Last month I had the opportunity to visit the MUSE School in Southern California. Located in a canyon between Calabasas and Malibu, the setting for the school is idyllic. Founded in 2006 by Suzy Amis Cameron and her sister Rebecca Amis, this marks the first year on the current campus, a 22 acre spread that [...]
Archive for the ‘Local Energy/Food’ Category
Site Visit: MUSE School (CA)
May 8th, 2012 
Eric Wilson KiOR: Turning Trees into Oil
May 7th, 2012 John Basalla The following post is the first by our new contributor, John Basalla, a CPA currently working in Tokyo who is interested in the business side of green technology. All his “Green Tech Company Spotlight” articles can be found at the following tag or on John’s page. What does KiOR do? KiOR is an alternative fuels [...]
DOE’s SunShot Initiative Announces Funding Opportunity for “Plug and Play” Photovoltaic Systems
May 4th, 2012 Chris DeArmond The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) SunShot Initiative is an ambitious program that aims to dramatically reduce the cost of solar energy. By the end of the decade, one of SunShot’s official goals is to cut the cost of photovoltaic (PV) systems by 75 percent, or to about 6 cents per kilowatt-hour. Besides making the cost [...]
Movie Review: Fresh
April 30th, 2012 Eric Wilson The other day I attended a showing of the documentary “Fresh”, directed by Ana Sofia Joanes, organized by Chipotle Mexican Grill, the locally-grown restaurant known for its burritos made with sustainable ingredients. At 72 minutes, the documentary focuses on people working to make a more sustainable food system. Kelly Smith, a marketing strategist for Chipotle, [...]
Posted in Agriculture, Eric Wilson, Local Energy/Food, Sustainability 
Tags: Food, Michael Pollan, Movie Review, Organic, Video, Waste 
No Comments »2012 HGTV Green Home Unveiled
April 28th, 2012 Eric Wilson This year’s 2012 HGTV Green Home, a sweepstakes give away, is located just south of Atlanta, Georgia. Individuals may enter twice a day at either HGTV.com/greenhome or HGTVremodels.com. June 1st at 5pm ET is the deadline for entering the sweepstakes, valued at roughly $800,000. A car (from sponsor GM), the house, and $100,000 comprise the [...]
Posted in Eric Wilson, Green Building, Local Energy/Food, Real Estate, Renewable Energy Tags: HGTV, Organic, Photovoltaic, Wastewater No Comments »An Unusual Two For One: Controlling Weeds While Generating Energy
April 16th, 2012 Justin Manger Working with Coretec Inc., a manufacturer that specializes in energy-saving machinery and systems, Fuji Electric announced last December that they had come up with a weed-control mat that is now getting attention as a possible new application for photovoltaic power. Municipalities in Japan occasionally use weed-control mats over soil to keep unused or sloped areas [...]
Ball State Completes Largest Geothermal Installation
April 10th, 2012 Eric Wilson A few years back we wrote an article about Ball State University’s plan to replace their coal-fired boilers with a geothermal system. As it turns out, the time has come. According to the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Office of the Department of Energy, Ball State has completed the nation’s largest ground-source geothermal system [...]
Posted in Clean Technology, Eric Wilson, Local Energy/Food, News, Renewable Energy Tags: Coal, Department of Energy, Geothermal, Green Jobs, Jobs, Stimulus Bill No Comments »Apple To Use Bloom Energy Fuel Cells At New Data Center
April 4th, 2012 Justin Manger In a following up to our post in February about the green data center Apple is planning to build in North Carolina, a few more interesting details about the facility have come to light. Aside from being LEED Platinum certified and having the largest end-user solar power array in the U.S., there will also be [...]
Geothermal Air-Conditioning Systems for Japanese “Combini”
March 19th, 2012 Justin Manger Seven-Eleven is the largest of the combini (convenience store) chains that can be found on nearly every block in large cities around Japan. Selling everything from juice and rice balls to beer and fish, underwear and band-aids, niku-man (meat stuffed steamed dumplings) and adult magazines, the combini is a uniquely Japanese experience. They are also [...]
Taking Urban Gardens to the Next Level
March 8th, 2012 Eric Wilson In his 2006 book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, Michael Pollan looks at the idea of foraging as one of the four meals he considers in his book (McDonald’s, Whole Foods, and a local farm represent the other three). He starts with the highly industrialized fast food meal and works his [...]
Posted in Agriculture, Behavior, Eric Wilson, Featured Posts, Local Energy/Food, News, Sustainability Tags: Food, Michael Pollan No Comments »
