2nd Green Revolution

I Don’t Understand Parking Lots

In an op-ed a few months back I alluded to the coming diatribe against parking lots. As a form of land use, parking lots make no sense to me. Conversely, ...

The Angry Pedestrian: An Introduction

Let me say first off that I own a car. I drive. I don't drive a ton, I don't drive everyday, I don't drive to my job, but I understand ...

What Will It Take to Make Mass Transit the Norm?

Will people start consistently riding mass transit when gas prices stay above $5 per gallon? $10? What about when we are paying the true cost of driving (i.e. emissions, disposal)? ...

Designing Cities with People in Mind

I'm not a city planner. I took one class in college, so I don't even pretend to be qualified. However, living in a city and trying to commute without a ...

Earth Day 2012

Celebrating the 42nd Earth Day and 4.5 billion years of earth. Image from NASA Johnson Space Center

Maxwell Technologies: Creating the Replacement for the Battery?

by John Basalla on May 14th, 2012

If you read enough articles about electric or hybrid vehicles, sooner or later you see references to ultra capacitors. Ultra capacitors are currently widely used in many energy saving devices and have a bright future, including potentially replacing the standard battery. Maxwell Technologies (stock symbol: MXWL) is one of several companies at the forefront of ultra capacitor technology.

First, a brief explanation of what an ultra capacitor is. An ultra capacitor is simply a capacitor with significantly enhanced ability to collect and quickly, very quickly, discharge energy. The charge/discharge cycle for an ultra capacitor can take only seconds. Batteries, by comparison, have a low discharge rate of typically one to ten hours. The ultra capacitors’ quick discharge and charge rate is accomplished by a special carbon coating that is applied to the two electrodes in the capacitor and then immersing the electrodes in an electrolyte.

Maxwell Technologies, based in San Diego, California, is a leading manufacturer of ultra capacitors. Maxwell Technologies’ ultra capacitors are used in many green energy products such as providing burst power to control wind turbines, recapturing and storing recuperative breaking energy in hybrid drive vehicles and for quick acceleration. In addition, their ultra capacitors provide

I Don’t Understand Parking Lots

by Eric Wilson on May 13th, 2012

In an op-ed a few months back I alluded to the coming diatribe against parking lots. As a form of land use, parking lots make no sense to me. Conversely, most parking garages are eye-sores. I understand that underground parking is expensive and laborious to construct.

There are some wonderful advances in “parking lot technology,” (in addition to the use of manure and other attempts to make roads more environmentally friendly) but they really mask the greater issue. Vast tracks of land have been paved over and turned into storage for cars. In Natural Capitalism, Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, and Hunter Lovins put the car in perspective. The amount of time we sit in cars is minute compared the resources we spend on them. While I can’t find the exact number, the average was somewhere around 4% of our time is spent commuting in cars. Think about the money, energy, and materials that go into cars. Leasing or purchasing a car on an installment plan can cost several hundreds per month. This doesn’t include insurance, upkeep, fuel, parking, or any other associated costs.

This brings me to the parking lot.

The Angry Pedestrian: An Introduction

by The Angry Pedestrian on May 12th, 2012

Let me say first off that I own a car. I drive. I don’t drive a ton, I don’t drive everyday, I don’t drive to my job, but I understand the role of the car in today’s society (in America at least). I can’t walk everywhere and I cover four miles in an hour, not nearly as fast as motorized transit (or a bike for that matter). Having said that, I can’t stand when drivers block the crosswalk. I can remember as a child my stepfather getting in a fight with someone who pulled into the intersection he was trying to cross. (It wasn’t quite this bad, but you get the idea.) He walked with a cane and took longer than I do to walk across the intersection.

Here’s the other thing about me, I’m “frugal”. I don’t like spending money, at least not when there’s a free alternative.

Five Friday Facts: Colleges Saving Energy

by Eric Wilson on May 11th, 2012

A recent three week competition wrapped up among colleges that saved a bit of money, water, and energy. The 2012 Campus Conservation Nationals (CCN) had approximately one-quarter of a million students participating at 150 colleges and universities across the country. Today’s Five Friday Facts tallies the total savings from their efforts:

1,739,046 kilowatt-hours of electricity conserved (1.74 Gigawatt-hours, which exceeded the goal by 74%)
1,554,814 gallons of water saved
2,642,287 lbs of CO2 diverted from the atmosphere
$157,925 saved
As a point of reference, the electricity conserved is the equivalent of taking 151 homes off the grid

Image source: Metropolitan Museum of Art

First Major Solar Installation on Public Property Goes Online

by Chris DeArmond on May 10th, 2012

While renewables accounted for just 1.5 percent of total energy production last year, the Obama administration has approved at least 29 green energy projects on public lands as part of its “All-of-the-Above” initiative. If all projects are completed, the renewable projects will produce more than 6,500 megawatts of electricity, or enough to power more than 2 million homes. The most recent project completed—the Enbridge Silver State North photovoltaic (PV) solar installation in the Mojave Desert, Nevada—is the largest of its kind on public property. It is expected to provide enough electricity to power roughly 9,000 homes.

