March 2011

Your drive to work is a pleasure, uninterrupted by traffic or red lights, right? If not, perhaps you should work for the EPA, the Environment Protection Agency. These are the people who design the test cycles in order to generate the fuel efficiency ratings for each vehicle sold in the United States. Someone there felt that it was good idea to include just a single stop when measuring a car's fuel efficiency in the city. I can only assume their drive to work is a breeze. The result is that hybrid electric cars like the Toyota Prius and the Chevy Volt are not given any credit for fuel saved when their engines are turned off in traffic.

What Does That Matter?

Although fuel taxes encourage people to buy more fuel-efficient vehicles such as the Toyota Prius and Chevy Volt, these vehicles still use roads and cause road wear. But funding to repair roads comes from fuel taxes, and, as more people drive the Prius and Volt and other fuel-efficient cars, the revenue from fuel taxes can no longer cover required highway spending. A solution to this funding shortfall is to tax drivers per mile rather than per gallon.

The Highway Trust Fund, financed by federal fuel taxes set at 18.4 cents per gallon for gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon for diesel in 1993, provides funding to repair and build federal highways. Since 2008, however, highway spending surpassed the revenues from the trust fund. To make up the shortfall, the Treasury has had to provide $30 billon to the trust fund.

Like the rest of the economy, the real estate market hasn’t been healthy for a number of years. Builders have had to lay off workers, brokers aren’t cashing a lot of commission checks, and a lot of new homes remain empty for months. Many are looking to green ideas to set their properties apart from vanilla-type construction and a high number of foreclosures hitting the market. Construction giant KB Home is taking this idea to heart and has plans to build a number of communities where solar panels are installed on every starter home.

After they unveiled the Kindle, Amazon didn’t have a lot of competition when it came to the e-reader market. Recent tablet computer entries like the iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab, and Morotola’s Xoom are cutting into Kindle sales because of their sleek profiles and multimedia capabilities. Reports have surfaced that they are keen to hire a gaggle of Android developers; a point that may hint at a Kindle Tablet and an app store.

People in the US consume eight billion gallons of water in 50 million bottles annually, in spite of an abundance of nearly free, good tasting tap water. Instead of buying bottled water, a reusable water bottle and a little planning can go a long way to both save money and the environment.

So why do people buy bottled water? Mainly, because it is convenient. For health conscious people, grabbing a bottle of water while on the go or at a meeting is a better choice than a can of soda or a sugary fruit drink. Additionally, bottled water often does taste better than tap water. The taste of tap water can be hit or miss depending on its source and treatment, but bottled water is normally filtered and treated (at least we hope so).

With the recent near-apocalyptic events of earthquakes, tsunamis, and nuclear accidents, it’s easy to think that individual actions don’t matter. Instead of fretting about climate change and other world problems, there’s something you can do right now as a gift to future generations: plant a tree.

In tough economic times, some argue that – although trees are nice – spending money on planting and maintaining them is not a justified cost. Contrary to that sentiment, research on urban trees shows that they provide vital economic benefits.

Jill Jonnes’s article What Is a Tree Worth? examines the benefits that trees provide. She discusses studies done in Chicago, Sacramento, and New York City to assess the value of urban trees. According to the 2006 New York study, the half million trees in New York City provide $122 million in benefits. These include:

When new gadgets like the iPad 2 are introduced, their previous versions are often stashed away or even tossed in the trash. The EPA estimated that as much as 75% of the computers in the US are hidden away in the country’s closets and cubby holes. Instead of letting fifteen million first generation iPads end up in a landfill or remain unused, donate your old tablet to a worthy educator through Teach For America and you might even get a tax break.

A lot of people who know nothing about nuclear power are saying a lot of things these days during the Japanese nuclear crisis. I’ve toured two different nuclear reactors and my experiences there have taught me a few things that you may not know and that might shed some sober light on this subject.

Guess: How Many People Have Already Been Exposed To Radiation?

