, vermicompost and outdoor compost bins have radically different requirements. As suggested by the name, outdoor compost bins require access to the outdoors so that naturally occurring microorganisms can populate the compost pile. In contrast to vermicompost, the microbiotic organisms enter the pile from the atmosphere. Some inoculant – a small amount of soil containing bacteria and other decomposers – is added during the process. Read the rest of this entry »

The world's largest lithium reserves are under the salt flats in Uyuni, Bolivia.

There’s no shortage of discussion about what the United States should do to wean itself off of oil. Such heavy dependence on one main fuel source to power our transportation systems (and thus keeping our economy humming) means the U.S. is vulnerable to the unpredictable gyrations of oil and gas prices. Aside from those concerns, security risks and political considerations from having to deal with OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries)  and many less than democratic countries are often the cause of much strife. Last but not least are the environmental concerns from relying on a petroleum based economy. Electrification of the transportation sector has been hailed as one of the solutions to our current oil dependence. By switching to electric vehicles, it is argued, we can avoid many of the problems mentioned above. The need for a reliable and renewable electricity source other than coal to charge those cars is one major concern. The batteries needed to power our electric vehicles is another. Those batteries need lithium, and lithium is not so equitably dispersed around the world.  Is there a chance that there will one day be protests against “Big Lithium” or some other mineral instead of big oil? Here are a few facts about lithium today, taken from work by the Electrification Coaltion: Read the rest of this entry »

Okay, the only real connection from these “rice art fields” to sustainability, clean energy, green tech etc.  I can think of is that no ink or dye is used in the process. That said, I find the idea and the resulting art work too cool not to post. It also shows a connection with nature a la Richard Louv’s Last Child in the Woods.

In the village of Inakadate in Aomori prefecture at the very north end of Honshu, Japan’s main island, something weird is growing in the rice fields. Or so it seems from the air. Every year, the towns people get together to painstakingly arrange and plant different colored rice seedlings in the spring. Then, as the summer progresses and the rice shoots start to grow, the patterns that were planted begin to emerge. What results is some truly stunning artwork. When seen from above, images include warriors, Napoleon, and manga characters such as Doraemon.

Art Rice Fields of Inakadate, Japan

Take a look at some of the artwork here (great pictures but in Japanese). A Google Image Search for “Inakadate rice art” will also produce numerous examples of these awesome rice fields. Enjoy.

- Justin Manger

[Image Credit]

A few months ago Solar Roadways was the recipient of extra attention in the blogosphere. 2nd Green Revolution did its part and brought you news of this company as well. All of the attention resulted in a redesigned website with flash animation. The older version of the site (one of which can be seen here) lacked the “Wow” factor that is now a part of the new site.

While the revamped site contains a wealth of information on the benefits of solar roadways in an attractive, easy to access format, there does not seem to be much movement on the development and implementation side. Read the rest of this entry »

In finance, a good rule of thumb for managing a budget and staying out of debt is “Don’t spend more money than you make.” This same simple premise can also be applied to energy management. Take homes, for example. With efficiency gains, energy conservation, and home energy production through solar power, geothermal power (see one homeowner’s perspective) and other types of renewable energy, it is becoming possible to create or retrofit a home to be energy neutral. ZETA Communities is designing houses that don’t use more energy than they make. Partnering with the U.S. Department of Energy, ZETA’s zero energy homes

provide one of the first nationally scalable solutions to these unsustainable environmental impacts. Using a whole-systems design approach, high performance materials, and an innovative mechanical core, ZETA homes require 40%-60% less energy overall and 65% less energy for heating, cooling, and hot water than a comparable structure (based on data published by ZETA’s partner: U.S. Department of Energy’s Building America program). To achieve net zero energy, ZETA homes use grid-tied photovoltaic systems and other clean energy sources.

The Wall Street Journal has an interactive feature that shows how ZETA’s design features listed below can allow homes to produce as much energy as they consume and create a healthier environment for their inhabitants. Read the rest of this entry »

With some time off over the holidays I sat down in front of my computer and streamed Food, Inc. via Netflix. The film (trailer available below) depicts the current state of the nation’s industrial food system. Food, Inc.’s website provides the following synopsis of the documentary.

In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation’s food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government’s regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Read the rest of this entry »