VICTORY: Midwest Generation and GenOn Announce Coal Plant Closures Today, Midwest Generation announced that they will be closing their two dirty coal plants in Chicago, the Fisk coal plant in Pilsen will shut down in 2012 and the Crawford coal plant in Little Village will shut down by 2014. As if this wasn’t enough good … [Read more…]
Terraced Hollywood Hills House Eliminates the Need for Air Conditioning Sunken into the hill itself, the four-story home makes use of the earth for temperature moderation. The home’s earth berming, orientation, shading, and use of natural ventilation completely eliminates the need for air conditioning. 9th Century Arabic Texts Yield Clues for Climate Change Scientists When … [Read more…]
Why ’smart’ office window shades need to be redesigned Statistics on the effectiveness of automated office window blinds are certainly encouraging: when used, they can help shave lighting bills by 40 percent. But some stats on workers’ happiness with such systems are startlingly discouraging. “Power Felt” Uses Your Own Body Heat to Charge Your Cellphone … [Read more…]
The best of the U.S. Army’s ‘Going Green’ Pinterest For those of you who are out of touch with what the young people and Mormons are all about these days, Pinterest is this really big, Facebook-but-for-images type thing, and it’s kind of wild that the Army is on it, because it’s mostly pictures of cats, … [Read more…]
400 stars. When looking up at a clear night’s sky, 400 hardly seems like a number to begin to describe anything remotely significant up above. But when it comes to the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA), 400 is quite a big number.
How to Identify a Green Cleaner & Giveaway! In a perfect world, perhaps we would all make our own household cleaners from vinegar, baking soda, soap, hydrogen peroxide, lemon juice, salt, tea tree oil and other essential oils, etc. However, I still find myself relying on the convenience of store-bought cleaners on a regular basis, … [Read more…]
Anti-Composting Sentiment Must Be Listened To, Not Dismissed From large trucks moving around biomass; through odor and air-quality issues; to the fire hazard of compost heaps that overheat (yes, really!), there are a long list of concerns that residents often have when a composting facility is proposed nearby. Scientists Create Plastic From Plants…Goodbye Oil Economy? … [Read more…]
Move in a Green Fashion When you’re moving home you can do your best to help protect the planet in the process. It’s often tempting to get new furniture to go in your new residence and get rid of the old stuff. Sometimes it’s a necessity as certain pieces of furniture might not fit in … [Read more…]
Save Money By Cleaning Dryer Exhaust Ducts The Home section of every newspaper occasionally warns readers to clean out the lint trap on the clothes dryer: resulting in reduced fire hazard and faster clothes drying. My dryer seemed to be taking forever with large loads so I went the next step: disassembling all exhaust vent … [Read more…]
Are Electric Cars Worse Than Gas Cars in China? A recent study by researchers at the University of Tennessee has been making the rounds on the web lately. Its conclusions are interesting, but they must be kept in context to stay valid. So what’s the study about and what are its conclusions? U.S. Army’s CERV … [Read more…]