Almost 7 billion people are exposed to radiation each day. That's right, the entire population of the world is constantly absorbing radiation from the earth, from the sun, and from the universe. As a resident of Denver Colorado, I get about three times as much radiation as most people do along the coasts. The Mile High City is above much of the atmosphere, and the Rocky Mountains are full of radioactive substances. People living in other parts of Colorado are exposed to even more radiation. Radiation is everywhere; the question is really how much radiation people are receiving beyond their normal exposure. Think about that when you hear a panicked report of slightly elevated levels of radiation in Tokyo.

As oil prices keep inching up due to the events in Northern Africa and the Middle East, many Americans are looking at electric cars to reduce the pain at the pump. There’s one big problem, though. You most likely have a gas station near your home or workplace, but not a charging station to power up your Leaf or Volt. A company called Better Place may change the EV world with their novel idea of swap-out batteries for electric cars.

Former SAP higher-up Shai Agassi was a little perplexed when it came to electric cars. He wondered why car manufacturers couldn’t take the same battery based approach to their product as simple items like a TV remote or flashlight; simply swap out your depleted power source for a fresh battery.

In a remarkable coincidence, congressional Republicans are attempting to repeal energy efficiency for light bulbs just weeks after the Breakthrough Institute issued a report claiming that energy efficiency standards actually increase energy consumption. But a closer reading of the report belies its own conclusion.

The reasoning behind the paradoxical conclusion that energy efficiency increases energy consumption is based on the idea that money saved from reduced energy costs will be spent on as high or higher energy activities, resulting in a “rebound effect.” The claim is that by reducing the cost of energy through efficiency, more of it will be consumed. For example, someone who purchases a high mileage car might then drive more miles, or homeowners who insulate their house would then turn up the thermostat.

Cars first began to sport bumper stickers that read “Save Gas, Fart in a Jar” during the oil shocks of the 1970’s. Now as gasoline prices again spike, this tongue-in-cheek advice may actually be on to something. Rather than relying on biofuels that are derived from food crops, renewable energy developed from food that the body already processed and eliminated might be a solution to our energy needs. Two technologies purport to do just that: to turn urine and excrement into energy.

Dan Kanter is the lead guitarist in Justin Bieber’s band. He’s supportive, in the background even though he could be famous, but most importantly wanted by his colleagues. Charlie Sheen supposedly just the opposite. Which role will you pick on this Fat Tuesday or any holiday, the supportive one? Who will you support? Family and friends by overcooking and overloading on food and drinks or your body and planet by eating a healthy meal and not overdoing it? How green is your behavior?

When it comes to choosing between our own comfortable pleasures which are very easy to imagine and anything unimaginable, no matter how good it is, we always tend to pick the most comfortable thing. Does that mean we’re only as green as it suits us? Most of the time and in most countries.

Its been a stunning year so far in Northern Africa with long standing dictators and despots being forced out of power by public uprisings. As the clashes in Libya continue many oil companies are having a hard time getting their products out of the region. While Americans may whine that $4.00 is a lot for a gallon of gas, drivers in the UK are paying about $8.00 for the same product. Angry drivers are forcing the British government to take a hard look on how they can back away from foreign oil while they keep their economic recovery on track.

Back in the late 1990’s Volkswagen (VW) got a lot of acclaim for their updated version of the Beetle. The iconic form was updated to more modern tastes with sleeker lines and whimsical additions like a flower vase. VW has taken the same sensibility to re-introduce the van known worldwide as the Type Two, microbus, or Bulli as a sleek all-electric van made for iPad toting hipsters.

For manufacturers at auto shows, getting noticed means demanding the public's attention; girls, fancy lights, demonstrations, VIP lounges, concept cars and dynamic displays all clamor for the attentive gaze of the crowd, and for the most part, boisterous exhibits translate into excessive buzz. With the Koenigsegg Agera R, the questions is, how much is too much?

Now regarded as perhaps the most powerful production sports car in the world, the Koenigsegg Agera R is truly a one-of-a-kind sports car. Set to debut at the 2011 Geneva Auto Show, the bi-turbo 5.0L V8 engine features a 0-62 mph time of 2.9 seconds and comes with a 7-speed dual clutch transmission. Even more impressive, at least from a power perspective, is the 1,115 horsepower potential.

So how does the Agera R achieve a horsepower so off the charts?

Ethanol.

Yes, the secret of this ridiculously fast (260 mph) vehicle is the ethanol.