The project will not only help the state reach its goal of producing 25 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2025, but also marks the first major solar installation on public property in the U.S.

Poll: What Will it Take to Make Mass Transit the Norm?

by Eric Wilson on May 9th, 2012

This past Sunday’s op-ed pondered what it would take to make mass transit the norm. What do you think? What will it take to make mass transit the norm? Take the poll below and leave your thoughts. Choose as many as you like. You can also write in your own response.

Take Our Poll

Site Visit: MUSE School (CA)

by Eric Wilson on May 8th, 2012

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 formerly housed Cottontail Ranch. Prior to the current location, the school rented facilities while in search of a permanent home. Although only a small portion of the grounds are suitable for building and raising food, the school has dedicated itself to using the land as a primary component for its curriculum.

As stated on their site, “Sustainability is central to everything we do at MUSE. From our mission statement to our campus design to our daily way of life – we focus on inspiring our students, teachers, staff and community to live sustainably in the classroom, at work and at home, and to become future leaders in preserving and caring for the planet.” Los Angeles based design and consulting firm EcoVations, assisted with the campus renovation. While most schools aim for LEED certification, MUSE School decided to take part in the Living Building Challenge, a stringent set of guidelines for green building that aims for no additional resource consumption beyond what is already in use. Among the school’s goals in the renovations were:

KiOR: Turning Trees into Oil

by John Basalla on May 7th, 2012

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 company that has developed proprietary technology to convert biomass into crude oil. Their process speeds up fossil fuel formation that takes a million years in nature and compresses it to mere minutes. These hydrocarbons can in turn be refined using standard equipment into gasoline, diesel and other fuel blend stocks, thus requiring no additional refining equipment. KiOR has already developed partnerships with Chevron Corporation as well as major companies such as FedEx.

What makes KiOR unique?

The major difference between KiOR and many other alternative fuel companies is that KiOR uses biomass that does not compete with human food needs directly or indirectly the way that some fuels do, such as corn-based ethanol. Instead, KiOR uses biomass such as logging residue, wood chips, and switch grass that does not compete with human food consumption. This innovation is a key to KiOR’s success. In addition, the ability to use the resulting hydrocarbons in

What Will It Take to Make Mass Transit the Norm?

by Eric Wilson on May 6th, 2012

Will people start consistently riding mass transit when gas prices stay above $5 per gallon? $10? What about when we are paying the true cost of driving (i.e. emissions, disposal)? What if we had to swipe a credit or debit card every time you drive? How about charging for access to roads, like the congestion charge London has undertaken? Perhaps if mass transit were free; paid for by the aforementioned charges to drivers, more people would be inclined to ride.

A while back we wrote about how the interstate system is like the high speed rail debate. Think about the amount of money that goes into maintaining roads. What if these funds were (or had been originally) directed to mass transit?

Would people be more inclined to ride light rail, subways, and buses if they offered wifi or some other benefits that driving can’t? We’ve discussed numerous times the benefits of public transportation (few of the choice posts on the topic can be found here and here).

What will it take? I look forward to your comments.

By the way, this post was written entirely on the light rail.

Japan Shuts Last Nuclear Plant

by Justin Manger on May 5th, 2012

One of three reactors at Tomari nuclear plant in Hokkaido is going off line for maintenance checks this weekend. Once that reactor is switched off, the country will be free of atomic power for the first time since 1966.

This marks a remarkable change in electricity production for Japan. Before last year’s earthquake and tsunami, a third of the country’s energy came from nuclear power. For decades, nuclear power was a huge part of Japan’s energy policies and also became a major part of Japan’s plan to meet its bold carbon emissions reduction targets. With the loss of nuclear energy, the Ministry of Environment projects that Japan will produce about 15 percent more greenhouse gas emissions this fiscal year than it did in 1990.

Until the Fukushima disaster last year, Tokyo had planned to expand the amount of overall electricity produced by fission to half of all production by 2030. Since last year’s meltdown, however, citizen opposition to nuclear power has run high. Japan requires new tests on withstanding quakes and tsunamis, and it needs local residents’ approval to restart reactors. No reactor stopped for stress tests or maintenance has gone back on line.

Political and business leaders are worried about summer energy shortages and the effect it could have on the economy. Critics of Japan’s nuclear policy maintain that

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