With scores of new smartphones and tablets release every quarter, tons of electronic devices are thrown away – and they often wind up filling our landfills and polluting the environment. Electronic waste is a growing concern – over 2.4 million tons of waste was generated by gadgets in 2010 alone. This infographic by Metrofax discusses this growing concern, and how recycling e-waste can reduce its carbon footprint.
- GreenJoyment(Ally): The amount of electronic waste produced by the U.S. is depressingly unsurprising. What do you expect of consumer culture? Technology goes in and out of style in a matter of months, and consumers throw out yesterday’s iWhatever in favor of tomorrow’s as fast as they can.
Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) has made its case against Big Oil getting its way, stopping E15 and fulfilling the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Now, Bob Dineen, president and CEO of RFA, is pleading with environmentalists to stay away from Big Oil and to support biofuels.
I don’t know Elisabeth Rosenthal, but I could kiss her for this. Her piece in the Sunday New York Times is one of the few I’ve ever seen in the mainstream media to take the aspirations of climate hawks seriously, at least seriously enough to consider the possibility of a clean energy system an open question. Just by doing that, she bucks the defeatist conventional wisdom being peddled by her colleague Joe Nocera and dozens of other journalists and pundits. So yay for her!
Last week, the City of Melbourne announced that it has been certified a carbon-neutral city by Low Carbon Australia using the National Carbon Offset Standard. This certification is part of Melbourne’s long-term target towards net zero emissions by 2020.
Earlier this year, the Associated Press reported on the solar industry’s hazardous waste problem, showing that — while less dirty than coal and natural gas — the industry produces millions of pounds of toxic sludge in the United States alone. But now researchers have come up with a way to clean up the clean energy resource.
While most automakers have embraced hybrid technology or pure electric vehicles as a means of meeting fuel economy mandates, a handful have yet to commit one way or another. Japanese automaker Subaru is one such company, though it appears the company that made Boxer engines and all-wheel drive cool will finally offer a hybrid of its own.